Health Equality

The health care system varies from country to country although a factor they all have in common is that great measures of research are taken in order to find results and achieve a good health care system for the economy. Between Australia and japan, there are great initiatives taken to help in association to this, including economic, social and political circumstances, all influencing the way in which the countries health care system is shaped and run.

The U.S. healthcare system is remarkably complex, and even healthcare workers struggle to understand it. The U.S. population gets health coverage by government programs, employers, and private insurance. Notably, because of the complexity and fragmentation of the health care system, there is a percentage of the population that remains uninsured. According to CNN Money, the uninsured rate in the U.S. dropped from 18.2% in 2010 to 10.3% in 2016, this drop was under Affordable Care Act(ACA) (). The goal of the ACA was not to give health coverage to all the uninsured population, rather it was to try to decrease the percentage of the population that remained uninsured(). There is a lot of inequality in the distribution of health among the U.S. population

Part 3(P3): Describes the potential effects of discriminatory practice can have on staff and individuals using health and social care.

About one third of all hospital beds in Australia are provided by Private Hospitals. Although half of all Australians have private health insurance, the Government is seeking to achieve an even higher balance of Australians with private cover, while preserving Medicare as the universal safety net. An example of how the private system works is; if a private patient was admitted to either a private or public hospital, they would have a choice of doctor to treat them. Medicare would pay 75% of the Medicare

I agree with your statement Patterson. It is left up to health care professionals to start the process of health equality. By advocating and getting involve with policy makers to make sure that all resources that are available for one community are also available for the minority communities. Everyone should have equal access to health care, and most importantly to preventive medicine. It has been proven that preventive medicine is less costly, and some of the insurance companies have been embracing this idea by given incentives to those who complete their yearly checkup.

The national public health care system in Australia, known as Medicare, was established in 1984. This system is funded by an overall 1.5% income tax that is allocated for Medicare (with an extra 1% tax imposed on high-income earners who do not get their own private insurance). Moreover, Medicare is also funded by a number of the general revenue from the government’s operating budget, which help out in covering the costs of the Medicare system for every resident, enabling them pay many out of pocket expenses.

The relationship between social justice and public health policy is inversely related. According to Benjamin (2015) “Health equity means social justice”; however, even though the intent of social justice and public health policy is to reduce the amount of health disparity among marginalized populations, sometimes it can create disadvantages to some groups while attempting to help another. An example of a legislation that attempts to improve health equity among a marginalized population is the Health Equity and Accountability Act (HEAA). The HEAA legislation aims to “reduce ethnic and racial disparities in health care access and outcomes” (National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health).

For a better understanding of the policies, it is necessary to define the term health inequality. The term health inequality is defined as a differences in health status or the differences among the different populations (WHO, 2015). The purpose of a policy to address health inequality is to reduce the gaps in the differences that arises due to race, gender, and ethnicity (Healthy people, 2015). For example, health policies help to promote healthy behavior and ban cigarette and tobacco advertisements (WHO, 2015). There are policies that do not focus on such practices and thus they do not impact the people (WHO, 2015). Furthermore, creating a policy helps people to meet the goals of reducing health disparity (WHO, 2015). There has been a national level policy named “Saving Lives: Our Healthier Nation”, which aims to improve health for the population in England (WHO, 2015). By implementing

Global health system comparison between Australia and England The World Health organisation (WHO) defines a healthcare system as a system “whose primary purpose is to promote, restore and/or maintain health” through quality services and financial support (WHO 2000). Healthcare system are dependent on many factors and can vary from country to country. Australia’s healthcare system integrates a two-tiered model where governance, coordination and regulation are a combined effort of all levels of government and the organisation and delivery of healthcare services are divided amongst both public and private sectors (AIHW 2016). Australia provides universal care where the residents have access to care without having to worry about the cost (WHO

In 1984 Australia introduced a national public healthcare system called Medicare, which is funded by the federal government. The government has implicated a levy in order to assist funding towards these benefits, people who choose to have public healthcare are charged a levy of 1% of their income.

There are numerous standards for defining Health Equity because definitions can matter. The first criteria states that a definition should reflect a commitment to fair and unbiassed practices across all areas of society (Braveman 2017 p. 3). The status of someone in the hierarchy of society does not matter when it comes to the care of the person, the care does not change or alter in any way based on their status. The second and third standards states that a definition should be actionable and be adequately unambiguous that it can guide policy priorities. The fourth standard states that a definition should be conceptually and technically sound, and consistent with current scientific knowledge (Braveman 2017 p. 3). A definition should be up

Another reason to adopt a universal health care plan is equality. In addition to the protected Equal Opportunity categories such as race or gender, an unofficial category of wealth should be considered. If two individuals both have the same medical condition, they should get the same quality of care regardless of profession or monetary worth, because all life holds equal value. No man is inherently better than any of his fellow men. Under our current system, a person or family living in a lower financial class may only be able to afford an insurance policy that offers a lower coverage of medical expenses, or may not be able to afford a health care plan at all (How Health Insurance Marketplace Plans Set Your Premiums). Comparatively, a wealthy individual would be able to afford to pay for an insurance policy that offers a wider range of services, and therefor access to a higher quality of care or more medical procedures. Universal Health care would mean the same level of care for everyone, regardless of financial class. Some citizens might worry that a plan for everyone might result in a lack of diversity. They should remember that a federally funded health care system could still be augmented by a

Health for all means having equal opportunity and access to health services and are normally judged through the geography, race, gender and language .One major aim of providing equity of access is to allow all people a equal opportunity to attain their full health status .This is related to our economic, social factors .The factor that affects social disadvantage is unemployment, the lack of correct information to attain good health. A very good example is language barriers that prevent a particular individual from accessing information and services required for health. Environmental factors may include geographical distance from the services, physical environment, or social or the social environment because it is important to access support systems to consider our current and future needs. So the steps we make today to improve our environment must also meet the needs of the generation.

Health inequalities are those differences in health status or in the distribution of health determinants between different population groups (Health Impact Assessment, 2017). Factors such as culture, social and economy cause extensive inequalities in health. Majority of these health inequalities can have apparent consequences on the society as a whole and that includes example such as the spread of infectious illnesses (Woodward & Kawachi, 2000). Not every individual in Sierra Leone have the same life expectancy of 60 years for female and 55.6 years for male. Unfortunately, people of higher socioeconomic status tend to have enhanced health, access to quality health care, lesser mortality rates and higher life expectancy. Psychosocial factors such as depression and stress have different effect on an individual based on their social status. Unfortunately, these factors are mostly witnessed in the poor contribute to the negative health outcome of an individual and obviously lower life expectancy. Individuals of higher socioeconomic status in Sierra Leone tend to have better occupation, higher education and wealth. They are therefore are able to implement health behaviors such as physical activity that can potentially reduce their risk of mortality. On the other hand, people of lower socioeconomic status tend to mostly reside in the rural areas where there are little or no healthcare facility and therefore have

Even though healthcare has more equitable distribution in the advanced societies in comparison to other social services and goods, health disparities still continue among different demographic groups. The inference to this fact leads to the question that must be addressed which is; if equitable healthcare availability