The Determinants Of Health As A Federal Government Organization

I strongly believe that healthcare is a basic human right; however, the reality is that health care is often based on privilege and/or driven by employer benefits. There are many factors to consider when discussing healthcare as a basic human right. All individuals, regardless of income, race, or status should be treated equally when it comes to safe, effective, and quality health care. Even though I believe healthcare should be a human right, we have to consider how this would be feasible among different populations and societies. According toMaruthappu, Ologunde, and Gunarajasingam (2012) “a fundamental difficulty with considering healthcare as a right is that this right, unlike many others, is dependent upon the resources of a society,

Determinants of health are specific categories in a person 's life which impact their mental and physical health. Brought into light by a report produced for the Government of Canada by the minister of national health and welfare Marc Lalonde in 1974 titled A new perspective on the health of Canadians Ottawa. The report sought to move healthcare in Canada from a purely physiological process into one which included preventative measures from environment and lifestyle. This behavioural approach was a step in the right direction and paved the way for the shift in thinking beyond just that of treatment of the disease. In 1986 the Ottawa charter for health promotion put into motion the move from medical/behavioural approach to the socioeconomic approach. This approach includes peace, shelter, education, food, income, a stable ecosystem, social justice and equity (World health organization [WHO], 1986.) These would be used as a framework for how Canada views the health of an individual. Today these are broken down into 12 categories; income and social status, social support networks, education and literacy, employment and working conditions, physical environments, biological and genetic endowment, individual health practices and coping skills, healthy child development, health service, gender, culture and social environments (Ross-Kerr, J. C., & Wood, M. J. (Eds.) (2014). Each of these categories have been chosen for their impact on canadians health and while on their own each

The Federal Government became increasingly involved in health provision following the Second World War, with a focus on ensuring access and equity to health care. When Medicare was implemented in 1984, the Federal Government, States and Territories agreed to provide free health care for all Australians in all public hospitals.

As Americans we should all be afforded access to healthcare. Access to healthcare is an individual right according to the human rights amendment. The human right to health guarantees a system of health protection for all. The human right to health means that everyone has the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, which includes access to all medical services, sanitation, adequate food, decent housing, healthy working conditions and a clean environment (What is the Human Right to Health and Health Care, 2015). However there are strengths and weaknesses to every healthcare system and the U.S. Healthcare system is not exempt. I plan to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the U. S. Healthcare system (What is the Human Right to Health and Health Care, 2015).

Education is an important social determinant of health because it affects many other determinants. Generally, people with worst health status have low education levels. Furthermore, people with low levels of education are more likely to have lifestyles which can lead to a chronic illness. Education empowers people with skills to

The Social Determinants of Health are the living conditions people experience, which plays a vital role in shaping population health (Mikkonen & Raphael, 2010). Government policy is one of the Social Determinants of Health and also the one that can strengthen or weaken the other Social Determinants of Health such as education, income, employment etc. The Social Determinants of Health for Canadian young adults become worse today while the older Canadians today, young Canadians a generation ago, experience better Social Determinants of Health. This is because the Canadian government and policy maker put less effort to develop public policy so that the Social Determinants of Health are not strengthened today (Mikkonen & Raphael, 2010). I choose

Lifestyle choices and behaviours are amongst the factors that are most easily controlled by the individual themselves. It is our choice to smoke, eat foods that are high in sugar and fat and not exercise. These are three of the leading factors that can cause coronary heart disease (N.Gledhill, personal communication, 2004) and yet thousands of people continue to do it because they are not aware, nor have they been informed, of the negative effects simple lifestyle behaviours can have on ones body. If one is not educated about certain facts and insights, how are they expected to make an informed, or even a wise, decision? Therefore, a lack of education has a strong influence on the health of an individual for the reason that they are unable to make proper and healthy lifestyle choices. A study conducted on the association between educational attainment and other determinants of health on the elderly yielded results that showed:

The idea is to create a government-run health care plan that would be an alternative to the private insurance plans offered under the Affordable Care Act, or provide a fallback in markets where insurers have been pulling out. A public option could also be a way to stabilize the exchanges because a government-run plan could be used to enroll the people with the most expensive medical conditions. The private insurers would be more enthusiastic about selling policies because they might have to worry less about losses. Public option is simply a public health insurance agency, typically a government-run agency that can compete with the private insurers. This is sort of a half-way point between single payer and the pre- ACA private market. Almost

Something that can be agreed on is the emphasis on education as a means to improve health outcomes. Education is an important factor in the social determinants of health that can improve and empower individuals. Those who are educated showed lower morbidity rates and were more likely to have better health (Picker

Two of the most important things to know about the evolution of U.S. health policy is that is has evolved in a specific manner based on U.S. historical context and that it is often times made ineffective and fractured due to the political process. The historical context of America’s founding and its value systems should not be ignored when attempting to address the development of health policy in our country (Stevens, Rosenberg, & Burns, 2006). One of the first health “laws” in the U.S. was declared in 1610 in the Virginia Colony of Jamestown (Tarter, 2012). The larger portion of the declaration order by Sir Thomas Dale focused on strict governance of the colony. One small portion of the declaration focused on sanitation and strictly forbid certain acts such as laundering soiled clothing, cleaning cooking supplies, and defecating/voiding within a specified number of feet of water sources or public spaces. It appears from the very beginnings of what would become our nation, the government’s role in health care was primarily focused on the sanitation portion of public health. However, there were early legislative examples of Congress passing laws that mandated a type of health insurance or coverage by those who worked in the maritime industries (Ungar, 2011). The legislation titled “An act for the relief of sick and disable seamen” required that those working in this specific industry pay 1% of their earnings to the federal government, and the government utilized this tax to

When it comes to the U.S. healthcare system, there are two sides of the argument. Some Americans may argue that the U.S. healthcare system is the best in the world given the many state-of-the-art healthcare facilities and innovative and advanced medical technology available, and there are those who argue that it is too costly and inefficient on many different levels (Chua, 2006). Despite the large amount of spending invested on their healthcare system, the U.S. consistently underperforms on most indicators of performance compared to other countries (Davis, Stremikis, Squires, & Schoen, 2014). Healthcare costs such as doctor visits, hospital stays, and prescription drugs are more expensive in the U.S. than any other country in the world.

The United States of Health and Human Services (HHS) is the principal agency that protects the health of Americans and provides them with crucial human services, particularly those who are unable to help themselves. The Health and Human Services provides essential services to those who are least able to afford the cost of health. The motto of the organization is “Improving the health, safety, and well being of America” (Health and Human Services, n.d). Initially, the department also constituted education but in 1979, the Department of Education was formed and education was no longer a mandate of the Health and Human Services.

The US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) is an agency under the US Secretary of Health and Human Services that protects and provides health and human services to American citizens. The agency administers more than 100 programs some of which include: social services, health insurance, prevention and wellness, research, among others (HHS, 2017). This assignment analyzes of the agency’s policies, procedures, and plans regarding unions, privatization, pensions, and productivity.

Everyone has their own views on what they think the United States healthcare system should consist of. Consequently, the healthcare system has been flawed for many years and does not plan to change anytime soon. According to Luft (2006), “rapid and wide-reaching technological innovation, the ready access to care for the insured, and clinical and patient autonomy” (p.1). These are some of the strengths the US healthcare system are proficient in providing. In contrast, the weaknesses of the healthcare system outweigh the system’s strengths. Luft (2006) examined and acknowledged the following:

Intellectual health is another important part of a healthy person. A person needs to be intellectually healthy to take place within society. One must think, and be able to learn from ones actions and from others actions to survive. Through out a persons life decisions will need to be made and unless a person knows how to think, they cannot make good decisions. Additionally a person needing to be intellectually healthy for a good life, should be as knowledgeable as possible so he or she can have fulfilling conversations and socially and culturally different friends.