DNP 825 Topic 4 Discussions 2 GCU Nov 2021

DNP 825 Topic 4 Discussions 2 GCU Nov 2021 Topic 4 DQ 2   DNP 825 Topic 4 Discussions 2 GCU Nov 2021 Topic 4 DQ 2 Evaluate the current political climate as it relates to health care and explain how politics influence health for both the individual and entire populations. Explain what types of positive impact the DNP can create through policy or advocacy. Provide examples and relevant literature to support your response. Politics play a major role on health care and we see it especially with the bipartisan in our country. One party would like to repel Affordable Care Act (ACA) and the other party would like to keep it and make changes to it. It is obvious that the few minority wealthy people in this country do not believe in making health care affordable for all because they do not want to lose their profits. When participants were asked about the major reasons for problems in the healthcare system, the answers were nearly identical between political groups. The most common issues were being able to afford needed tests or drugs and the influence of health insurance on treatment decisions (Wolters Kluwer Health, 2016). The less affordable health care remains, the more social disparities persists. People of poor background remains poor and continue to have chronic diseases that are preventable with access to care. Health equality is the first step to solving health disparities and improving the health of the population. Healthcare remains a topic of “The haves and haves not.” As a Mental health nurse working with Veterans, one of the hardest decisions was turning away Veterans who did not meet qualification for care due to their discharge status from the military. It is sad to hear Veterans who fought for this country and give their lives for people in this country, cannot have mental health services because they were discharge dishonorably. No one, especially a Veteran should be denied treatment for mental services. Not until 3 years ago, Veterans were not allowed to receive any health care services including mental health treatment due to Other Than Honorable (OTH) discharge status from the military. This is unethical considering that the OTH discharge mostly was due to injuries such as Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) that occurred during the Veteran service in the military. David J. Shulkin, MD, Secretary of Veterans Affairs, testified before the House Committee on Veterans Affairs on March 7, 2017, expressed his intent to remove the administrative barrier prohibiting other-than-honorably (OTH) discharged service members from receiving VHA mental health care (Geppert, 2017). Doctor Prepared Nurses can make policy change to improve health of our population including our colleagues. An example of Doctoral prepared nurses improving the health of the population include Dr. Ernest Grant, president of American Nurses Association (ANA) testifying before congress about the urgent need for nurses to have personal protective equipment (PPE), to safeguard have mental health and well-being of nurses, and address racial health disparities as it is related to COVID-19 (American Nurses Association, 2020). As a nation, it is important to make sure our frontline workers are healthy both physically and mentally during this pandemic. Making sure they have the proper equipment to fight COVID-19 safely and making sure they are care for mentally and physically will help the nation and the world fight this pandemic effectively. Nurses need to understand the legislative branch and engage in politics that to help improve healthcare policy and advocate to reform healthcare and improve patient outcome. Nurses are in every healthcare setting and are integral to healthcare delivery and outcomes. Empowering the nurse advocate to assess, plan, implement and evaluate healthcare policy will improve the Triple Aim and improve access to care to reduce health disparities (Bates, 2016). American Nurses Association (ANA). (2020). ANA advocacy-transforming nursing’s voice on the national stage. Retrieved from Bates, R. (2016). A DNP’s role in health policy efforts. Retrieved from Geppert, C. M. A. (2017). Providing mental health care to all Veterans regardless of discharge status. Retrieved from Wolters Kluwer Health. (2016, September 1). Politics affect views on healthcare quality, but not on personal experience with care. ScienceDaily. Retrieved August 8, 2020 from Hi Peter, You made some great points in your post about healthcare being a political issue in the United States. It’s sad that people in this country have to rely on the political parties to decide if health care is a human right or not. It’s very important that people understand how they vote because the health of our population rely on it. Healthcare is one of the most contentious issues surrounding the 2020 presidential election as Democratic candidates battle over policies to expand healthcare access and lower costs, from Bernie Sanders’ medicare for all bill which would create a government funded healthcare system providing universal coverage to all Americans, while eliminating surprise medical bills, deductibles, and copays, to healthcare plans that focus on creating a public option under the Affordable Care Act (Sainato, 2020). Even middle-class people working struggle to pay for health insurance and the cost of care such as their co-pays. I have always had insurance due to my job as a nurse, but I realized 2 years ago how expensive health care can be when you need to have surgery. I had my first hearing surgery and had to pay almost three thousand dollars co-pay before my surgery. I then had to a revision surgery as recommended by my doctor a year later. I then decided to go ahead and have it before the next year started in December 2019. At the hospital, I was told that I had to 1900 dollars after paying 500 dollars at my doctor office. I asked if I could make partial payment and I was told that morning before my surgery if I could not make full payment, I could not have the surgery. Fortunately for me, I had that amount in my account save up and was able to do the surgery that day. My hearing got worst instead of better and 3 months later my doctor was telling me I had to do another surgery since my hearing deteriorated after surgery number two and my insurance company paid over 50,000 dollars and I paid nearly 10,000 dollars in co-pay because I was still receiving bills from other providers involved and the surgical center. Imagine a patient without my income, having to struggle to pay such high cost even with health insurance and no accountability for providers. I think there should be retribution if a provider had to do the same surgery twice. It should not be the responsibility of the patient. The United States have the highest cost of healthcare, but the care is lack quality and it is poor. The cost of healthcare insurance premiums continue to increase yearly. Sainato, M. (2020). The Americans dying because they can't afford medical care. Retrieved from Hi Christina, You made some great points in your post about the cost of healthcare and who pays for it. As the debit for healthcare for all continues, the working-class Americans will continue to foot the bill for the uninsured. Insurance companies continue increase the cost of health insurance making it difficult for the average Americans to afford health insurance. Due to the lack of health insurance, millions of Americans delay seeking care until it is life-threatening. Millions of Americans – as many as 25% of the population – are delaying getting medical help because of skyrocketing costs (Sainato, 2020). The United States (US) continue to spend most on healthcare compared to other developed nations worldwide, despite Americans delay in seeking care. According to research, US still ranks 24th globally in achieving the health goals set by the United Nations, achieving the worst overall health outcomes. We need to make healthcare a right for Americans, regardless of income because in the end, we all pay for those increases in cost as our premiums continue to increase yearly. Sainato, M. (2020). The Americans dying because they can't afford medical care. Retrieved from Marcelin, J. R, Siraj, D. S, Victor, R., Kotadia, S., & Maldonado, Y. A. (2019). The Impact of Unconscious Bias in Healthcare: How to Recognize and Mitigate It. The Journal of Infectious Diseases, (220) 2, p S62–S73, Attempt Start Date: 06-Aug-2020 at 12:00:00 AM Due Date: 10-Aug-2020 at 11:59:59 PM Maximum Points: 5