Health policy is a complex of decisions and actions which are focused on the health improvement within the society. Controlling the costs remains one of the most important issues in the governmental healthcare system (Bishop, 2017). It could be stated that health insurance is one of the ways to control these costs. Medical insurance guarantees the noncash treatment to an insured person in case of the necessity. Nowadays, most of the American citizens are insured by private or public companies (“Health insurance coverage,” 2017). Health insurance policy is a regulated by special legislators national policy which already provides an opportunity to lower the care costs among individuals and organizations and has a significant impact on the clinical practice.
Health Insurance Intendance
National health insurance policy is intended by the American Health Insurance Plans. It is a “national association, whose members provide coverage and health-related services that improve and protect the health and financial security of consumers, families, businesses, communities and the nation” (“AHIP: About us,” 2017, para. 1). This association provides medical insurance for millions of Americans and controls its quality. Among other achievements of the association, special taxes were developed for individuals’, families’, and organization’s members’ insurances (Krueger & Kuziemko, 2013). It could be claimed that this policy is highly important for the society’s wealth and wellness.
Insurance Legislators
Health insurance policy is controlled by several legislators: the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), State’s Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), and Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). The HIPAA provides rules and regulations for the workers’ insurance. The SCHIP regulates the health insurances, providing for children in families below the poverty line. The PPACA introduces the reform and standardizes the insurances taxes. All these legislators are important for the insurance system development (“Regulations and guidance,” 2017).
The APRN Role
According to the American Nurses Association’s recommendations (“ANA recommends,” 2013), all the health insurance plans should include advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs). A lot of private insurers focus their attention on the physicians’ service and underestimate the significance of other health care providers, including nurses. However, APRNs are important in the healthcare system, especially in caring for particular social groups such as elderly people, children, and people with mental diseases. It is essential to provide patients with a high-quality service of primary care providers due to the nurses’ roles in the healthcare system (“ANA recommends,” 2013).
Impact on the Clinical Practice
Medical insurance plays the important role in the healthcare quality improvement. It could be stated that health insurance policy is commonly used in the United States. Percentage of uninsured persons is rather low: 10.5% of individuals under 65 years old, 4.5% of persons under 18 years old, and 12.8% of adults from 18 to 64 (“Health insurance coverage,” 2017, para. 3). Thus, this commonly accepted policy significantly influences the clinical practice among all the social and age groups. The system makes high-cost and high-quality healthcare services available for people with the middle or low income.
Inter-Professional Teams
To make healthcare products available for the majority of people, it is important to develop special insurance plans with acceptable taxes for individuals and businesses which can cover possible personal health care needs. Therefore, for developing such plans, it is essential to create inter-professional teams which might include both economists and healthcare system workers. Financial specialists might develop the profitable schemes while physicians and nurses might provide all the essential information about healthcare requirements. Such cooperation might increase the effectiveness of the insurance policy development (“AHIP: Medicare advantage,”.2017).
Conclusion
It could be concluded that the insurance policy development and dissemination could lead to the quality of healthcare improvement and its costs lowering. It is important to increase the popularity of this policy and its accessibility for all social groups, especially for people below the poverty line. Besides, it is essential to create inter-professional teams for the optimal insurance plans development. All the insurance plans should include physicians’ and nurses’ services as well as the drugs and diagnostic equipment availability.
References
AHIP: About us. (2017). Web.
AHIP: Medicare advantage. (2017). Web.
ANA recommends requiring health plans to include APRNs to qualify for state health insurance exchanges. (2013). Web.
Bishop, S. (2017). Controlling health care costs. Web.
Health insurance coverage. (2017). Web.
Krueger, A. B., & Kuziemko, I. (2013). The demand for health insurance among uninsured Americans: Results of a survey experiment and implications for policy. Journal of Health Economics, 32(5), 780-793.
Regulations and guidance. (2017). Web.