Abstract
Advocacy for the development of affordable medical cover is fundamental in the advancement of the population’s health. Populations especially those, who hail from underprivileged and middle incomes, choose a medical cover using economic factors like opportunity cost and willingness to purchase. By advocating for the creation of the affordable medical cover, there has been a rise in the number of people from less privileged communities, who have purchased and consumed a wide range of medical services provided by the state.
A good and affordable medical cover is fundamental in the overall health of citizens living in a particular country. Advocacy for affordable medical cover is the health care decision that I made. The healthcare decision transpired because several individuals in less privileged regions of the world suffer from expensive medical services (Ballentine, 2011). Over time, I have witnessed individuals, who suffer from ailments but instead of visiting medical centers for treatment, opt for ‘OTCs’ over-the-counter medication from chemists. Getzen (2013) highlights that there are numerous cases of people, who develop complications after consuming OTCs. From the observation, I decided to advocate for the creation of a medical cover that is affordable to the less privileged communities.
Opportunity cost and willingness to purchase comprise the two economic factors or economic principles that influenced my decision to advocate for affordable medical cover. In my observation, I realized that several people, who hail from underprivileged communities, could not afford the various medical covers that the health care sector provides. McCaughey and Bruning (2010) explain that while the cover provided by the health sector may look like it is affordable, people from underprivileged communities forego the cover, and purchase services deemed to be more important. As such, they are unwilling to purchase and consume the services envisaged by the medical cover. For instance, in several parts of the United States, underprivileged communities use their little income to purchase food, clothing, and shelter and forego the medical cover provided by the state (Brannon, & Feist, 2010). The situation compounds because a large number of people in less fortunate communities are not in formal employment that provides a medical cover.
One way that my health care decision has had an impact on the public health is the increased scale of initiatives that champion for creation of affordable medical cover. The impact on public health is a rise in the number of people, who have purchased and utilized the affordable medical cover provided by the state. Although the increase is not at its optimum level, it is encouraging. Therefore, increased numbers of people, who are purchasing medical cover, comprise some of the impacts associated with my healthcare decision. Increased initiatives that focus on development of an affordable medical cover is also among the benefits that my health care decision has accrued to the public health sector.
My health care decision to advocate for affordable health care that is within the reach of middle-income earners and less privileged in the community is one that has been fruitful. The fact that an increasing number of people are starting to purchase the medical cover is one of the impacts that the healthcare decision has accrued in the sector of public health. It is notable to assert that although the range of medical cover present is encouraging, the health care sector needs to do more in order to advance the overall health of the population.
References
Ballentine, J. (2011). Your Right to Make Healthcare Decisions. Colorado: Colorado Hospital Association.
Brannon, L., & Feist, J. (2010). Health Psychology: An Introduction to Behavior and Health. Sydney: Cengage Learning.
Getzen, T. (2013). Health Economics and Financing. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.
McCaughey, D., & Bruning, N. (2010). Rationality Vs Reality: The Challenge of Evidence-Based Decision Making for Health Policy. Implementation Science, 5(39), 1-13.