Verified Document

The Public Policy About Parkinsons Term Paper

Health Issues for the Aging One of the diseases that creates a burden on our health care system, especially among the aged, is Parkinson's disease. At present, there is no known cure for Parkinson's, merely treatments that can help to reduce the symptoms. This makes it difficult to develop a public health solution to Parkinson's. On the prevention side, one of the challenges is that while there have been some risk factors potentially identified, the reality is that there is no known cause either. For example, a meta-analysis suggest that living in a rural area, drinking well water, farming and exposure to pesticides all might be risk factors (Priyardashi et al, 2001). The current state of research at present is such that the different forms that Parkinson's takes are being studied (Peto, et al, 1995). Moreover, the different ways that Parkinson's presents can also bring about a number of different complications, from which the need for treatment arises. One example is that PD patients suffer from gastrointestinal issues at a higher rate than the general population – the link is known but the mechanisms by which this link occurs are not (Natale et al, 2008).

There have actually been a number of studies that show promise in getting to a cure for Parkinson's. One study showed that alpha-synuclein synaptic pathology might help in providing direction for a cure (Bellucci et al, 2012). Disruption of the brain-blood barrier may be a causal factor, and thus a pathway to a cure (Lee & Pienaar, 2014). A substantial body of research shows that cannabinoids are effective in treatment of Parkinson's symptoms, owing to the neuroprotective properties of cannabinoids (Carroll, Zeissler, Hanemann & Zajicek, 2012). Several studies of self-reporting Parkinson's patients support this, showing that many take cannabis to medicate, and that nearly half find this to be effective (Venderova et al, 2004).

Because so little is known about Parkinson's, most of the public policy response has been aimed at ensuring funding is available to researchers....

Parts of this document are hidden

View Full Document
svg-one

The primary body for disbursing this funding is the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), which in 2016 disbursed $107 million to various agencies that conduct Parkinson's research (NINDS, 2017). In total, NIH spent $161 million on Parkinson's research in 2016. Decreasing the burden of this disease is actually one of the mandates that NINDS has, so there is a clear understanding of the need to invest in Parkinson's research, because of the burden in presents on society and on the government.
The biggest issue where government policy is concerned is in managing the cost of Parkinson's treatment. There are a variety of treatments, ranging substantially in price. The most current treatment, Gocovri, has recently been approved, at a cost of $28,000 per year (Investors.com, 2017). In 2007, the direct medical cost of PD was $6.22 billion and overall economic impact was $10.78 billion. Of this, medications are $1.47 billion of direct costs (Valldeoriola, 2010). Other costs include nursing homes ($2.6 billion), caregivers ($2.36 billion), lost productivity ($1 billion). At that time, direct cost per patient was $12, 491 (Valldeoriola, 2010), much less than would be the case today with a patient on Gocovri.

Much of the direct costs come from Medicare, but some of the indirect costs will as well, and more will come from Veteran's Affairs. So there is significant financial incentive for the US to explore all options with respect to managing these costs. Yet, cannabis is still illegal at the federal level. There are several states where it is legal for medical purposes, yet the stated policy of the White House is to increase marijuana law enforcement (Liptak, 2017), which could reduce access to cannabinoids for PD sufferers, increase their costs or risks, and could curtail their rights to care even in states with medical marijuana laws.

The federal government's lack of willingness to explore all options for treating PD sufferers is baffling – the same government is willing to allow legal opioid production but…

Sources used in this document:

References

Belluci, A., Navarria, L., Zaltieri, M., Missale, C. & Spano, P. (2012). Alpha-synuclein synaptic pathology and its implications in the development of novel therapeutic approaches to cure Parkinson's disease. Brain Research. Vol. 1432 (2012) 95-113.

Carroll, C., Zeissler, M., Hanneman, C. & Zajicek, P. (2012). ?9-tetrahydrocannabinol (?9-THC) exerts a direct neuroprotective effect in a human cell culture model of Parkinson's disease. Neuropathy and Applied Neurobiology. Vol. 38 (2012) 535-547.

Investors.com (2017). Adamas Parkinson's drug is double the cost of analyst expectations. Investors' Business Daily Retrieved November 20, 2017 from https://www.investors.com/news/technology/adamas-parkinsons-drug-cost-is-double-analyst-expectations/

Lee, H. & Pienaar, I. (2014) Disruption of the blood-brain barrier in Parkinson's disease: Curse or a route to a cure? Frontiers in Bioscience. Vol. 19 (2014) 272-280.

Liptak, K. (2017). White House: Feds will step up marijuana law enforcement. CNN. Retrieved November 20, 2017 from http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/23/politics/white-house-marijuana-donald-trump-pot/index.html

Natale, G., Pasquali, L, Ruggieri, S., Paparelli, A. & Fornai, F. (2008). Parkinson's disease and the gut: A well-known clinical association in need of an effective cure and explanation. Neurogastroenterology and Motility. Vol. 20 (2008) 741-749.

NINDS (2017). Focus on Parkinson's disease research. NINDS.NIH.gov. Retrieved November 20, 2017 from https://www.ninds.nih.gov/Current-Research/Focus-Research/Focus-Parkinsons-Disease

Peto, V., Jenkinson, C., Fitzpatrick, R. & Greenhall, R. (1995) The development and validation of a short measure of functioning and well-being for individuals with Parkinson's disease. Quality of Life Research. Vol. 4 (3) 241-248.

Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Health Systems Management and Electronic Health Records
Words: 2298 Length: 7 Document Type: Research Paper

Health Systems Management and Electronic Health Records Healthcare is an essential factor or tool in relation to the American society. The society of America has no national socialized healthcare system. In this research paper, the focus will be on the Medicare healthcare system in the context of the United States. The paper will focus on illustration of the concepts of the Medicare healthcare system, various management challenges, problems, and opportunities in

Health Care Law Ethics
Words: 383 Length: 1 Document Type: Essay

Healthcare Health Care Law Ethics Health care over the years has become one of the most important debates to take place within the United States of America. This fact holds particularly true for the major part of the Obama Administrations whose New Health Care policies has been criticized extremely (Zhi Qu, 2010). The world, however, is still waiting for the final curtain to rise and to witness the climax which would be

Health and Health Promotion According to Public
Words: 1507 Length: 5 Document Type: Essay

Health and Health Promotion According to Public Health Agency (2001), Health is an ingredient of life that enables individuals to be independent socially, and live economical lives. Health is a concept that emphasizes social and personal resources. All action directed towards health, social and economic development should aim at providing human needs including peace, basic needs, and access to basic human rights. Understanding all the fundamental requirements of health will help

Health Systems Issues and Strategic Planning
Words: 3151 Length: 10 Document Type: Research Paper

Health Systems Issues and Strategic Planning The delivery of high quality healthcare services requires a sophisticated health system infrastructure that provides a multidisciplinary team approach. This health system infrastructure varies from country to country, but there are some common features that characterize health systems that can be used to identify best practices and current trends in healthcare delivery and administration in general and for an elderly American patient in particular. As

Healthcare Economics Overall Healthcare and Economics Healthcare
Words: 1497 Length: 4 Document Type: Research Paper

Healthcare Economics Overall Healthcare And Economics Healthcare economics: Current challenges from a nursing perspective Although the subject of healthcare economics has been hotly-debated, on one issue there is widespread agreement: the aging of the population will substantively increase the demand for healthcare in the near and far future. As the population worldwide is aging and living longer, the need for essential services over a longer lifespan will generate more costs for an already-beleaguered

Healthcare Must Be Provided by the Government to All Citizens Who...
Words: 2176 Length: 6 Document Type: Research Paper

Health Care As human beings, our health and longevity have never been better. Many people today live to 100 years and beyond, and often in good and active health. One of the major reasons for this is better health care and more access to health care for more people. On the other hand, however, many people do not have access to the same health care services as others. Often, the main

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now