Health Policy and Access to Care | Study

Running head: HEALTH POLICY AND ACCESS
HEALTH POLICY AND ACCESS
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HEALTH POLICY AND ACCESS1
Introduction
Access of care is stated as the utilisation of healthcare facilities that either supports or
impedes the utilization of health service. Therefore, it is a compelling association between the
healthcare system and the people being served that involve understanding of the decision,
action and plan for attaining the healthcare objectives of the entire society (Obama, 2016).
The aim of the assignment is to understand the most important issue with respect to health
policy accessibilities in the United States (US) and the attempts made by the 2010 Affordable
Care Act (ACA) in order to address the accessibility issue in the country.
Most important access problem in the US in term of health policy
According to Shinberg (2016), realized access is stated to be the actual usage of
health services by the population, and the indicators involve the use of various kinds of health
services such as dental, physicians, hospitals, and others. In a traditional manner, there was
an enhancement in the trend of access as well as the healthcare utilization rate. Therefore, it is
considered as an last objective of change in policy. As per the Institute of Medicine (IOM)
Committee on Monitoring Access to Medical Care, effective access is demarcated as the
well-timed usage of the individual healthcare services that allow in attaining health outcomes
of the society in the best possible manner. It can be measured by evaluating the impact of
potential access and realized access to health consequences (National Academies of Sciences,
Engineering and Medicine, 2018). The efficient access is mostly concerned with cost restraint
as well as improving the outcomes of health in the population. It is responsible to measure the
efficient access by examining the influence of potential access and realized access with
respect to the health status and quality of life of patients. As per the government report, the
lack of coverage does not enable people to get the desired healthcare facilities and the burden
of medical bills leads to poorer health status (Healthypeople.gov, 2014). Thus, the most