The Society’s Well-Being And Public Health Reform

Public Health Reform
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Public Health Reform
Public health activities are integral to the society’s well-being and health. Focusing on public health reform, an overview of the present status of public health in America is provided in this paper. In addition, the weaknesses and strengths of one particular portion of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) are presented, along with a few suggestions for plan improvement.
For many years, the United States has been focusing not on preventing illnesses before they occur, but rather on treating people after they fall ill. The most common-sense way and most effective way of improving health is to invest in disease prevention. This would help to spare people from getting diseases that are preventable, decrease costs of healthcare, and improve the productivity of workers in the country so that America could be competitive with other countries (Bovbjerg, Ormond & Waidmann, 2015). At the moment, millions of people across the country suffer from diseases that are preventable, including diabetes, heart disease, and even cancer. In addition, children nowadays face the danger of living less healthy and shorter lives compared to their parents (Mays & Smith, 2015).
The public health system in the United States is charged with improving the health of the people. Even so, for decades, it has constantly been facing the challenge of being inadequately funded. Analysis from the New York Academy of Medicine, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, the Institute of Medicine, plus various other experts demonstrate that health departments at the local, state as well as federal levels have been hindered by reason of limited funds and have been unable to perform their core functions in an adequate fashion, for instance programs aimed at preventing disease and preparing for health emergencies (Randolph & Morrow, 2013).
Enacted in March 2010, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is aimed at reforming both of America’s private and public health insurance systems. Since its enactment, this health reform law has helped as estimated 20 million Americans get health insurance (Rosenbaum, 2015). Some of its major objectives are as follows: to promote quality and innovation in the country’s public health insurance system; strengthen the country’s healthcare and public health infrastructure and workforce; provide new funding for public health and prevention; and reduce costs and increase benefits for consumers (Bovbjerg, Ormond & Waidmann, 2015).
It is worth mentioning that the Affordable Care Act realigns and encourages teamwork between the public health and the health care systems. Focusing on health system reforms and insurance reforms, this legislation consists of a number of provisions which have significant implications for public health (Bovbjerg, Ormond & Waidmann, 2015). In addition, through the creation of the first National Prevention Strategy, which is a comprehensive and far-reaching development program that is focused on the social determinants of health and individual behavioral choices, and the Prevention and Public Health Fund, the legislation influences public health directly (Rosenbaum, 2015).
Even as ACA is mainly aimed at improving access to the healthcare system by expanding affordable health insurance options, some particular provisions within this reform law actually increase access to secondary as well as primary prevention services like regular disease screening and immunizations. At the moment, it is mandatory for most health plans to deliver preventive health services devoid of charging a coinsurance or copayment provided that those preventive health services are offered by healthcare providers within the network of that health plan (Mays & Smith, 2015). Some of the preventive health services that have been included are immunization vaccinations for young people and adults, for instance mumps, measles, and flu; cancer screenings for instance mammograms and colonoscopies; cholesterol screenings; and blood pressure. Furthermore, a number of behavioral health interventions are covered as well free of charge, for example, tobacco cessation counselling and interventions, depression screening, and alcohol misuse screening and counselling (Rosenbaum, 2015). In addition, the Affordable Care Act necessitates free provision of contraceptive methods that are approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) (Bovbjerg, Ormond & Waidmann, 2015).
The Affordable Care Act has also created other opportunities aimed at improving public health in the Un...