Demand for Healthcare: Impact of Income on Availing Services

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This essay discusses the impact of income on availing healthcare services, specifically focusing on skin care treatment and emergency treatment for traffic accidents. It also explores the two categories of healthcare services and the out of pocket expenses incurred by low-income patients. The essay concludes with the observation that the healthcare sector has become a booming business with high returns.

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ESSAY ON DEMAND FOR HEALTH CARE
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Introduction
Healthcare is one of the most vital aspects of the lives of all individuals. Better healthcare
facilities can help in the improvement of the standard of living of people and can lead to an
increase in the life span of a person. However, there are a large number of healthcare issues
such as skin concerns and traffic accidents, which do not require immediate attention and
depends on, individuals. It is up to them whether to avail them or not. With the advent of new
technologies, there have been a number of radical changes in the healthcare industry. There is
better equipment available, and better technologies have revolutionized the industry for
treating dermatological disease as well as emergency conditions that may arise due to traffic
accidents. On the other hand, it has been observed that a huge amount of money is considered
for arranging better treatment of those two healthcare issues such as skin treatment and traffic
accidents. The essay is aimed to understand the various healthcare services available and the
impact that the income of a person has on the availing of the healthcare services.
Discussion
Healthcare industry has seen massive changes over the years, due to the rapid advancement in
the field of technology. In the opinions of Bates et al. (2019, p.912), the traditional models of
healthcare have been scrapped, as new technologies and tools have found their way into the
industry. Additionally, improved technology has also made it easier to render emergency
treatment for the fatal cases of traffic accidents. It has a huge impact on two different groups
of people those are affected healthcare issues. In the opinions of Benn et al. (2017, p.81), the
massive innovation process required for the development of the highly accurate and effective
tools has led to the rise in the costs involved in the healthcare process. Besides, a huge
amount of money is required for availing healthcare treatments, which have a profound
impact on low earning level patients. This is because the various healthcare organisations buy
these tools at a very high cost and therefore, charge the patients high to compensate for the
cost. This same trend can also be observed in the case of a dermatologist, who uses improved
as well as innovative tools for the treatment of skin care. In addition to this, enhanced high
quality As influenced by the ideas of Einav, Finkelstein and Mahoney (2018, p.721), it can be
stated that the healthcare sector is considered as one of the major industries, bringing in high
profit for the proprietors of the organisations for the sectors such as skin treatment as well as
emergency treatment. This is evident from the fact that the number of healthcare
organisations is increasing daily.
Health care services are broadly categorised into two categories based on the necessity of the
services that is skin disease as well as an emergency treatment for traffic accidents. In the
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words of Fayet-Moore et al. (2018, p.82), there is a kind of healthcare service that is having a
high necessity and cannot be ignored. The other kind of healthcare service is also referred to
as luxury services (Omicsonline.org, 2019). This means that the services are not necessary to
be taken, unlike the other category. These services, which include skin disease, as well as an
emergency treatment for traffic accidents, totally depend on the individual, whether the
individual will avail them or not. For example, in the case of any major accident, the victim
has to undergo through all the stages of healthcare that the doctor prescribes. In the words of
Florence et al. (2018, p.514), there are a number of cases where patients have to avail a
specific healthcare service, even though it is too costly for the patient.
On the other hand, there are second kinds of healthcare services that is emergency traffic
accident require luxury treatment. As stated by Galvin et al. (2019, p.8), these services are a
product of the advancement in technology and have gained high popularity in recent years.
Previously, these services were not available or widespread. The major factor in these
services is the fact that these services are quite expensive. As influenced by the ideas of Kent
et al. (2017, p.812), these services of providing skin treatment and treatment for emergency
traffic accidents are totally technology driven and require highly sophisticated equipment and
tools. Therefore, these services are costlier than basic health care services.
Impact of out of the pocket expenses on low-level income patients
The fact of whether a person will take up a luxury service is highly dependent on the income
of a person. A person with low or average income cannot afford to take up a luxury service
without any proper budget planning. Sometimes, it is even impossible for a person to buy a
luxury service owing to the low incomes. In the opinions of Metsemakers et al. (2017, p.81),
most of the luxury services available in the market are for the elites, with high income. The
fact that these services are not at all cost effective adds to the list of limitations of these kinds
of services. They are in no way for the survival of an individual and are adding on to the
basic services. The income of a person is highly detrimental to the fact whether the person
has the capability of availing these services or not and there can be no second thought about
the fact.
In order to afford luxury treatment of various healthcare problems, it is important to have
sufficient financial background to continue the treatment successfully. Besides, the luxury
treatment process of healthcare issues such as sudden road accident and skin care problem
has huge on the people who are belonging low as well as the average income of their
professional life. On the other hand, those people belong income background highly, are very
much able to continue the luxury service of treatment.
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Out of the pocket payments
Access to these services is highly dependent on the fact that these services are affordable or
not. As stated by Nasseh, Vujicic and Glick (2017, p.621), the cost involved in these services
are always high, and there is very little scope. It has been identified that people with low
income or average income can afford them without shooting their monthly budget. In most
cases, people are compelled to start saving, bit by bit, in order to avail the services that are
being provided (Ncbi.nlm.nih.gov, 2018). As mentioned earlier, the healthcare sector has
turned into a booming business, with very high returns. As influenced by the ideas of
Pawaskar et al. (2018, p.731), it can be stated that this has led to a situation, where the
organisations providing healthcare services adopt all the policies that organisations of other
industrial sectors apply to ensure the success of the organisation.
In the words of Metsemakers et al. (2017, p.74), there are a number of people, who spend
their entire savings just to, avail services, which would have otherwise been out of their
reach. Besides, skin care treatments, as well as sudden road accident treatments, are critically
important. Hence, these treatments are very much costly treatment for low and average
income people. The companies market their services so efficiently that they often leave a
deep impression in the minds of the people. People often incur out of pocket expenses as a
result of the urge to take up these services. In the words of Bates et al. (2019, p.522), these
services also do not come with little or no guarantee that the treatment will lead only to the
desired or expected results. There are various instances where people have been highly
dissatisfied by the services they have availed.
Conclusion
The entire scenario of the healthcare sector has changed since the advent of technology in the
field of medical sciences. There has been an increase in the number of technology-driven
tools and methods that are currently being used for the treatment of the patients especially in
the field of skin care treatment as well as treating the emergency condition of traffic
accidents. The demand for healthcare services to be availed by a person is a highly subjective
matter. The most important aspect of the availing of a particular healthcare service is the need
and the price of the services being provided. There are two types of healthcare services, based
on the needs of the people, which include skincare treatment as well as treatment for
emergency traffic accidents. Those treatments have a huge impact on the various groups of
people those are belonging in low and average income as well as high income. The first kind
of health services are the services that are required to be taken up mandatorily. On the other
hand, the other type of service includes luxury services. These services are very dependent on
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the people, whether they want to take up these services or not. The costs of these services are
very high, and these services are often unaffordable for people with low and average income.
People often opt for out of pocket payments to avail these services.
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Reference list
Journals
Bates, N., Callander, E., Lindsay, D. and Watt, K., (2019). Correction to: CancerCostMod: a
model of the healthcare expenditure, patient resource use, and patient co-payment costs for
Australian cancer patients. Health economics review, 9(1), p.2.
Benn, P., Iyengar, S., Crowley, T.B., Zackai, E.H., Burrows, E.K., Moshkevich, S.,
McDonaldMcGinn, D.M., Sullivan, K.E. and Demko, Z., (2017). Pediatric healthcare costs
for patients with 22q11. 2 deletion syndrome. Molecular genetics & genomic medicine, 5(6),
pp.631-638.
Einav, L., Finkelstein, A. and Mahoney, N., (2018). Provider Incentives and Healthcare
Costs: Evidence From LongTerm Care Hospitals. Econometrica, 86(6), pp.2161-2219.
Fayet-Moore, F., George, A., Cassettari, T., Yulin, L., Tuck, K. and Pezzullo, L., (2018).
Healthcare expenditure and productivity cost savings from reductions in cardiovascular
disease and Type 2 Diabetes associated with increased intake of cereal fibre among
Australian Adults: A Cost of Illness Analysis. Nutrients, 10(1), p.34.
Florence, C.S., Bergen, G., Atherly, A., Burns, E., Stevens, J. and Drake, C., (2018). Medical
costs of fatal and nonfatal falls in older adults. Journal of the American Geriatrics
Society, 66(4), pp.693-698.
Galvin, M., Robinson, M., Young, E., Matrumalo, C., Jeffords, J. and Kates, S., Mms
Analytics Inc, (2019). Methods and systems for managing healthcare costs. U.S. Patent
Application 16/101,415.
Kent, S., Fusco, F., Gray, A., Jebb, S.A., Cairns, B.J. and Mihaylova, B., (2017). Body mass
index and healthcare costs: a systematic literature review of individual participant data
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Metsemakers, W.J., Smeets, B., Nijs, S. and Hoekstra, H., (2017). Infection after fracture
fixation of the tibia: analysis of healthcare utilization and related costs. Injury, 48(6),
pp.1204-1210.
Nasseh, K., Vujicic, M. and Glick, M., (2017). The relationship between periodontal
interventions and healthcare costs and utilization. Evidence from an integrated dental,
medical, and pharmacy commercial claims database. Health economics, 26(4), pp.519-527.
Pawaskar, M., Witt, E.A., Engel, S.S., Rajpathak, S.N. and Iglay, K., (2018). Severity of
hypoglycaemia and healthrelated quality of life, work productivity and healthcare costs in
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patients with type 2 diabetes in Europe. Endocrinology, diabetes & metabolism, 1(2),
p.e00011.
Websites
Ncbi.nlm.nih.gov (2018) Economic and social dependence for healthcare services Available
at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4124109/ [Accessed on: 20.05.2019]
Omicsonline.org (2019) High cost of healthcare Available at:
https://www.omicsonline.org/open-access/high-cost-of-healthcare-in-the-united-statesa-
manifestation-of-corporategreed-jfm-1000103.php?aid=66253 [Accessed on: 20.05.2019]
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