CONTEMPORARY HEALTH ISSUES AND POLICIES.

CONTEMPORARY HEALTH ISSUES AND POLICIES 1
CONTEMPORARY HEALTH ISSUES AND POLICIES
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CONTEMPORARY HEALTH ISSUES AND POLICIES 2
CONTEMPORARY HEALTH ISSUES AND POLICIES
The National Coalition on Health Care has a role in enhancing health care opportunities for
citizens of America (American Diabetes Association, 2018). The organization was established
more than two decades ago with the aim of achieving a comprehensive change in the health
system. John Rother is the current president and the leader of the organization. Our organization
is a private, nonprofit and non-partisan organization of Organizations. NCHR represent over 80
other organizations that participate in healthcare provision and they include business, civil,
pensions and health funds, persons with disabilities and the minority, women, consumers
representation groups, healthcare providers, unions, children, patients, and medical societies
(Herron, 2017). The organization represents more than 100 million Americans who are
employees, congregants or members. Our organization recognizes our members as our strength
(Herron, 2017). We recognize that the diversity of our member organizations their leadership
experiences as well as their expertise makes our coalition powerful voice in the community
health policymaking. From its establishment in 1990, the organization has seen an adverse
change in the health care system that improves quality, accessibility, affordability and care that is
cost-effective (Herron, 2017). The reason why the organization is advocating for affordable
universal healthcare is that the current upwards trends in costs for healthcare and the expenditure
are unsustainable (Whitelaw, Fiorentino and O'Leary, 2018).
The Organizations Mission
“To bring together key stakeholders in order to achieve an affordable, high-value health care
system for patients and consumers, for employers and other payers, and for taxpayers”
”(Bartelds, Drayer and Wolfensberger, 2012).
Vision

CONTEMPORARY HEALTH ISSUES AND POLICIES 3
“To be a leader in promoting a healthy population and a more effective, efficient and responsive
health system that provides quality care for all” (Bartelds, Drayer and Wolfensberger, 2012).
Soaring Insulin prices as the health issue NCHC advocates
15.1% of American Indians/Alaskan Natives
There are approximately 15.1% Alaskan/America Indian who are suffering from diabetes. Lack
of insulin causes diabetes. The most affected population is the old people who are over 65 years
and above comprising over 25.2% who are undiagnosed and diagnosed amounting to 20
million(Davies et al., 2018). Diabetes type 2 is the most common type of diabetes. People with
diabetes type 2 accounts for more than 95% of all diabetes cases reported in America. Over
79,535 deaths occur every year due to diabetes, out of which only 5% originate from diabetes
type 1 which is much higher than HIV/AIDS and breast cancer combined (National Center for
Health Statistics (US), 2017). Insulin is the hormone that is produced by the islets of Langerhans
in the pancreas and functions to regulate the amount of glucose in the blood (Davies et al., 2018).
The affordability of insulin for persons with diabetes is a major concern in America today
(Lipska, Hirsch and Riddle, 2017). The costs of insulin especially insulin analogues has
significantly increased for the last two decades. For instance, pharmacy prices for 1 vial of lispro
or aspart or 1 vial of glargine or detemir both long and short-acting insulin analogues
respectively cost over $ 170. Even more expensive is the prefilled pen injectors. Despite the fact
that insurance may cover some of the costs the burden still remains a responsibility for the
patients in the form of copayment and higher premiums (Lipska, Hirsch and Riddle, 2017). For
patients who are underinsured or, uninsured insulin analogues are not feasible for them.
Over a century now, Insulin has remained the most effective treatment of diabetes but narrow
therapeutic index keeps hampering its use (Yang et al., 2018). Economic costs of diabetes in the

CONTEMPORARY HEALTH ISSUES AND POLICIES 4
US in 2017. There are several commercialized alternatives for blood glucose control available
(Davies et al., 2018). Even so, insulin treatment remains the most useful as evident by occasional
normalization of blood glucose and the danger of experiencing low blood glucose levels. There
is continuous development of several useful formulations and insulin analogues aiming to further
optimize the time action profile. Since many patients are not for injectable therapies oral and
inhalable formulations of insulin are representing a promising diagnosis in non-injectable
delivery with constituted areas of priority in insulin therapy refinement (Piero, Nzaro and Njagi,
2015). According to a 14th March 2019 article by BBC, the cost of insulin in the American
population is too way expensive. An example of this is a 36-year-old Laura Marston who has to
sell everything she has including her pet, apartments, retirement fund, furniture and her car to
afford insulin her body requires on a daily basis. It is important to address this issue among the
American population because of too high sugar levels due to lack of insulin results to nausea,
confusion, lack of vision, and at times organ failures (Yang et al., 2018). Economic costs of
diabetes in the US in 2017. On the other hand, too low levels of insulin cause loss of
consciousness, mood swings, seizures and heart irregularities. For many people in America, their
bodies produce insulin naturally as opposed to the case of Ms Marston case that has type 1
diabetics where insulin comes from pharmacy counter or in glass vials every month when she
can afford. A single vial of the insulin needed by Ms Marston today costs $275 (£210) if there is
no health insurance (Ritu Prasad BBC News. 14 March 2019).
Lack of insulin in the body may result in a form of diabetes. In this context insulin is the life-
saving drug that NCHC is advocating to ensure it is affordable to all Americans (Neville, 2017).
The organization is trying to push Congress to address the issue of the rising cost of insulin
(American Diabetes Association, 2018). Their efforts to push for the lower prices have seen Rep.