Essay Examples

Exploring the Importance of National Health Insurance for Socioeconomic Growth

Healthcare is paramount for any state that has a modest idea of growth both in the short run and in the long run. Therefore, the situation that governs the operation of the system ought to be envisaged under high control and supervision that would spearhead smooth service delivery. Consequently, there is a great need to understand and perpetrate equality in access to health care while at the same time improving the health conditions of the population of the given country or region. The mutual growth of worthiness and ability to inspire change in the economic performance of a country is positioned on the ability of the federal and other agencies within the state to impact the matters of health for the sake of the population. This means that the population can withstand abject challenges with regard to the tightened economic challenges.

The loss of regulations makes the achievement null and void, thus, perpetrating the course of injustice. The low profile of education for the citizens is also an indirect contributor to poor health. Basically, low education leads to poor hygiene and the impact of a high affinity for disease prevalence. However, it is an immutable fact that the government has the main discretion to inspire change and generate the infusive element of good health. H.I.M.’s introduction via the central or local mechanisms of government not only promotes health justice but also redirects and consolidates the efforts of other agencies to produce renowned medical enterprises that spearhead mutually healthy populations.

In order to promote health among the population, there are several H.I.M.-related mechanisms that are created with a view to promote equality and eliminate double standards in the delivery of medical services to the local populations. These may include the National Health Insurance (N.H.S.), which will be debated at length in this paper. It should be noted that National health insurance does not primarily equate to government financing of the health care program or to running it. It is established in the National Legislation. Compulsory contribution to the National Health Insurance Scheme through taxation is deeply entrenched in the policies formulated in the health sector. A major misconception about National Health Insurance is that it entails universal accessibility to health care. Practically, most countries usually promise universal coverage. However, health care involves very long waiting lists for varied treatments. The insurance scheme is criticized for leading to tax increases, budget deficits and benefit reductions. Government control of National Health Insurance leads to incessant restrictions on physician choice, long waiting lists, rationing and other obstacles in health care. Market mechanisms range from market prices, competition, cost sharing, and consumer choice, as well as eschewing the government’s centralized control. When these are incorporated into the National healthcare system, such healthcare program becomes more efficient.

Continued escalation in healthcare costs and the ever-increasing number of people who lack access to healthcare services have stemmed quick responses from policy formulators all over the world. A consensus has evolved that healthcare programs should be reformed. A National Health Insurance fund has been set up in many states coupled with innumerable regional coalitions initiated all over the world to ensure the revitalization of the health care facilities. The provision of natural laboratories has enhanced accessibility to efficient healthcare programs. Statutory Health Insurance provides regulatory mechanisms on service accessibility, cost reduction and proper utilization of the already existing health care facilities.

National Health Insurance ensures that employers adequately cover their employees through insurance coverage. It also ensures that individuals are provided with the necessary financial resources as well as incentives to facilitate purchasing of coverage. Since the scheme is statutory, it is properly enforced through legal provisions, and it designates various public agencies to purchase or even make payments for health care. Reforming the insurance markets is integral for the employees. The integration of managerial, clinical and financial aspects of healthcare through publicly accountable organizations, which compete for customers on both quality and price, ensure affordable and effective healthcare programs. Analysis and proper evaluation of these programs, coupled with focused research pertaining to various aspects of healthcare costs and adequate financing, are critical in informing further elaborate and deliberate decisions in regard to the establishment of a National Health Insurance Scheme.

Health care involves the treatment and prevention of illness, injury, disease, diagnosis, as well as other varied mental and physical impairments of humankind. Healthcare practitioners in nursing, allied health, dentistry, medicine, chiropractic and pharmacy are all involved in health care. We still have other healthcare providers charged with the same responsibility. Thus, health care involves the adequate provision of primary, secondary as well as tertiary care. In addition, health care involves public health as well.

Both economic and social conditions influence the accessibility of health care as well as health policies, which may be influenced by the population as well. Planning in health care is largely distributed among governments, market participants as well as other bodies involved in the coordination of health care. A healthcare system functions well through a robust and elaborate financing mechanism with an adequately-paid, well-trained labor force and is integral, according to W.H.O. (World Health Organization). Policies and decisions in health care systems are centered equally on reliable information. In the delivery of quality medicines, well-maintained facilities, as well as logistics, should be addressed accordingly if a robust healthcare system is to be established.

Health care forms a very important element in the economy of a country. Consequently, health care is a significant determinant in the promotion of general health as well as the well-being of people all over the world. For instance, smallpox was declared curable in 1980 as the first disease since antiquity in the history of humans. Through deliberate and well-stipulated interventions in health care, it led to the complete elimination of smallpox in the world.

A healthy society means a strong nation that abides by growth prospects. Consequently, the issue concerning the importance of National Health Insurance is the case that results in heating reactions due to the cost part of it and its significance are represented by two contesting issues. Following the latter feature of the issue, it becomes quite clear that a National Health Insurance policy can be both efficient and also inefficient in the sense that it may result in boosted society as well as a relatively expensive venture for the common members of the society.

Coordinated or what is known as managed health care intends to bolster the appropriateness and cost-effectiveness as well as to improve the quality of the health care. The proponents of coordinated/managed health care proclaim that statutory intervention is obligatory since the consumers make a decision concerning health care, which is a daunting task. This is because they are indifferent and, therefore, unable to differentiate between inappropriate and necessary medical care and useful and essential one. However, the risk associated with this scheme is reduced.

Finally, from the particular point of the analysis, it is clear that H.I.M. policies and directives are significant to the current situation of health care in any country. In essence, the performance or loss performance of any health sector in a country is pegged on the steadiness of the statutory laws at the national and local levels. It is done with respect to internal and external statutory that govern the operations of various levels of medical services as well as the training projections that medical practitioners go through.

📎 References

1. Assensoh, A., & Wahab, H. (2008). A Historical-Political Overview of Ghana’s National Health Insurance Law. African and Asian Studies, 7, 289-306.
2. Dadoza, E. (2011). The Transiting to Universal Health Care Coverage: An Analysis of the Ghana National Health Insurance Scheme. Rotterdam: Erasmus University.
3. Panis, C. W. A., Shang, B. (2004) Disability Forecasts and Future Medicare Costs.
4. Forum for Health Economics & Policy, 7, (1).
5. Kirby, N. ( 2011). Quality of care in the National Health Insurance debate: medical law. Without Prejudice, 11, (9): 52-55.
6. Roger, A. A. (January 01, 2012). Healthcare quality under the National Health Insurance Scheme in Ghana: Perspectives from premium holders. International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, 29, (2): 144-161.
7. Dadoza, E. (2011). The Transiting to Universal Health Care Coverage: An Analysis of the Ghana National Health Insurance Scheme. Rotterdam: Erasmus University.