Health Care Reform: Cost, Access, and Universal Coverage

Introduction to Health Care Reform

Health care reform is a global and constant issue. Most communities are planning, preparing, implementing, legislating, and assessing health care reform as a continuous policy improvement cycle. Globally, the objectives of health care reform are becoming familiar: controlling growing costs, improving the quality of health care, and increasing access to health care services.

Universal Health Coverage

Universal health care coverage is a health care system that provides financial protection and health care services to every citizen within a country. It provides a package of benefits to everyone, with the end goal of improving access to health care, reducing costs, and improving health outcomes. However, universal health care does not provide coverage for everyone for everything (Pineault et al., 1993). It only implies that everyone is able to access health care. Some universal coverage systems are funded by the government, while others are based on what the citizen is required to obtain through private health insurance.

Universal coverage is determined by three dimensions: how much of the cost is covered, who is covered, and what services are covered (Rittenhouse et al., 2009). The World Health Organization describes universal health coverage as a condition in which citizens have access to health services without incurring financial hardship. Universal coverage is a powerful concept that public health offers because it is delivered in an integrated and comprehensive way. One of the goals of universal coverage is creating a protection system that provides equality of opportunity for individuals to enjoy. Most people agree that access to health care should be considered a human right rather than a luxury.

Reduction of Cost

Being medically insured does not necessarily help a patient obtain a timely and efficient treatment appointment. It also does not guarantee that the patient will afford all required deductibles before an examination. The goal of health care reform is to offer accessibility at a fair price. In recent years, efforts to control health care costs have taken a top-down approach. However, due to the diversity of delivery systems, it is unlikely that a single effective approach can be implemented nationally (Phillips et al., 2010).

The only sustainable and effective way to reduce health care costs is by restructuring payment systems and health care delivery while engaging key stakeholders in every process. This can especially be accomplished at the community level, where care is delivered. Therefore, the most effective way of reducing care costs and improving population health is by supporting and developing community strategies in which all stakeholders are involved. This can be done using accurate and actionable data to change all aspects of care delivery. For cost reduction to be achieved effectively, the following will be needed: reducing drug costs, improving fraud control, reducing administrative costs, encouraging preventive public health measures, and curbing duplicative services (Zuckerman, 2014).

Conclusion

Most political parties have never come into agreement when it comes to health care. All they can agree on is that the current system is unsustainable and ineffective unless significant changes are made. In any health care system, the key issues are cost, care, and access. Continuing to apply the same approaches while expecting different results has proven counterproductive, as evidenced by the government's expanding role in a system that remains problematic. The experience with the Affordable Care Act has illustrated that a one-size-fits-all program cannot adequately address the full complexity of the nation's health care needs.