Health and Social Care Policies Literature & Language Essay

Health and Social Care Policies
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Health and Social Care
Introduction
In response to the challenges emerging from epidemiological transitions, governments around the globe are grappling with implementing policies to restructure health care systems in meeting different health and social needs among populations (Sheikh, 2017). Reforms in health and social care are aimed at improving access and availability of services, reducing inequalities in access, reduce cost and improve quality of services for all populations, and respond to key challenges of the changing societies. These objectives are geared towards ensuring that individuals and populations enjoy the benefits of high-quality services that are well synchronized within a robust health and social care system with effective public policies. These policies are decisions, plans, and actions governments undertake to meet specific health and social care goals in society. examples of such policies include tobacco control policy, vaccination policy, and breastfeeding promotion policy and span different areas of care such as quality and access to care, health equity, and delivery and financing of health and social care. While discussions about health sustainability has focused on quality of care and patient involvement, little attention has been paid to financing care as a fundamental area in the economics of health and social policy that affects health equity (Liaropoulos & Goranitis, 2015). This paper explores income levels as a social determinant of health that impacts access to health insurance coverage among the Latinos as a minority groups in the United States.
Income Levels as a Social Determinant of Health
Many factors, including income levels, quality of education, and the environment influence the health of individuals and populations. However, research indicates that among all the social determinants of health, income and social status is the most influential such that higher social and economic status are associated with better health (Krisberg, 2016, p.1). According to the World Health Organization, the increasing gap between the rich and the poor further increases the issue of health equity (WHO, 2020). Public health care workers have witnessed complex associations between low-income households and poor health and science has constantly pointed to the evidence linking low income to increased risks of disease incidences, outcomes, and life expectancy (Krisberg, 2016). For decades, the income inequality in the United States has been on the rise and there have been large differences in wages based on race, ethnicity, and gender. For instance, in 2015, the Hispanic men earned $14 per hour compared to African Americans and white men who earned $15 and $21 per hour respectively (Krisberg, 2016). Women lagged behind men in terms of wages regardless of their racial or ethnic groups. Income inequality is an aspect that has been observed not only across racial and ethnic lines, but also different types of occupations. For example, although cashiers and sales workers are the largest occupations in the United States, they comprise of the lowest paying jobs. Compared to registered nurses who earned $71,000, sales workers earned about $26,000 annually in 2015 (Krisberg, 2016). Such an observed income inequality also affects access to care. For instance, Alcala, Chen, Langellier and Ortega (2017) have found that Latinos in the U.S have poor access to care compared to non-Latino whites.
Income levels impact the utilization of health and social care services, particularly among the Latinos in the U.S. of all developed countries in the world, the United States has the highest levels of socioeconomic disparities in access to health care. Income levels are strongly linked to patient morbidity and death and income-related health inequalities have been growing in the United States over the last decades (Khuller, Dave, & Chokshi, 2018). In another observation, Alcala et al (2017, p.52) have found that Central Americans and Mexicans have low chances of being insured compared to non-Latino whites. It is expected that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) will significantly address the health disparities observed among the Latino groups in the United States (Alcala et al., 2017). According to Khullar, Dave and Chokshi (2018), strong evidence associating income levels and health point to policies as key in promoting not only economic equity but also addressing the issue of health disparities. Across different income levels, economic disparity is often linked to disparities in life expectancy. While life expectancy has been to increase by about 2.5 years among the high-income households, there have not been gains among the low-earners. Today, men ranking in top 1 percent in the income distribution can live 15 years longer compared to those classified in bottom 1 percent (Khullar, Dave & Chokshi, 2018). These observations show that income levels as a social health determinant is a contributor to health disparities observed in the United States today.
ACA and Underutilization of Health and Social Care Services
Implementation of the ACA and the acknowledgment of the policy among health care leaders has been motivated by the fact that the allocation of more resources to social care or population health substantially improves health outcomes compared to health care or medical spending (Bradley et al., 2016). This is because the social determinants of health have significant impact on the health of individuals and populations compared to health care, and therefore, increased social service spending would have improved health of population. Since its implementation, the ACA has significantly reduced the gaps in the utilization and access to health care for Latino population. However, according to Alcala et al (2017), the remaining disparities would require policy solutions that go beyond the ACA to include groups that are not covered by the policy such as the non-citizens. The ACA made critical changes to the health care system by expanding of insurance coverage and improving the health care delivery systems. Over the last decade, the United States has witnessed a significant reduction in the number of the uninsured. In addition, other elements of the policy have seen a reduction in cost and the improvement of quality of care in the country (McIntyre & Song, 2019). Among the Latinos, studies have demonstrated that this minority group tends to display worse trends of utilization and access to health care compared to other racial or ethnic groups. While it is expected that the ACA may...