Overview
Health care is an essential aspect of the contemporary world. As asserted by Levett-Jones (2012), a family that does not have a proper medical plan can easily find itself in financial constraints in an event of a medical emergency. It is due to this fact that many nations around the world have developed policies and passed laws that aim at improving the overall quality, accessibility, and cost of health care. This paper will thus focus on the civil rights of all individuals towards health care. To achieve its objectives, this paper will focus on accessibility, equality, and access to health care.
Health Care Policies
Access to quality, affordable, and equitable health services has been the main goal of many nations around the world. Even though very few health care policies and reforms have been passed in the United States over the last decade, there are laws and policies that have been passed to ensure that health care within the nation is accessible, affordable, and of high quality. The Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act, well known as the Obama Care Act, was enacted to ensure that health care within the United States is equitable, affordable, and accessible to all citizens irrespective of their social and economic backgrounds (Schoonhoven, 2013). This Act aims at achieving its goals through tax subsidies, consumer protection, and insurance exchanges in the provision of both public and private insurance policies. Additionally, campaigns such as the Million Heart aim at reducing heart attacks by around 50% in the United States mainly within the minority population (Sobo, 2013). Finally, the United States has been diversity the qualification and expertise of its medical staff to ensure that they are competent enough to provide high-quality health care services within the nation.
Health Care Reforms to the Uninsured and Under-Insured and Implications to Vulnerable Populations
In the United States, individuals who come from minority racial and ethnic backgrounds, earn a limited income, or possess low education qualifications, or are disabled tend to receive low standards of health care (Fairman, 2011). These individuals are usually underinsured or uninsured. As asserted earlier, such individuals usually face serious financial difficulties in an event of a medical emergency. When an individual is under such a situation, they tend not to have any form of economic security. Additionally, such individuals find it difficult to progress at work or in education. Therefore, reformations with regards to access, affordability, and improvement in the quality of health care plays a significant role in not only ensuring that the uninsured and under insured individuals enjoy healthy lifestyles but also guarantees social and economic growth in the long run.
The Role of Nursing Staff
The nursing staff plays a significant role in creating the awareness on civil rights towards health care to the public. The Nursing community first needs to ensure that they are competent enough to meet the global health demand hence improving the overall quality of health services that they provide. In addition to implementing health policies and reforms in an effective and efficient manner, nursing practitioners also need to developing reforms and policies that will aim at further improving the quality of health care services. Finally, the nursing communities need to organize seminar, campaigns and rallies that aim at creating awareness towards living healthy and also sensitizing the public on their rights towards access to health care.
References
Fairman, J. A. (2011). Broadening the Scope of Nursing Practice. The New England Journal of Medicine, 364(3), 193-214.
Levett-Jones, T. (2012). Clinical reasoning: Learning to think like a nurse. Frenchs Forest, N.S.W.: Pearson Australia.
Sobo, E. (2013). Behind the scenes in health care improvement: The complex structures and emergent strategies of implementation science. Social Science and Medicine, 67(10), 1530-1540.
Schoonhoven, L. (2013). Nursing implementation science: How evidence-based nursing requires evidence-based implementation, Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 40(4), 302-310.