Health and Socio-Political Issues in Age Care

Health and Socio-Political Issues in Age Care
Students Name
Institution

RUNNING HEAD: HEALTH CARE 1
INTRODUCTION
Primarily, the user pay model is premised on the principle that the consumer be
responsible for the cost of the services they are to receive. This approach is being adopted in the
healthcare system in Australia for the aged persons. The pay model approach to healthcare seeks
to accomplish equity (horizontal).With the user pay model of care, quality and access of heath
care services to the aging Population in Australia is likely to improve. However, like any other
model of payment, the user pays model has its advantages and disadvantages. Inevitably, the
procedure for resource allocation and service provision under the user pays models is changing
and likely to lead to equitable and quality aged health care services .The user pay model of care
can be considered all stakeholder inclusive.
ADVANTAGES OF THE USER PAY MODEL OF CARE
Noteworthy, under the Users pay model, the aged population get to enjoy healthcare
services under the comfort of their homes(Smith,-hamilton,2016).This user payment system is
good for the aged population because it is able to ensure constant health care to the aging
population whether the government subsidies exist or not. With the other government funded
subsidies, some aged persons were at the mercy of government funding and would lose out on
the services if the funding run out. Under the user payment model, the healthcare are services are
brought closer to the aging population. Aging persons are able to receive medical services under
familiar environment which is better for recovery for some aging patients. In addition, following
the introduction of the User pays model, there is reduced public expenditure into healthcare by
the Australian government(‘Ageing and the ...N .d).Before the implementation of the user pays
model, most healthcare services for the aged was fully funded by the government. Following the

RUNNING HEAD: HEALTH CARE 2
user pays model, consumers will bear the costs for their healthcare services. Whereas this is good
news for the government, the burden of cost of health care services falls on the consumers. With
less government expenditure, the government can channel the money into the provision of other
public services. Moreover, under the user pays model, the aged populations gets to receive
services of their choosing at the comfort of their homes(Morton,2017).The Australian
government has implemented as assessment system where by the aged persons after passing the
assessment get to be allocated home care services. The fact that the aged population have a
choice in their healthcare decisions takes care of their interests. Owing to this homes based care
systems, the aged persons are likely to enjoy specialized and quality healthcare services as
compared to being hospitalized in public health care facilities. Remarkably, Australia’s health
expenditure per capita is considered among the lowest in the World (NSW Nurses & Midwives
Association, 2017).
DISADVANTAGES
Despite the convenience and other benefits of user pays model, there are various setbacks
.For some part of the aging population ,the user pays model might deny them access to
healthcare services due to their inability to finance it(Australian women’s health
network,2014).The fact that user pays model means the consumer is to finance his or her medical
healthcare, this could be ideal for part of the Australia’s population who are financially sound
and a huge burden to those that are not financially sound. Owing to the expensive nature of some
health care services such as chemotherapy, pathology among other serious illness healthcare and
supportive services might be very costly for some of Australia’s aging population. Also, the cost
of sustaining the user pays model of care for the aged population is high. Particularly, Australia