Health People

Title: Healthy People 2020

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Health People 2020:

“Health People” is a Health and Human Services tactical planning procedure for establishing a widespread set of country-wide ten-year health endorsement and disease control initiates. It presents science-based 10-year country-wide projects for upgrading health and avoiding diseases. Since 1979, Healthy People has planned and observed national health aims to realize a vast range of health needs, promote sectors’ corroborations, advice people regarding healthy planning, and evaluate the significance of the prevention actions, (Beth et al, 2009). This essay will look at the Health People 2020 prospective towards health insurance in comparison to HP2010.

Healthy People 2010 was presented to the public in 1998 as a draft. It had little attention to men while most of its focus was on problems of women. The Healthy People 2010 had an objective of eliminating health discrepancies among population categories, differences based on gender, education, income, race, sexual orientation, geographic location and disability. Healthy People 2010 is striving to achieve improved quality and increased years of healthy living as well as eliminating health discrepancies.

The Healthy People 2020 will concentrate on main risks to health and fitness, transforming public health preferences and the up rising matters regarding the nation’s health readiness and

Health People 2020

prevention. It will present a framework to deal with risk factors and determinants of health and the diseases and ailments affecting the society.

Healthy People 2020 will ensure the transparency is at its maximum, and enhance the public input and stakeholder dialogue to enhance relevancy in diverse public health requirements and capture the opportunities to achieve its objectives. Healthy People achievements rely on a coordinated commitment to better the nation’s health.

The Secretary’s Advisory Committee on National Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Objectives for 2020 came up with a set of draft overarching aims for Healthy People 2020. The goals include; (a) achieving a healthy equity, eliminating discrepancies and improving health for all segments, (b) eradicating preventable diseases, disabilities, injuries and early deaths, (c) establishing social and physical atmospheres that encourage good health for all, and (d) promoting healthy development and healthy practices in all life stages. The vision for Healthy People 2020 is, A society in which all people live long, health lives.

Health insurance has for many years been poorly spread in the United States and this makes it a major concern for Health People. In most of America, market-based health insurance is the most common form of health coverage. The most recent detailed census report which was published in September 2009 indicates that 301,483,000 American citizens rely on the market-based health insurance.

There was an increase of 1.7 million people with health insurance cover from 253.4 million in 2007 to 255.1 million in 2008. 67.7% of this, 200,992,00 people, were under private market insurance which was a decline by 1.2% from 2007. Those who were covered by employer based health insurance contributed 58.5% or 176,332,000 people. An 8.9% or 26,777,000 people obtained insurance health cover from direct purchase health insurance or the individual market. There was an increase of 4,260,000 people in the number that was covered by the government insurance from 83,151,000 people in 2007 to 87,411,000 people in 2008, (Oleske, 2009).

Health People 2020

Medicaid registered a total of 42,641,000 beneficiaries in 2007. 6,419,000 people who were covered by Medicaid in 2003 sought extra health insurance cover from private sources according to the Census Bureau. Medicare had a total of 43,029,000 people getting their services in 2007. Of these, 21,777,000 beneficiaries had other insurance cover from private sources, supplemental policies or retiree benefits from their previous employers as reported by the Census Bureau. A total of 11,560,000 obtained their health insurance services from the military health care, (Lewenson, 2010).

Healthy People 2020 reforms are being based on several factors including the fact that 46 million people in the United States are still not having any health insurance cover, the cost of health care increases is continuously outpacing wage increments, the health insurance premiums are not affordable by many, and the worrying observation that the employer insurance reduced by 7% from 68% in the year 2000 to 61% in the year 2008.

Healthy People 2020 looks at increasing the proportion of people who say that their health care providers possess acceptable communication skills, including careful listening, comprehensible explanations, respect on the client’s opinions, and who spend ample time with their clients.

There are recommendations that in increasing the proportion of persons with health insurance, separate measures should be used for people with medical and dental insurance. Different measures should be applied for people with medical insurance but without dental insurance, those having both dental and medical insurance, those lacking health insurance but have dental insurance, and persons without health or dental insurance. Medical and dental insurance issues differently determine the type of insurance coverage to comprise Medicaid, private medical or dental insurance, CHIP, and no dental or medical coverage. It has been seen that more than two children lack dental insurance for every child without a health insurance, and that three adults are without a dental insurance for every adult lacking health insurance. This makes dental insurance coverage an important issue in the Healthy People 2020.

The Healthy People 2010 had a goal of increasing the percentage children aged between one year and 14 years having any form of health care coverage, health insurance, government

Health People 2020

plans or prepaid schemes to 100 percent. The regions were evaluated according to the insurance cover and those meeting the 100% HP2010 were zero, those between 80.0% to 99.9% were 13 and included Larimer, Douglas, El Paso, Pueblo, Adams, Delta, San Juan, Arapahoe, Broomfield, Weld, Mesa, Denver and Jefferson. The regions that had 50.1% to

79.9% were Eagle, Garfield, Grand, Pitkin and Summit. There were no regions with 50.0% or less while with no available data included Logan, Yuma, Philips, Sedgwick, Washington, Morgan, Elbert, Kit Carson, Lincoln, Cheyenne, Otero, Bent, Baca, Kiowa, Crowley, Prowers, Alamosa, Mineral, Saguache, Costilla, Rio Grande, Jackson, Routt, Moffat, Rio Blanco, Lake, Custer, Chaffee, Fremont, Clear Creek, Teller, Park and Gilpin. Healthy People 2020 aims at having all these regions that are not having a complete health insurance cover reach the 100% mark, (Oleske, 2009).

To achieve the objectives of Healthy People 2020 as regards health insurance cover, several approaches need to be adopted. These include increasing the proportion of health insurance strategies covering contraceptive supplies and services and all FDA approved contraceptive supplies. For many years, the contraceptive health and family planning has not been adequately covered by insurances services making the cost of obtaining contraceptives and family planning services quite expensive, (Doll, 2010).

The government has to improvise better mechanisms for meeting health insurance cover for those who are financially challenged and who cannot afford the current high costs of health insurance premiums if the objectives of Health People 2020 are to be achieved. Low premiums should be enforced in the private insurances sectors to ensure the poor citizens can afford to have health insurance cover. New government projects to provide the disadvantaged in the society with proper health insurance cover should be implemented as a way of realizing the goals of Healthy People 2020.

Health insurance coverage is still low due to illiteracy in some parts of the nation. Many people still do not understand the importance of having any form of health insurance cover. To meet the Healthy People 2020 objectives, the HHS should launch campaigns in regions most affected by low knowledge on health care to promote people’s awareness on the benefits of health insurance. They ought to educate them on how to access the insurance premiums and methods of claiming the service when need arises. It will help by presenting them with cheap or free insurance premiums as incentives to have them actively engage in the health insurance

Health People 2020

activities.

In conclusion, Health People 2020 should emphasize on the provision of health insurance services to the public. Control of health insurance premiums by the state and federal governments will help the poor citizens to access the insurance cover services, while creating awareness on health insurance will encourage many uncovered persons to enroll. Stress on dental insurance cover will help the currently low dental insurance coverage in the country to rise considerably within the next ten years. This will help to raise the level of national health care above what the Healthy People 2010 was able to achieve.

References:

Beth et al (2009). Health Education: Creating Strategies for School and Community Health:

Jones & Bartlett Publishers, 2009

Oleske (2009). Epidemiology and the Delivery of Health Care Services: Methods and

Applications: Springer, 2009

Lewenson (2010). Public Health Nursing: From Application to Practice: Jones & Bartlett Publishers, 2010

Doll (2010). Program Development and Grant Writing in Occupational Therapy: Making the

Connection: Jones & Bartlett Publishers, 2010