In the article “Health care reform and equality: Promise, pitfalls, and prescriptions,” Kevin Fiscella discusses the prospects of the health care system in the state. Fiscella refers to promises, pitfalls, and prescriptions when analyzing the Affordable Healthcare Act (ACA) and the Patient Protection Act (PPA). Not all healthcare disparities can be addressed through APA and PPA, and these acts do not enrich the biblical view on public and community health. Fiscella discusses six healthcare domains, and in this review, the author will analyze two: access related to insurance coverage and accountability.
The ability to receive primary care has been an issue for millions of the United States citizens who are uninsured. In terms of access, the ACA and PPA implementation promised access to the millions of these uninsured Americans. However, the pitfalls that these legislations failed to address include three different problems, such as the 23 million people who will still be unable to access services, lack of a robust primary care system, and having no public healthcare (Fiscella, 2011). Moreover, in terms of cost-sharing, the reforms promise to reduce cost barriers but fail to do so for mental health services or behavioral care. The way of overcoming these pitfalls is by expanding coverage under Medicare and working towards strengthening and improving the primary care system.
In terms of the biblical view of health and health care, access should be granted to all people, regardless of their socioeconomic status, ethnicity, or citizenship. Moreover, access should include all elements of health, as Elder (n.d.) notes that healing requires the integration of physical, emotional, and social parts. The discussed prescriptions for the disparities in this domain help address this partially, by expanding primary care access and emphasizing the importance of behavioral health and mental health services.
Accountability within the United States is a problem connected with the unavailability of data about disparities. As Fiscella (2011) notes, ACA promised to implement data collection strategies and use this information to analyze trends. However, the pitfall is that it does not automatically mean that it will be used to address the disparities. Hence, Fiscella (2011) prescribes a system that creates a loop between reporting, interventions, and followups. The biblical worldview of public or community health system’s accountability is connected to the value of human life. Fiscella’s (2011) approach reflects the value of human life, as from a Christian perspective, a proper healthcare system means “that no one’s health is jeopardized” (Sumarsono, 2020, para. 3). Hence, in both domains, the author of the article enriches the biblical worldview on health care.
Overall, this article review examines “Health care reform and equality: Promise, pitfalls, and prescriptions” by Kevin Fiscella. The author discusses the prospects of the ACA and PPA and the health care issues that should be addressed through these legislations. However, Fiscella points out the pitfalls of the legislation and offers advice on improving each of the six healthcare domains. This review focuses on two elements, which are access and accountability.
References
Elder, H. (n.d.). A biblical perspective on disease, health, and healing. 2020, Web.
Fiscella, K. (2011). Health care reform and equality: Promise, pitfalls, and prescriptions. Annals of Family Medicine, 9(1), 78-84.
Sumarsond, A. (2020). Why healthcare is a Christian issue. Relevant. Web.