Healthcare Reform Policy Analysis

Healthcare Reform Policy Analysis

Introduction

Health care reforms are important in regulating the healthcare system in the country. Health care reforms represent a subset of health care policy. However, it is significant to identify non-regulatory drivers of health care reform, like the influence of market forces on the grade of value of care, and the latest reports from the Institute of Medicine regarding medical errors (McDonough, 2011). Health care reform can lead to alterations in the way the government controls and organizes access of the community to health care, and the way health care is financed. Surely one of the major issues facing the Obama administration's U.S. health care reform is the potential impact it can have on the population (McDonough, 2011). Despite the huge investment in the health care system, the concerns regarding the quality of healthcare insurance is still a concern (Starr, 2011).

Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act 2009, which has been underwritten by the U.S. government, presents health insurance for more Americans than any other payer does. Hence, alterations in existing healthcare system principles constitute an important constituent of health care reform (Feldman, 2011).

Healthcare Reform by Obama

A great debate began in the U.S. on March 5th 2009, following a public health summit led by President Barack Obama in the White House (Feldman, 2011). The president is committed to implementing a giant Health Care Reform. In fact, America is a country that spends more money per capita on the health of people throughout the world. This totals around 300 billion dollars. This figure equals to 16 percent of Gross Domestic Product of the nation (Feldman, 2011).

The plan initiated by Barack Obama about health reform will cost taxpayers 634 billion dollars. The money generated will be placed in a reserve fund to operate over the next 10 years. In the year 2008, the Bush government spent in 2008 over 698 billion dollars on health, an increase of 28 billion dollars over 2007 (Feldman, 2011). The government money is used basically to serve the low-income population, fund research and modernize the Medicaid public health insurance and Medicare, which covers the expenses of the poor and retirees. Obama will work this year with a health budget left by Bush, which at least in theory exceeds 700 billion dollars. Obama's reform of American health care system is still in its infancy (Feldman, 2011). Analyzing its potential success and failure is highly crucial and would also highlight the current President's ability to come out of a post-crisis stage successfully.

According to Obama, the heart of the reform plan is based on three objectives. The first of these is to improve health insurance for those citizens who have already purchased the policy. In particular, there is the limitation of insurance premiums, which prohibit insurers to set limits on the cost of treatment programs (Feldman, 2011).

The second purpose is to create a stock exchange for the insurers, which will purchase insurance at a reasonable price for those Americans who don't have it ...