Health Care Ethics and Policies

Health Care Ethics and Policies
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Health Care Ethics and Policies
Introduction
Health care and health care systems encompass the services offered by health institutions such as diagnosis, treatment, prevention, and the services offered by tertiary institutions like the insurance companies and pharmaceuticals. Consequently, health care policies cut across these concerned parties, and both the federal and local governments have put in place legislation aimed at improving and regulating the health care industry. There have been major developments in the healthcare industry over the past few decades in the United States, with vulnerable groups and the payment systems attracting more attention. The states have also played a critical role in improving the healthcare systems, thanks to the autonomous nature of the United States governance system. The numerous health care policies imposed by the federal and local governments in the industry bring about some complexities that raise ethical concerns in the industry. Besides, every decision in the health care industry can give rise to conflicts, thus necessitating high ethical standards for effective decision making.
Federal Health Care Policies
The United States government has strived to bridge the disparity in the health care industry, particularly the risk factors, mortality rates, and access to health care. However, the vulnerable population remains significantly high. The medically vulnerable individuals include the low-income earners, minority groups, the elderly, the homeless, the immunosuppressed, and those suffering from chronological diseases (Shi & Stevens, 2010). The government has put measures meant to salvage these vulnerable individuals from the ordeal of inaccessible and poor health care. Some of the major legislation imposed by the federal government include the social security act, the Health Maintenance Organization (HMO), Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Ballotpedia, n.d.).
The Social Security Act, enacted during President Franklin D. Roosevelt's reign (Meli, 2018), sought to benefit retired workers and the disabled, who are all bona fide members of the vulnerable population. Underneath the Social Security Act are the Medicare and Medicaid programs to cater to the elderly and the low-income earners, respectively (Bachrach et al., 2012). On the other hand, HIPAA is federal government legislation that is meant to ensure continued insurance of individuals with pre-existing conditions in case of job losses or changing jobs (Ballotpedia, n.d.). The act also provides some sets of standards for maintaining patients' privacy, especially electronically stored information. The standards include the Transaction and Code Set Rule, Unique Identifier Rule, and the Security Rule (Ballotpedia, n.d).
The Affordable Care Act (ACA), or simply the Obamacare, which has become very contentious with the current administration, is another federal government legislation aimed at cushioning the vulnerable populations. Besides extending the Medicaid program to cover even the childless adults, Obamacare subsidized the insurance covers by providing tax credits while also requ...