Health Care Reform to Address Access Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Health Care Reform to Address Access - Essay Example Indeed, as one of the most developed nation of the world, America has failed to provide a universal health cover to its people. The healthcare reforms of Obama administration have, therefore, been hailed as major initiatives that cater to the welfare of the people at large. The federal health reform legislation enacted in 2010 addresses the crucial areas: accessibility to quality healthcare; rein in its cost; and promote uniform plans that cuts across gender, age and persons with pre-existing diseases. The reform proposes to enforce stringent measures to control wastage, fraud and abuse in Medicare in order to make it more cost effective. Moreover, the austerity measures along with saving would ensure that medical care is extended to wider segment of population covering vulnerable segment. The administration has allotted $630 billion in the budget of 2010 for the healthcare reforms over a period of ten years (WhiteHouse, 2012). Indeed, the reforms are intended to make it universal and the recent Supreme Court verdict has strengthened Obama’s plans for making healthcare universal. I believe that the basic value for underlying this approach is to curb corruption, especially Medicaid and Medicare frauds, which lead to substandard healthcare services. The commodification of market driven health insurance have become major obstacle for accessing quality care at affordable prices. Harrington (2008) strongly believes that poor health status of people is due to limited access to healthcare services, especially for the poor, uninsured and vulnerable segment like aged and disabled. The present reforms promote health insurance cover to people who cannot afford. It has also made provisions to protect people with pre-existing condition by creating national ‘high risk’ pool. The special team of experts would watch over the waste, fraud and abuse in the Medicare. These are effective measures that would help rein in cost and enhance accessibility