NHS FPX 6008 Assessment 2
[Student Name]
Capella University
Professor’s Name
August 2025
NHS FPX 6008 Assessment 2: Summary of Chosen Economic Issue
Inequality in healthcare is not something new in the United States. The shortage of healthcare professionals only serves to increase the stigma as the US’s population and immigration population continue to grow. Despite the fact that Medicare and Medicaid are government-funded insurance programs, many Americans may not be qualified for them. This is demonstrated by the fact that 49% of Medicaid members are younger than 18 years old. In the upcoming years, this number will continue to rise. This adds to the disparities in healthcare access in America. In addition, many uninsured Americans acquired insurance to receive urgent care due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Research indicates that the number of Americans without health insurance will keep increasing through the known disenrollment period that follows the outbreak. This statistic alone predicts that healthcare inaccessibility will only increase over the next few months and years (Twersky, 2022).
Lack of Healthcare Access Impact
According to NHS FPX 6008 Assessment 2, working Americans occasionally have to pay astronomically high health insurance premiums because of the burden of rising healthcare costs brought on by inflation and payments to medical facilities. Due to the exorbitant expense of these payments, some people decide not to obtain health insurance. In my opinion, I came across this dilemma early in my career. I had to make decisions like balancing health coverage with putting food on the table, reflecting the importance of a training needs assessment analysis to better prepare individuals and communities for such challenges. This forced me to pay cash for medical care whenever I needed urgent care or my family needed medical care, which emphasizes the necessity of a comprehensive needs analysis for changes in healthcare finance. This scenario is more likely to be recognizable because it has been a common theme among my coworkers and classmates. Considering the postponed health insurance, the annual health check-ups are not made,
as a result, many people run to the emergency room when acute diseases develop (Duijvestijn, Ardine de Wit, van Gils, and Wendel-Vos, 2023).
Rationale For Healthcare Economic Choice
Studies show that people without health insurance are twice as likely to experience an urgent medical issue and end up in the hospital as people who get regular checkups. The majority of these individuals are therefore unable to pay for the emergency care they received. The charges, which are frequently invoiced to collections, must be paid in full by the healthcare organization that rendered the service. These unfortunate but common situations lead to rising healthcare expenses over time. Highlighting the need for analysis to comprehend and resolve these inequities is underscored by the fact that the difference in healthcare availability widens as healthcare costs rise. As mentioned in NHS FPX 6008 Assessment 2, the immigrants and their family members who wish to get healthcare without payment are contributing to the storm of healthcare shortages. In the end, the unpaid medical bills absorb and contribute to the national healthcare expenditures (Riley, 2012).
Economic Healthcare Gap Analysis
The cost of healthcare is the main reason why many in the US do not have access to it. Recent surveys indicate that the average annual cost of healthcare in the US is $13,000 per person. Furthermore, the entire cost of healthcare in the US is 4.3 trillion, and it will keep going up beyond 2021. The disparities in healthcare access between individuals of various races, ethnicities, and origins cannot be ignored. Numerous immigrant families who enter the US illegally are able to get healthcare regardless of their financial situation, highlighting the need for analysis.
According to new data from the Joint Center of Political and Financial Education, the United States spent about 1.5 trillion dollars in three years on net medical expenses for minority groups, including immigrant families. This statistic illustrates how minority groups’ access to healthcare is unequal, which drives increasing healthcare expenses in the United States (Riley
2012). Due to the costly premiums they pay to their companies, many Americans are unable to pay for their health insurance. Each uninsured person consequently needs emergency medical care when routine health examinations are exceeded. This highlights the significance of a comprehensive needs analysis in resolving healthcare access gaps. In order to break the vicious cycle that will unavoidably cause healthcare costs to continue rising, it is imperative that the lack of access to healthcare be addressed. Many people nowadays have unhealthy lives that involve poor dental and vision health as well as general health difficulties, because they lack access to healthcare. According to Paolini, Vereen, Taghiani, and Chitre (2023), this makes it impossible to prevent or control disease, avoid avoidable impairment, and, in certain circumstances, untimely deaths.
Potential Implementation and Change Plans
Expanding the reach of government-funded insurance programs, like Medicaid, could help address the lack of healthcare by covering more adults and children and ensuring they receive essential treatment and routine checkups. Even though this plan might result in extra expenses, like higher taxes, it would be a step in the right direction to address the nation’s healthcare shortage. Research indicates that a significant portion of Americans, including children and the elderly, would have access to healthcare through the Medicaid expansion.
Nearly 32 million Americans were uninsured in 2020, according to recent studies, even though all 32 million of them were either employed or dependents of employees (Lee and Winters, 2022). According to NHS FPX 6008 Assessment 2, many people in remote areas may find it difficult to get healthcare due to transportation issues. This may indicate that the majority of people living in these villages are either unable or unwilling to travel hundreds of miles to receive medical care. Expanding telehealth to provide broadcast and triage services to rural communities would be one way to address this issue. For instance, local pharmacies in remote areas can provide medications to treat common ailments like sinus infections, colds, and migraines. The American
government may also look at funding mobile clinics that may provide services to people living in rural areas. Mobile clinics can provide people in remote areas with general health examinations, vaccinations, injections, and basic treatment medications, as stated in NHS FPX 6008 Assessment 2. The rural population that needs emergency care right away will also benefit from the construction of free-standing emergency centers (Coombs, Campbell, and Caringi, 2022).
Predicted Outcome and Opportunities for Growth
Beginning with the Medicaid expansion program in every US state, it is anticipated that the expansion will result in thousands more Americans having access to healthcare. In turn, increasing access to healthcare would increase the number of children, young people, and senior citizens who receive regular checks. Preventive care and routine medical examinations would likely lower the number of emergency room visits and illnesses. Patients can talk to doctors and nurses and ask for their assistance with their conditions through telehealth services. Patients will be able to obtain healthcare services more rapidly and save the distance they must travel. This will increase the amount of critical care visits and emergency appointments for all rural populations. Lastly, people in need could receive critical care from independent emergency departments located in remote areas (Humayun, Almufareh, Al-Quayed, Sulaiman, and Alatiyyah, 2023).
Economic Considerations
Recent research has demonstrated that a variety of socioeconomic factors can be used to examine the lack of access to healthcare. It doesn’t need to be further enhanced after discussing race and minority groups, such as the fact that African Americans live and earn less than white Americans. Under the Medicaid expansion program, minority groups, including African Americans, have access to healthcare across the United States. Although this is one example of a minority group, the minority in the United States is made up of many different ethnicities and groups. Implementing expanded health coverage would make it easier for minority groups to receive urgent, follow-up, and routine medical treatment. Despite the fact that minority groups are
often low-income households, Medicaid expansion would make healthcare accessible to low-income families.
Telehealth services would also be reasonably accessible to low-income families and minority groups, including Native Alaskans, American Indians, African Americans, and most others. Furthermore, as noted in NHS FPX 6008 Assessment 2, telehealth services would be very beneficial to patients in remote areas because they are convenient and do not require them to travel great distances. Patients who have little or no access to healthcare organizations would have fewer racial and cultural differences because of telehealth. With the advent of healthcare technologies like telemedicine and remote emergency rooms, any patient, regardless of ability to travel or ethnic background, can obtain medical care quickly. This would bring minority groups and low-income families closer to healthcare and lessen the economic gap between them (Bailey et al., 2021).
Conclusion
According to NHS FPX 6008 Assessment 2, access to healthcare is becoming a greater issue in the US. For a variety of reasons, low-income individuals and minority groups bear a major portion of the blame for the lack of easy access. The fact that older persons in rural areas usually do not have access to transportation to a medical facility exacerbates the imbalance in America. Telehealth enables anyone who is unable to be physically present during a visit to see a doctor to use technology such as FaceTime and Zoom calls. In the context of telehealth, the physician can appropriately assess the patient’s condition and determine if, for instance, the patient needs urgent care or only a prescription. The government, healthcare officials, medical experts, and healthcare executives must work together to ensure that everyone, regardless of race, gender, or ethnicity, has access to healthcare. This will improve the situation of inaccessibility to healthcare in the United States.
References
Bailey, J. E., Gurgol, C., Pan, E., Njie, S., Emmett, S., Gatwood, J., Gauthier, L., Rosas, L. G., Kearney, S. M., Samantha, K. R., Lawrence, R. H., Margolis, K. L., Osunkwo, I., Wilfley, D., & Shah, V. O. (2021). Early patient-centered outcomes research experience with the use of telehealth to address disparities: Scoping review. Journal of Medical Internet Research, https://doi.org/10.2196/28503
Coombs, N. C., Campbell, D. G., & Caringi, J. (2022). A qualitative study of rural healthcare providers’ views of social, cultural, and programmatic barriers to healthcare access. BMC Health Services Research, 22, 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-022-07829-2
Duijvestijn, M., Ardine de Wit, G., van Gils, P.,F., & Wendel-Vos, G. (2023). Impact of physical activity on healthcare costs: A systematic review. BMC Health Services Research, 23, 1- 13. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-023-09556-8
Humayun, M., Almufareh, M. F., Al-Quayed, F., Sulaiman, A. A., & Alatiyyah, M. (2023). Improving healthcare facilities in remote areas using cutting-edge technologies. Applied Sciences, 13(11), 6479. https://doi.org/10.3390/app13116479
Lee, J. Y., & Winters, J. V. (2022). State Medicaid expansion and the self-employed. Small Business Economics, 59(3), 925-954. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-021-00559-5
Palombini, M., Vereen, T., Taghiani, J., & Chitre, T. (2023). Building a framework for a more inclusive healthcare system. Telehealth and Medicine Today, 8(3) https://doi.org/10.30953/thmt.v8.414Riley W. J. (2012). Health disparities: Gaps in access, quality and affordability of medical care. Transactions of the American Clinical and Climatological Association, 123, 167– 174.
Twersky, S. E. (2022). Do state laws reduce uptake of Medicaid/CHIP by U.S. citizen children in immigrant families: Evaluating evidence for a chilling effect. International Journal for Equity in Health, 21, 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-022-01651-2
