The United States Should Provide Universal Healthcare (the Utilitarianism Perspective)
U.S. healthcare has experienced several challenges that make its healthcare system complex, dysfunctional, expensive and broken. Notwithstanding high expenditure on healthcare compared to other high-income nations, the U.S. is poorly rated on several primary procedures, such as avoidable hospital admission, life anticipation, self-annihilation, and motherly transience. In addition to all the expenses, there is a relatively reduced satisfaction with the existing U.S. healthcare system. Integrating high costs with a higher number of underinsured or uninsured implies that many individuals’ risk if they suffer from chronic diseases. Hospital charges differ broadly, and it is practically intolerable to compare the healthcare choices’ cost superiority or know the significance is anticipated. In addition, if one asks a lot before time and adheres to the suggested medics in the health cover system, one can, with time, get an unbelievable bill. Therefore, the U.S. generally needs improvement when it concerns equality in healthcare. Although the provision of Universal healthcare in the U.S will make the government not to accomplish other basic national needs, providing universal healthcare will give every legal citizen the ability to access healthcare facilities despite their ability to pay, it eliminates admittance to overhaul which may perhaps potentially save a person’s life and reduces healthcare costs for the underinsured.
There are pros and cons associated with all universal healthcare systems. Such costs and profits and costs are what result in a highly varying background of universal healthcare systems sideways all industrialized countries offering healthcare. From a different point of view, the high costs involved in universal healthcare are all people’s need to reimburse the same healthcare expanse, notwithstanding their health. Therefore, it effectively makes vigorous individuals remunerative of the care for ill-health individuals. Other barriers to universal health come in as additional government control in different healthcare sectors (Raghupathi and Raghupathi 8). A general healthcare system should restrict costly facilities with low possibility for achievement. The utilitarian healthcare view applies in this situation. Utilitarianism as an ethical model holds that a morally right action produces the best; therefore, action is evaluated in terms of its outcomes (Fernandez 218). Therefore, it eliminates admittance to overhaul, which may save a person’s life because of the substantial opportunity it could flop and the associated cost. In addition, universal healthcare is related to long waiting times for admittance to elective procedures and the significant reserves are aimed at necessary healthcare facilities for individuals. This results in the increased expense for the government of the U.S. General healthcare can assume an immense proportion of the government’s annual budget, which can assume approximately 40% total.
The significant benefit of universal healthcare is providing all nation’s legal citizens with the ability to access healthcare services regardless of their potential to pay. The World Health Organization (WHO) maintains that health is a vigorous basic need, and from a human-centred standpoint, providing individuals with healthcare access is one of the most significant roles of the government. Other benefits of the universal healthcare system include a consistent standard of care in which medical clinicians are obligated to care providers with a similar level of lawful citizens (Gao et al.468). These healthcare providers and citizens will incur reduced costs since there is no conflict among healthcare organizations under the general system of care (Raghupathi and Raghupathi 13). The U.S. government controls healthcare costs as an initiative. Then, the government initiates healthcare expenses considerably down. In the same way, it reduces managerial costs for healthcare doctors and medics since it is pointless to contract with varying insurance organizations. Numerous inhabitants are needed to primary care doctors and preemptive medication in denationalized systems of the healthcare system due to their inability to reimburse. As a result, most populations rely on emergency chambers as their major admittance to medical care. Appointments in the emergency chamber remain notoriously affluent and frequent when an individual needs emergency medical care; healthcare challenges significantly develop and become classier (Gao et al. 481). Under general healthcare, most citizens have total access to exceptional care doctors and pre-emptive discussion, constantly acquiring impending health calamities.
The U.S. Affordable Care Act (ACA) is critical for municipal health programs. Due to a pattern of procrastination and modifications to the various rules organized by the ACA, incorporating the centralized lawful outline for the healthcare system in the U.S., the act formulates a rudimentary legalized protection that has been vague till today (Gao et al. 471). A closer universal capacity for admittance to cheaper healthcare cover exposure, from natal through superannuation. When completely used, the act resolved to cut off many uninsured American citizens by more than half. Hopefully, the law led to the outcome in health coverage reporting for approximately 94% of Americans. Thirty-one million underinsured citizens reduced this by upsurging medical conscription by about 15 million beneficiaries (Raghupathi and Raghupathi 14). Approximately 24 million citizens are likely to keep on short of healthcare coverage. From a practical point of view, government intervention in healthcare coverage helps maximize the utility of general welfare members’ welfare for all members of society (Fernandez 221). Thus, healthcare facilities should be generated, allotted effectively, and disseminated according to equity. The approach gave rise to the universal healthcare systems in an attempt to offer healthcare focus for many community members.
In conclusion, the government of the U.S. should provide universal healthcare to all its citizens despite having utterly experienced a problem in its healthcare system. Individuals are incapable of accessing medication because of increased medical and hospital services. If the government funds medication for all individuals, it will be unable to accomplish other fundamental operations in the country. Therefore, it remains to be seen whether it should intervene in the healthcare situation for the general public or not. Suppose the government is believed to participate in providing universal healthcare to citizens. In that case, advantages are also realized because of advanced intervention in the deteriorating situation to the general public. Since the cons and pros of the government provision of universal healthcare outweigh one another, the ACA should balance them to ensure people’s health is considered.
Works Cited
Fernandez, Rosa Maria. “From a utilitarian universal health coverage to an inclusive health coverage.” Good Health and Well-Being (2020): 214-223.
Gao, Pengjie, Chang Lee, and Dermot Murphy. “Good for your fiscal health? The effect of the affordable care act on healthcare borrowing costs.” Journal of Financial Economics 145.2 (2022): 464–488.
Raghupathi, Viju, and Wullianallur Raghupathi. “Healthcare expenditure and economic performance: insights from the United States data.” Frontiers in public health 8 (2020): 156.pp1-15
Social Media Role in Promoting Patient Care
Introduction
Social media utilization for both health and personal usage is on the increase. It incorporates social networking sites ranging from Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and blogs, among other platforms. Social media plays a vast and crucial role in serving patients. For instance, it enhances their autonomy by complementing the information given by the healthcare professional and offering psychosocial support. In addition, social media usage by the patient can help healthcare professionals give patient-centered care through virtual sharing. According to DeBronkart’s (2014) Ted Talk, social media offers patients a platform to interact in real-time around various health-related topics. The patient group has greatly benefited from social media use for health purposes. According to Chen &Wang (2021), about 67% of all internet consumers in the United States use platforms of social media to consume health content. Patients can utilize social media for various purposes, such as engaging with peers for support, sharing their experiences, information networking, tracking personal progress for their health, goal setting, and patient education, among others. Hence, digital strategies, including crowdsourcing, social media, and mobile phone devices, can offer patient health information in real-time, anywhere, and in specific contexts.
Nevertheless, social media use by patients does not only provide beneficial effects. It may incorporate a challenge within the healthcare system ranging from misinformation, patient privacy concerns, and subject on ethical issues. Thus, therefore this essay will focus on the role social media utilization has on patient care by reflecting on various Ted Talks.
Patients utilize social media as a tool to share medical information online. Today, social media are offering a platform to discuss medical conditions remotely. According to Heywood (2014), most patients and their families establish interactive communication online where they share information concerning their medical conditions, symptoms, and recommended treatments which help offer education and encourage patient empowerment. The patients tend to share their medical information by establishing forums encouraging discussions and knowledge discovery on various conditions. Drawing from the TedTalk titled “The big idea my brother inspired,” Heywood has developed a website called PatientsLikeMe, which contains 45000 patients with various health problems. Heywood utilizes the website by sharing the story and health experience of his brother, who succumbed to ALS. The interactive forum fosters patients to share their medical data in real-time, such as symptoms, treatments, experiences, and other recommendations, encouraging other patients and improving their wellbeing. When patients learn that other individuals are suffering from the same ailments, they tend to have lower anxiety levels, and their overall health improves. Therefore, the multiple social media platforms utilization in health is mainly for accessing education and resources by patients and providers.
Social media also provides a platform for patients requesting medical advice, feedback, and reports on personal experiences from individuals with similar illnesses. According to Giustini et al. (2018 there have been increased support initiatives online that assist patients in seeking social support, consolation, and connectivity with the rest, which improves patients’ empowerment and awareness. Research depicts that over 1 million members with breast cancer exist in a Facebook group where they help with social support. Numerous patient group says that social media is a powerful tool for patients with cancer, weight management, and depression, among other conditions. Drawing the Ted Talk titled “Meet e-Patient Dave” summarizes the need for the patient to seek answers online, seek peer support and utilize the recommended healthy practice to improve their health and wellbeing by utilizing their medical data. DeBronkart offers a brief history of his kidney cancer and how the doctor concluded that he would only live for 24 weeks. This prompted him to seek information online from credible sources on the prognosis of kidney tumors and available cures. Unfortunately, no cure was found for the disease. His daughter helped in the search for help in an online community that deals with cancer patients. She found helpful help that would be effective in improving his lifespan through the use of a particular medication. Through that information, his lifespan improved as the tumors’ levels kept decreasing drastically.
Furthermore, DeBronkart (2014) emphasizes the need for healthcare professionals to provide data information to patients. Patients using this medical data can seek vast information from the e-patients and better information that would save their life. Dave gives an example of a particular woman whose husband succumbed to kidney cancer. To help advocate for other kidney patients, she paints a picture of an individual and writes down some basic data about the patient since she argues if doctors provide data of what the patients might e-patient, they could use that data to their advantage, which would save lives through patient sharing information in e-patients lab. Dave also stresses the need for software engineers to develop a full body scan in 3d that would help patients do a thorough body check to determine any abnormalities that would make them seek medical attention on time. Therefore, using e-patient online sharing platforms can assist patients in getting better alternatives to medication and practices, improving their wellbeing and quality of life.
Social media aids patients in seeking online medication care, which improves patient-centered care. Patient empowerment has greatly influenced patients to seek quality care. According to Dishman (2013), nowadays, patients use social media to communicate their condition with the doctor virtually, seeking online consultation and seeking advice, and health information. Drawing from the insights from Ted Talk titled “Healthcare should be a team support”, Dishman stresses the importance of reinventing the healthcare system through disruptive innovations. Dishman offers an example of how online medication and diagnostics have helped him improve his quality of life. He says that when he was first diagnosed with kidney problems, doctors gave him a living schedule of three years at maximum. However, when he decided to take control of his life, he was able to seek online care and accurate diagnostics using innovative scanning devices. He argues that traditional healthcare is founded on traditional diagnostic frameworks involving passive patients, diagnosis assumptions, and incorrect medication and treatment plans. He stresses the need for current healthcare that involves care anywhere, care networking, and care customization. Dishman (2013) advocates for care anywhere, which means a patient does not necessarily need to be taken to a hospital clinic for diagnosis and patient, but the use of technological devices and hand-held devices such as mobile phones with ultrasound scanning apps may serve the purpose of the diagnostic accurately and in real-time. This would reduce bacterial infections that one may contract in a hospital clinic setup and transmit to others, which necessarily implies expensive costs in seeking care, unlike when the care is given at home.
Dishman (2013) also emphasizes care networking in reducing patient medication errors. He gives an example of how one day he developed increased heart palpitations which several doctors, after checking-, ruled out to be heart problems and prescribed medication of the same treatment thrice. But upon seeking the help of an online doctor, the physician determined that Dishman had no heart problems, but the palpitations were due to a case of an overdose. He, therefore, argues that if the healthcare system were reinvented in such a way that care networking would be available through the coordination of caregivers, many patients would not receive wrong diagnoses and medications, ultimately improving their wellbeing and health. This kind of care would also include social care, which encompasses even care provided by family members. Care customization is another essential thing in reinventing the healthcare system. Traditional healthcare depends on guesswork in diagnosis and treatment since the clinical trials performed on a population fail to target a specific patient but represent diverse patient needs. Dishman argues that through technology such as AI, data mining, and data analytics, the diagnosis and invention of medicine will target individual patients depending on their specific needs, thus improving care customization. For instance, the technological use of genome sequencing helps offer a computerized diagnosis and correct medication for a specific patient’s illnesses. Social media can increase innovations through the recruitment of clinical trials and research collaboration. Therefore, with the unveiling of multiple healthcare technologies, it is worthwhile for all individuals to save the lives of one another.
Lastly, social media utilization can serve as a tool for social mobilization. Social mobilization of available online resources, especially AEDs for cardiac arrest patients, can help improve emergency cases. According to Rumsfeld et al. (2021), crowdsourcing, social media, and mobile phone applications can play a significant role in resource social mobilization as they give information in real-time, personalized geography, and specific location with specific location relevant health content. Drawing from the Ted Talk titled “Crowdsource your health,” Engelen (2014) emphasizes the need to crowdsource in the healthcare system. Crowdsourcing helps engage a wide array of the population in network connectivity in emergencies and increases understanding of health conditions, especially in cardiac arrest patients. Mobile devices can help improve emergency care, such as providing support in terms of patient education and crisis communication in emergency medical events. Engelen (2014) poses a sample of quizzes on where one can find AEDs to save a life, but the audience needs to learn. He, therefore, continues to elaborate on how crowdsourcing of information through the use of a website and an iPad application for augmented reality helped locate the nearest available AEDS within the Netherlands that could help in saving lives. Therefore, more innovations in mobile applications utilize AEDs registry data to locate AEDs that are near the bystanders or new ones through augmented reality.
Nevertheless, social media increased usage by patients in seeking answers, sharing information, sharing experiences, and peer-to-peer support has brought several challenges. One challenge patients experience is misinformation. Patients, when using social media platforms for purposes of health, may encounter misleading information about their health conditions (Rumsfeld et al., 2021). Since the internet is accessible to everyone and anybody can post any information on various health topics, patients may consume misleading content from individuals who may pose as professional healthcare. Unqualified individuals can give out false information on a certain illness which may have a different perspective and vary based on culture and location. Therefore, false information may affect the patient’s well-being and can lead to adverse patient outcomes. The other challenge is concern about patient privacy. Several patients may hesitate to share their personal stories, experiences, and medical data for fear of confidentiality. Drawing insights from the Ted Talk titled “Let’s pool our medical data,” Wilbanks raises a concern about patient privacy regarding the use of patient data in research hypothesis anonymously. Wilbanks (2014) wonders why a patient is urged to sign informed consent to protect the patient’s privacy. However, the same content can be found on the online platform and in research cases, meaning patient privacy is violated. He, therefore, argues that patients need to be empowered with accurate and updated information about their health to make fully informed treatment decisions, as their autonomy should be valued. Therefore, patients need to be educated on how the internet works in adhering to social media HIPAA guidelines to protect their consent and medical information.
Conclusion
Social media utilization for purposes of health or personal usage has increased since its emergence. Patients can now use social media platforms to interact, share experiences and stories, seek support, and educate one another on health conditions. Patients and families with specific health issues can get and offer information content that supports those with similar conditions, such as learning about others’ symptoms, diagnoses, and medication. This helps in creating patient empowerment that has positive overall benefits in improving health and quality of life. The use of mobile phones, crowdsourcing, and social media are among the disruptive innovations modernizing the healthcare system for improved patient-centered care outcomes. However, the challenge of misinformation and patient privacy is not exceptional in the use of social media. Patients are educated on the responsible usage of social media for better outcomes. Therefore, social media helps patients engage in patient interaction, patient empowerment, and social support, among other benefits that improve their overall care.
References
Chen Junhan & Wang Juan. (2021). Social media use for health purposes: Systematic review. PubMed Central (PMC). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8156131/
DeBronkart Dave. (2014). Meet e-Patient Dave. TED: Ideas Worth Spreading. https://www.ted.com/talks/dave_debronkart_meet_e_patient_dave
Dishman Eric. (2013). Health care should be a team sport. TED: Ideas Worth Spreading. https://www.ted.com/talks/eric_dishman_health_care_should_be_a_team_sport
Engelen Lucien, L. (2014). Crowdsource your health. TED: Ideas Worth Spreading. https://www.ted.com/talks/lucien_engelen_crowdsource_your_health
Giustini Dean et al. (2018). Effective uses of social media in public health and medicine: A systematic review of systematic reviews. PubMed Central (PMC). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6194097/
Heywood Jamie. (n.d.). The Big Idea My Brother Inspired. TED: Ideas Worth Spreading. https://www.ted.com/talks/jamie_heywood_the_big_idea_my_brother_inspired
Rumsfeld John et al. (2021). Use of Mobile Devices, Social Media, and Crowdsourcing as Digital Strategies to Improve Emergency Cardiovascular Care. AHA Journals. https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIR.0000000000000428
Wilbanks John. (2012). Let’s pool our medical data. TED: Ideas Worth Spreading. https://www.ted.com/talks/john_wilbanks_let_s_pool_our_medical_data
Synthesis of Personal Strengths and Weaknesses as a Leader
Leadership is essential in healthcare management. For proper coordination of the healthcare system, everyone must embrace leadership. In healthcare facilities, nurses must demonstrate good leadership skills. Quality leadership is essential in solving problems in healthcare. Nurses can critically analyze situations and work collaboratively to achieve quality. When nurses take leadership roles, they can identify problems and know effective ways of mitigating the crisis. Since nursing is all about collaboration, strong leadership will enhance commitment and interdisciplinary teamwork. No one is ready to listen to a disorganized individual. Leadership begins with understanding oneself and solving intrapersonal conflicts before thinking of others. Strong interpersonal relationships are enhanced through good leadership. Leaders must listen to their followers or subordinates and understand their needs before anything else. This paves the way for commitment and fulfillment of what one has promised (Northouse, 2021). The relationship between the follower and the leader is crucial.
All affairs in healthcare management are made possible through effective leadership. Nurses must understand their crucial roles of interacting with work colleagues and patients as leaders. The contributions of everyone in making caregiving effective should be appreciated. Leadership is multifaceted (Northouse, 2021). Even though it is complex, nurses must understand how to make it effective. Nurses should learn about healthcare leadership. This is essential in helping them understand transformative leadership. This paper shall discuss my strengths and weaknesses. The aim of reflecting on these attributes is to understand how I can improve my leadership skills to become a better leader.
The Northouse Conceptualizing Leadership Questionnaire (NCLQ) was crucial in evaluating my leadership skills. I scored 17 on trait emphasis, 19 on skill emphasis, 21 on ability emphasis, sixteen on behavior analysis, 13 on process emphasis, and nine on relationship analysis. The NCLQ comprises several emphases that test the strength of a leader. Each emphasis has its questionnaires with different grading. The emphasis includes traits, behavior, ability, skills, process, and relationships (Tonsberg & Henderson, 2016). These emphases aim to assess how an individual influences others through their decisions and what makes the followers perceive the person as their leader. Leaders must demonstrate improved skills each time they take the leadership test. Those who cannot improve their leadership have to find better ways to adjust to their environment.
Leadership is identified in individuals as they grow up. The surrounding is key in shaping leaders. Individuals can be nurtured into better leaders by those who surround them. Emphasis looks into factors that help one become a good leader (Northouse, 2021). Interaction with peers plays a pivotal role in identifying leaders. Based on the tested traits, I identified myself with the relationship trait. This is because the relationship is the foundation of leadership. I have often perceived relationships as a process, ability, skill, and almost equal behavior. From this, my results showed that ability and relationship were the highest. The trait was the lowest on the scale. From this, I don’t believe people are born leaders; instead, they acquire leadership as a trait in their interaction with others. In my opinion, one can decide to be a leader or not. For example, good orators may not necessarily have been born that way. They might have taken time to improve their communication skills and overcome stage fright. It is not surprising that these individuals may be viewed as shy in person. Leadership demands that an individual must understand their followers and influence them to listen.
Based on the NCLQ tests, I prefer to develop better relationships with others than anything else. This will boost the strength of my leadership. From the positive perception of leadership in relationships, I believe that effective communication between my colleagues and me will improve things. Instead of expecting others to behave as leaders, I expect them to start communicating well with others. I am good at communicating with everyone to ensure effective leadership. The collaboration between leaders and followers is essential to enhance motivation and responsibility. Relationships pave the way for interaction with followers. During my peer evaluation, I got feedback from my team that I communicated ‘effectively, to the point, and in an engaging way.’ Communication has helped me in self-organization. It is crucial in planning and understanding the needs of others. Effective communication skills are a great asset that should not be forgotten.
I must improve on consistency. Consistency in work has been my weakness. When team members fail in their roles, I have always focused on blaming them. If I become consistent, I will focus on my leadership skills rather than assessing the quality of others. Sometimes, starting a task is easy, but the team’s enthusiasm declines with decreased vigor. I should not be deterred from performing my roles even when others are underperforming. Inconsistency impairs my ability to lead by making me unreliable. I should be responsible for every task, even when others are not doing their best.
Everyone should make leadership available (Tonsberg & Henderson, 2016). It should not be confined to a specific individual. This is necessary to promote equality and sustainability. In the traditional model, the leading authority is perceived as top-down. It starts with those at the top in healthcare management to followers. As a leader, I must involve everyone in the decision-making process. This is essential even to overcoming my inconsistency. Nursing is a collaborative role in which all the significant stakeholders must be involved. I must know my follower’s motivation, interests, and needs.
The lowest score on my ability test means I must work hard to improve. In nursing, one must adapt to the work environment. Even though ability had the lowest score, I believe that leadership is not solely based on the ability of an individual to adjust to their environment (Tonsberg & Henderson, 2016). However, an individual perceived as a leader can have the ability to lead. The ability must be gotten from experience. Experience is birthed from constant training. For example, I have always viewed myself as good at communication and able to excel in academics but poor in assertiveness. Leadership abilities must be expressed through cognition and practice. An individual must comprehend leadership from the view of those surrounding a person rather than making assumptions about what they ought to do. Understanding this concept from an individual perspective is crucial.
Leadership in nursing is not just about holding the top administrative position (Tonsberg & Henderson, 2016). It shows followers’ understanding and listening to them regardless of their perspectives. Many nurses confuse that having authority to make decisions in the hospital is a sign of leadership. People can have administrative authority because of their educational qualifications, not necessarily the ability to lead others. Leadership traits are an integral part of healthcare. They work interchangeably to promote quality. I must learn to strengthen my consistency and communication skills. These will help me serve patients better and collaborate effectively with the interdisciplinary team.
My identified traits have helped me understand what a nurse leader requires. I have observed many nurse leaders who seem resilient in fostering their leadership skills. However, some do not understand the essence of working with everyone. This can only be achieved through better communication. Effective communication will promote active engagement and, thus, collaboration (Carlow University, 2021). When nurses collaborate despite their ranks, better relationships are fostered. Nurses are expected to show commitment in the delegation of their duties. As a nurse, I must apply critical thinking in solving problems. This is because my leadership must always benefit the patients and maintain excellent relationships with my work colleagues. Mentorship and teaching are crucial tools for becoming an excellent leader. Many nurse leaders identify themselves with their mentors. These mentors are considered special people who helped them progress in their leadership. It is crucial to examine feedback. Feedback helps one in understanding their position in leadership. Also, it is crucial to listen and understand the fundamental organizational structures that influence leadership.
In summary, the NCLQ is important in assessing one’s leadership strengths and weaknesses. It emphasizes abilities, traits, relationships, processes, skills, and behavior. The scores of each emphasis are essential. Through the questionnaires, I have understood the meaning of leadership and the areas I need to improve on. Finally, we must understand that leadership will keep evolving.
References
Carlow University (2021). Examining the Qualities of an Effective Nurse Leader https://online.carlow.edu/resources/article/effective-nurse-leader-qualities/
Northhouse, P.G., (2021). Introduction to Leadership: Concepts and Practice. Chapters 1& 2. 5th Edition
Tonsberg, T.A., & Henderson, J.S., (2016). Conceptualizing Leadership. Understanding complex Systems, 159-165.
Affordable Care Act’s Replacement With the Single Payer Plan
Introduction
Throughout history, many groups in the United States have tried to push and lobby for universal healthcare, but their plans have always fallen short; only Medicare and Medicaid. The Obama administration enacted the affordable care act, which was viewed as a significant healthcare reform (Longest, 2016). The Supreme Court legitimized the act’s subsidies after litigation challenging their legality was placed before it. Despite the affordable care act being fully actualized, 27 million Americans are still uninsured by 2025 (Liu, 2017). Most insured Americans are underinsured (Liu, 2017) due to the decreased number of health insurer networks which has limited people’s choices. The act has given the power to large healthcare insurance companies and institutions since they are the ones who can implement it effectively at a minimal cost. America’s healthcare system has always been known for its bureaucracy which has led to wastage of time and money, leading to low morale among patients and providers; the affordable care act has only exacerbated the situation. The act has not solved numerous issues facing America’s healthcare system, including; low coverage, poor accessibility, inflation, and high medication costs. This paper supports replacing the Affordable Care Act with a single-payer plan as it possesses economic, social, and philosophical advantages.
Philosophical Argument
The profit motive in healthcare has been terrible, and the affordable care act has not solved this concept. Every society believes healthcare is a human right, and no one should be denied or priced out from accessing it. The market for profit mainly controls the United States healthcare. The rationale behind this system was that increased number and competition among private health insurance organizations would drive down healthcare costs. However, this thinking has been proven to be false over the years. According to a study, the profit among top healthcare insurance companies has grown tremendously to surpass even S&P 500 companies. In the same period, the number of uninsured Americans is rising to millions; healthcare insurance payments are increasing (Liu, 2017). The sad part is that most of the growing uninsured are American-born citizens, not immigrants, contrary to beliefs.
The current condition is healthcare insurance companies are minting money as more Americans are struggling to pay their premiums. The profit motive has incentivized health insurance companies to raise their premiums for growth continuously; more Americans are being priced out of insurance. The American privatized system will provide a good product but only for people who can afford it. The single-payer plan is a better alternative as it ends the profit motive ensuring healthcare is universal. Under the single-payer plan, every American is insured within the same umbrella, promoting equality and accessibility. The plan ends the unnecessary increment in insurance premiums, contributing to lowering healthcare costs.
Economic Argument
The single-payer plan will save money and lower and control healthcare costs. The United States healthcare administrative costs as always been viewed as an atrocity with considerable operation costs, payments, and documentation that do not make sense. Billions are being spent on insurance overhead, staff costs who manage health benefits, and institution administration (Liu, 2017). The affordable care act has increased electronic documentation and operation costs as funds are needed to ensure payments from various insurance networks are well-managed (Blumberg & Holahan, 2019). The single-payer plan comes with economies of scale, which will reduce costs as third-party administrators used to cater to the growing operations are removed. Limiting patients to a single insurer will lower administrative costs in healthcare institutions, ensuring cost control.
Experts argue cost control mechanisms will help address the growing healthcare expenses and inflation in the United States. The affordable healthcare act has failed in solving this issue. It is easier to implement cost control since the administration is centralized. It is difficult to institute cost control in the United States since the most significant part of the healthcare system is privatized by numerous private institutions with different rules and goals. These companies will likely refuse to implement cost controls if it affects their profitability. The single-payer plan will have only one insurer with the same guidelines adopted throughout the system. For example, one technology can be deemed cost-ineffective by a study in the current system; the government cannot stop institutions from utilizing it. Under a single-payer plan, if technology is identified to add unnecessary costs, it is completely removed from the system. A single-payer can also negotiate better prices for products and services due to economies of scale, especially medication which is high in America (Blumberg & Holahan, 2019). Cost control in healthcare will massively help various groups.
Social Argument
The single-payer plan will help various groups’ universal coverage, equitability, portability, accessibility, and affordability of healthcare. The uninsured Americans will receive the needed coverage. The coverage status will be continuous even when they have lost their jobs or changed residence, income, and age. Most current insurance coverage is linked with job status, so moving around for work disrupts health coverage (Blumberg & Holahan, 2019). The portability of a single-payer plan ensures disconnecting of healthcare insurance from employment. It allows people to pursue new ventures without fear of losing their health coverage. There will be equity in healthcare as everyone is under the same insurance, addressing the racial, class, and income disparities witnessed in the United States (Blumberg & Holahan, 2019). The single-payer plan will make healthcare more affordable by eliminating the increasing insurance and out-of-pocket payments. Those individuals will not have to pay more premiums to secure coverage as costs are distributed across the taxpayers. Affordability will ensure Americans do not suffer from financial burdens due to healthcare costs. As the single-payer plan reduces costs, lower and middle income will have the financial ability to access healthcare. Services such as dental appointments, eye check-ups, and health screening previously reserved for the rich will now be accessible to the rest of the population (Blumberg & Holahan, 2019). Every American will access the medical personnel they want. The improved accessibility to such vital healthcare services will ensure better health among Americans.
Conclusion
Despite the implementation of the Affordable Care, Americans are yet to see any improvement in America’s healthcare systems. The problems include the ever-increasing healthcare expenses and costs of medicinal drugs; millions are still uninsured. The profit motive in healthcare ensures that stakeholders are reluctant to make any radical changes. They prefer the status quo to be maintained so that they continue to make a killing financially. The above arguments depict how and why the single-payer plan is the way for the United States. It solves many problems, including universal coverage and reduced healthcare costs. The plan ensures equity and accessibility in the healthcare system.
References
Blumberg, L. J., & Holahan, J. (2019). The Pros and Cons of Single-Payer Health Plans. Washington, DC: Urban Institute. https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/99918/pros_and_cons_of_a_single-payer_plan.pdf
Liu, J. (2017). Exploring single-payer alternatives for health care reform (Doctoral dissertation, RAND). https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/rgs_dissertations/RGSD300/RGSD375/RAND_RGSD375.pdf
Longest, B. B. (2016) Overview of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. In Health policymaking in the United States. (Appendix 1, pp. 337-343) Chicago, IL: Health Administration Press.
Artificial Intelligence (Article Review)
Introduction
This essay’s purpose is to critically analyze an article that focuses on artificial intelligence. Specifically, the analysis will focus on some of the most critical aspects of the article, including a review of the article’s objectives, strengths and weaknesses, a conclusion, and various recommendations. The study titled “Artificial intelligence in healthcare: past, present, and future” was written by Jiang et al. (2017) and is the subject of this review. In this section, the authors discuss how artificial intelligence (AI) has recently made significant waves in the healthcare industry, even kindling a debate regarding whether or not AI doctors may eventually replace human physicians. They argue that the role of doctors will not necessarily be taken over by artificial intelligence in the foreseeable future. However, it will assist them in making better clinical decisions, and in some areas of the industry, such as radiology, it may even fully replace human judgment (Jiang et al., 2017). According to the information that was provided in the article, the implementation of AI in the healthcare industry has been made possible by the growing availability of healthcare data as well as the quick development of methodologies for big data analysis (Jiang et al., 2017). When prompted by the appropriate clinical questions, robust artificial intelligence systems have the ability to discover therapeutically valuable information that is concealed in vast volumes of data. For this reason, the clinical decision-making process can benefit from having access to this information.
Summary of the Article (Objective Review)
The researchers who contributed to this article examined the transformative effects that the development of artificial intelligence has had on the field of healthcare and how it has evolved over the past few decades. In particular, they cited the escalating availability of medical data and the quickening pace of methodological advancement as two examples (Jiang et al., 2017). Despite this, researchers in 2017 did not have a clear understanding of the existing and future applications of AI in the healthcare industry. As a direct consequence of this fact, the primary objective of the authors of the article was to investigate the current state of artificial intelligence applications in the healthcare industry as well as their potential for the future. An additional, more in-depth inquiry into the applications of AI in stroke was carried out by the researchers. The researchers were focused on three primary areas: early detection and diagnosis, therapy, and outcome prediction and prognosis evaluation.
Strengths and Weaknesses of the Article
Strengths
The most valuable aspect of this article is that it analyzed and discussed the most common AI tools for machine learning and natural language processing as potential solutions. This is the article’s greatest strength and the most important addition that the paper makes to the field. The techniques for machine learning can be further broken into two categories: the more standard approaches and the more cutting-edge deep learning techniques. As another key focus of the study, artificial intelligence applications in neurology could be presented and discussed in the article as well (Jiang et al., 2017). These applications were investigated from the perspectives of early disease diagnosis and prediction, therapy, prognosis evaluation and outcome prediction all of which contribute to this field of research.
Weaknesses
The fact that there was an inadequate amount of data interchange is the primary weakness of the study. In order for artificial intelligence (AI) systems to work properly, they need to undergo consistent training using data obtained from clinical trials. The availability of new data is essential for the continued development and improvement of an AI system after it has been initially trained on historical information and has been put into operation. This is because AI systems learn best from examples that are similar to real-world situations. As a result of the fact that the existing healthcare system does not provide individuals with any kind of incentive to share their data on the system, the research was quite difficult to do.
Conclusion and Recommendations
In conclusion, the paper has reviewed the article by focusing on the primary areas of interest. According to the authors of this article, AI can be used effectively to improve healthcare by analyzing a wide variety of healthcare data sets. This article also provides an overview of the various illness categories AI has been used to cure. After that, the authors went into depth on the two primary classifications of AI tools: machine learning (ML) and natural language processing (NLP). In machine learning, the researchers concentrated on the two methods that have shown to be the most successful historically: neural networks and support vector machines (SVM). After that, they analyzed the three primary classifications of AI applications in stroke care.
It is essential, in my opinion, to conduct some research on artificial intelligence in specific sections of a department in order to have a deeper understanding of AI’s significant role in the operations of that particular department. It is more beneficial for researchers to research the topic rather than try to think of any new ideas. The currently available software and hardware linked with AI to advance the department will make it easier for humans to manage their lives.
Reference
Jiang, F., Jiang, Y., Zhi, H., Dong, Y., Li, H., Ma, S., … & Wang, Y. (2017). Artificial intelligence in healthcare: past, present, and future. Stroke and vascular neurology, 2(4).