State-Based and Universal Healthcare Programs
The state-based health programs are very important in ensuring that health facilities concentrate on areas that affect their regions. This means that in this case they do not have to develop measures to manage issues that do not affect their clients. Therefore, state-based medical programs are objective and based on the needs on the ground and not just general assumptions (Bern and Wilensky 2007).
Secondly, they are readily available since they are established within the local premises. It does not require other states to verify and approve the estimates and projections of a health facility if they are not within its jurisdictions. For that reason, state-based medical programs offer readily available services to their clients and reduce time wastage while saving the lives of those in danger.
On the other hand, universal programs are better than state-based ones since human needs are similar irrespective of their age, occupation or environment. For instance, all old people experience almost similar health complications that are associated with old age (Bern and Wilensky 2007). For that reason, designing a universal health program for all states ensures patients get similar services from all hospitals. This reduces chances of offering poor medical services to patients in one state while others are offering standard services. In addition, it is a cheap way of ensuring all the needs of patients are addressed once and this reduces expenses and time wastage in consultations and repeating what has already been approved by medical authorities.
There are other issues in the society that demonstrate state-based treatment including house rents, business permits, and property valuation and insurance covers. This means that states must be given opportunities to decide what is good for them and how they can achieve their goals based on their populations, abilities and resources.
Justifications of Medicare Programs
Medicare refers to medical programs that ensure the poor and old get quality and affordable healthcare services from public hospitals. This program was established to alleviate cases of death and disease outbreaks among the poor in the society since they could not afford to pay their hospital bills (Bern and Wilensky 2007). In addition, it enables them to make monthly contributions to their health insurance companies and this allows them to get quality services from health facilities. Therefore, this program is helpful in ensuring both the poor and rich get quality medical services.
In addition, medical issues are universal and cannot be said to affect an individual. This means that the health of a poor person also affects that of a rich family because human beings are social animals and depend on one another for survival. Most poor people participate in various sectors (construction, agriculture, manufacturing, sales and distribution) that contribute to the success of the rich. This means that richness and poverty have a lot of things in common though this cannot be seen directly (Bern and Wilensky 2007).
In addition, it is the poor people who work and provide auxiliary services to the rich and without them they cannot boast of their richness. Politicians have realized the significance of numbers in determining their positions in the society; therefore, they ensure the poor people are protected and offered basic needs since they form the greatest percentage of a population. This means that this program must be developed and strengthened through establishing laws that promote accountability and responsibility in managing medical funds (Bern and Wilensky 2007). For that reason, Medicaid is a logical medical program that ensures everybody gets quality medical services from health facilities irrespective of their financial positions.
Reference
Bern, J. and Sarah E. Wilensky. (2007). Essentials of Health Policy and Law. Massachusetts: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.