FINANCING THE HEALTH CARE 2
Health care economics are important in the decision-making processin healthcare because one must ensure the provision of high-qualitycare to everyone at an affordable cost. The policymakers mustconsider the cost, access and quality of healthcare (Muller et al.,2008). When the cost is high, the access to health care will bereduced, thereby compromising the health of those who cannot affordit. The policy makers should, therefore, strike a balance between thecost and quality of the healthcare because even if the low-cost drugsare administered to the patients, their health needs might not be metsatisfactorily.
However, it is possible to balance the cost and care in the US healthcare delivery system if the government gives incentives to thepharmaceutical companies making drugs such as Provenge a drug thatis meant for treating cancer. Research shows that the problem ofbalancing cost and health care has a significant effect on theAmerican health care system. The public insurers such as Medicareusually consider the costs before they pay for a drug to beadministered to the patients. For example, Medicare officials werethe first people to scrutinize the costs incurred by the patients forusing Provenge (Stein, 2010). Although thepublic insurers may cover costly treatments, they may sometime evadethe costs by paying for cheaper treatment methods. The privateinsurers usually follow the lead but, they usually focus on costlymedical covers in order to reap more benefits. Based on the tensionbetween cost and care in the article that was published on WashingtonPost, it is clear that policies in the health care are made based onthe costs of drugs or treatments.
The costly methods of treatment are not likely to be paid for by thepublic insurers because they argue that it may not be affordable toevery American citizen whether rich or poor. The recommendedsolution to ease the tension between the cost and care is for thegovernment to provide incentives to the drug-making companies. Also,the policymakers in health care should lay emphasis on all theaspects of health care including the access and quality of care inthe decision-making process rather than considering the cost oftreatment only. The health-care providers of the US such as thenational hospitals, clinics and community-based health careorganizations are usually reimbursed by the government through thetwo managed care programs, which include Medicaid and Medicare(Berger, 2008). The payment for hospital services can also be madeprivately or directly without requiring the reimbursement from thehealth insurance funds.
References
Berger, C. 2008. Health care financing. In Encyclopedia of socialwork. 20th ed. Vol. 2, D–I. Edited by T. Mizrahi and L. E. Davis,332–340. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 2008.
Muller, D., Zimmering, M., Chan, C., McFarlane, P., Plerratos, A., &Querfeld, U. (2008). Intensified hemodialysis regimens: Neglectedtreatment options for children and adolescents. PediatricNephrology, 23 (10), 1729-1736.
Stein, R. (2010). Review of prostatecancer drug Provenge renews medical cost-benefit debate. Retrievedfrom:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/07/AR2010110705205.htmlon June 09, 2016.