Health care policy discussion 3 responses

Review other posts submitted by your classmates. 

 In your responses, take a position that respectfully disagrees with the original poster. How would you approach these issues? What roles do personal responsibility and financial transparency play in this debate?

Post # 1

Nihar Satsangi

The ability of the people in the United States to access healthcare and the quality and quantity of healthcare they can access depends on whether they have health insurance and what type of health insurance plan they are enrolled in. Since it is a matter of healthcare access and quality thereof, it is imperative that patients/consumers comprehend at least the essential tenets of their health insurance plans. (Wilensky & Teitelbaum, 2019) According to a Policygenius survey, more than the fourth of the surveyed people avoid or skip treatment because they are not sure what is covered by their insurance. It was also found that comprehension of the fundamental insurance terms was quite low, and a lot of people are unaware of the government subsidies and plan enrolment periods. (Ma, 2019) The past experiences of patients with health insurance could prove to be an essential variable in understanding and predicting their future encounters with it. Their health journey to date and the ways their insurance helped or hindered in getting the appropriate care in time can help the patients understand what coverage they need or do not need from their insurance in the future.

As the healthcare costs are increasing in the US, the insurance firms are laying more of the financial responsibility on the consumers. (Ma, 2019) As a result, consumers increasingly want to be more knowledgeable about their insurance coverage in order to manage their health effectively and handle their associated expenses efficiently. What is required is to increase health literacy and healthcare transparency. Health literacy programs and initiatives at the state level could help in educating the population about the various aspects of health, including insurance, and make it easier for them to understand the fundamental terms and principles. Most states in the US have some sort of program of this nature, in accordance with the National Action Plan to Improve Health Literacy. (CDC, n.d.) From a provider perspective, what can and should be done is to first assume that majority of their patients are not highly literate people when it comes to healthcare information. This would help them in adopting clear communication practices to minimize any confusion on the patient’s side. This would make it easier for the patients to find out if the diagnosis or treatments are covered by their insurance or not. (HHS, 2010) Another step would be the responsibility of the administrative team of the healthcare provider and that is to discuss the financial responsibility the patient and their insurance would bear. It would also help to discuss the financial options that could help in decreasing the patient’s out-of-pocket costs.

References:

CDC. (n.d.). Health Literacy Activities by State | Health Literacy. Retrieved September 29, 2020, from https://www.cdc.gov/healthliteracy/statedata/index.html#Alabama

HHS. (2010). National Action Plan to Improve Health Literacy.

Ma, M. (2019). Health Insurance Literacy Survey: Confusion is growing in America | Policygenius. https://www.policygenius.com/blog/health-insurance-literacy-survey-2019/

Post #2

Toni Bishop

Healthcare in the United States has become even more of hot topic of conversation over the years. As an American living with type one diabetes I relate to this topic very strongly. Throughout my childhood I became very aware of how important my healthcare was to me as someone with a chronic lifelong illness. As an adult looking for a job in my career field, the healthcare plans offered by employers was crucial to my decision in choosing a job. It was very overwhelming to me to learn about deductibles, co-pays, co-insurance, etc but it was all information I needed to be well-informed about. Nearly nine out of ten individuals have trouble using health information to make informed decision about their health, and only 12% of English speaking American adults have what is considered proficient health literacy (Parragh & Okrent, 2014). By not understanding your healthcare coverage as an American you are potentially harming yourself by not taking advantage of your earned benefits, or you are could be possibly paying for healthcare that is not best equipped for your needs.  

From personal experience working as a pharmacy technician, I often ran patients’ insurance in order to determine their out of pocket cost of their medication. I couldn’t even keep count of how many times patients were shocked about how much their medications were going to cost them, but they’re coverage is often outlined to give them an idea of their out of pocket costs. High costs lead to patients deferring medical care, decrease medication compliance, and overall can negatively affect a patients’ health. Knowing their options to find a better healthcare option that better fits both their healthcare and financial needs is a must because healthcare quality and access are crucial to their overall health(Wilensky & Teitelbaum, 2019).

            In order to increase health insurance and benefits awareness, we must improve healthcare literacy, understanding, and comfortability. This can be done by implementing financial counseling by healthcare providers, or you can have an agent assigned to you by your health insurance company that works as your advocate to answer specific questions regarding your coverage and benefits. Policies should include guaranteed transparency from insurance companies. As I have mentioned in the first week of this course, I find that healthcare has succumbed to enormous amounts of greed. Ensuring transparency from health insurance companies helps patients in communication with their insurance companies in order to help solve any financial issues or answer any questions about coverage. Patients tend to trust their healthcare providers, by healthcare providers starting to provide resources such as financial counseling or other outside resources on their insurance coverage they can be put at ease that they can continue with their care needs. By ensuring patients of a solution through transparency and resources they are more likely to comply with their treatment regiment and potentially improve their overall satisfactions and financial situation with their insurance provider.

References:

Wilensky, S. E., & Teitelbaum, J. B. (2019). Essentials of Health Policy and Law. Jones &      Bartlett Learning.

Parragh, Z., & Okrent, D. (2014). Health Literacy and Health Insurance Literacy: Do Consumers Know What They Are Buying? Retrieved September 30, 2020, from http://www.allhealthpolicy.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Health-Literacy-Toolkit_163.pdf

Wilensky, S. E., & Teitelbaum, J. B. (2019). Essentials of Health Policy and Law. Jones & Bartlett Learning.