Toni Preckwinkle is the representative of Cook County, Illinois. She is a current president of the board who is targeted at the county’s development. Preckwinkle focuses on the issues regarding criminal justice, the economy, and healthcare. Her persistence and determination appeal to people, which can be proved by the fact that she was chosen for this position for the second time. During the first term, she was concentrated on Medicaid patients and contributed to their enrollment in CountyCare. Thus, more than 95,000 people gained the opportunity to enhance their conditions. Now she wants to upgrade the equipment utilized by the health care providers and expand their services. Preckwinkle claims that “we will reform our health care system by building on our existing strengths: top-notch healthcare professionals, internationally recognized research, community-based care, and unmatched compassion” (Blumberg & Thometz, 2015, para. 6).
Mike Bost is the state representative for twenty years already. He believes that the government is to support the population by contributing to its development taking into consideration various spheres. Thus, he refers to agriculture, energy independence, healthcare, economy, and defense. He opposes the wish of other politicians to change the retirement age and wants to help the citizens. Mike Bost thinks that people realize their health care needs better than the representatives of the government, which is why he visits hospitals and clinics. He considers the patient’s insurance and claims that he is going to undertake needed steps to reduce the costs and increase the number of insured people. Bost supports “allowing businesses and associations to pull together their health plans to obtain larger health care premium discounts from major health insurers, full federal income tax deductibility for co-payments, deductibles, out-of-pocket costs, and premiums and encourage more, not less competition, in the Medicare system by expanding, not shrinking, the popular Medicare Advantage program” (Issues, 2015, para. 4).
Richard J. Durbin is a federal representative with almost twenty years of experience. He sits on the committees that deal with appropriations (including health and human services), judiciary, rules, and administration. He sponsors the bills in various issue areas but the majority of donations (20%) are in healthy ones. Recently, Richard Durbin supported the bill “to include the county and municipal correctional facilities among medical facilities that qualify for designation as health professional shortage areas for purposes of the National Health Service Corps” (National Health Service Corps expansion act of 2015, 2015, para.1). He also supports the idea of some politicians to reduce prescription drug prices and require employers to provide the workers with clear information regarding the coverage of healthcare services.
Considering the impact of the healthcare areas that the representatives discussed, we may conclude that the reduction of costs and equipment upgrading are likely to have a positive effect on psychiatric nursing. Of course, cost-cutting strategies can cause the nurses’ dismissal. Still, if it is done effectively, more patients will gain an opportunity to receive high-quality treatment and buy all needed drugs. In this way, the number of people suffering from mental disorders is likely to decrease, which will have a positive reflection on the state of society. The new equipment will let psychiatric nurses provide the patients with required services quicker and increase their quality, which will enhance health outcomes. Technologies will also contribute to the collaboration with other professionals and patients’ education.
References
Blumberg, N., & Thometz., K. (2015). Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle. Web.
Issues. (2015). Web.
National Health Service Corps expansion act of 2015. (2015). Web.