Policies in Healthcare

Policies in Healthcare 1
Topic: Social, Economic and Political Policies in Health Care

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Introduction
The economic, political and social policies play a significant role in the development of a
health care system (Owusu-Manu, Badu, Agyekum, Akom, 2015). To understand the health care
system concerning the developmental aspects, it is mandatory to overview how the social,
economic and political policies work. All the three aspects are equally important as it is
consistent with the health equalities. In the current paper it all three policies the social, economic
and political has been evaluated to understand the health care system and its effectiveness.
The social policies elaborated how discrimination and inequalities due to race, religion,
and ethnicity affect the equal chances of availing health care among the population. Secondly,
the political policies highlighted the democratic role in formulating policies concerning the equal
rights of the patient.
Also, it signified how the ineffective democracy in developing countries adversely affects
the health status of the population. Thirdly, the economic policies strived at providing equity to
those people who belong to low socioeconomic status (Owusu-Manu, Badu, Agyekum, Akom,
2015: Bartley, 2016). The taxes, budget, and related issues have also been discussed in the
current paper. Also, the economic evaluation of the rationing has been found imperative to keep
a balance between the resources of the need of the people. In short, the current paper provides an
in-depth understanding of the health and health care system covering all the social, economic and
political aspect.
Main body
Economics, Politics & Social Policy and Health Care. The economic, political and
social policies are fundamental to promote understanding regarding health care for multiple
reasons. All three aspects the social, economic and political policies play a significant role in

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health care system concerning development (Phelan, Link, Tehranifar, 2010). First of all, social
policies pose the potential to acerbate health inequalities by diversely distributing social
advantages regarding health to different social subgroups. Such as social policies targets
providing equity to the disadvantaged group regardless of socioeconomic, racial, ethnic
discrepancies (Phelan, Link, Tehranifar, 2010).
The social inequalities in health care services are the key hindrance in promoting health
status among the population (Vogenberg, & Santilli, 2018). The social services inequalities occur
due to social disparities in social determinants such as race, religion, ethnicity, and sect (Jacobs,
Skocpol, 2015). The minority groups of society experience substantial disadvantage, and health
status of any society cannot be enhanced due to such inequalities (Phelan, Link, Tehranifar,
2010: Owusu-Manu, Badu, Agyekum, Akom, 2015). The health care system practice and
promote equalities and social justice to each patient considering the nature of treatment and care
by implementing a person center approach (Dei, & Sebastian, 2018). The social policies not
merely provide an in-depth understanding regarding the health care social inequalities, but also
organize management plan to control the situation (Oliver, Lorenc, & Innvær, 2014). The recent
data indicated that the social inequalities in health care distort not only the physical condition of
the patients but cause mental health issues (Phelan, Link, Tehranifar, 2010). The minority group
and immigrants reported substantial health care inequalities in the host countries. The social
policies provide the equal health care system to the immigrants and minority groups (Owusu-
Manu, Badu, Agyekum, Akom, 2015).
The political policies comprised of broader the range of government decisions managed
by the prime minister of the country (Owusu-Manu, Badu, Agyekum, Akom, 2015: Bartley,
2016). The executive officer and president if a country takes charge and through the researchers,

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policymakers identify the needs of the patients and community and formulate new policies
(Béland, & Katapally, 2018). In different countries, political policies are different and helping to
eradicate the medical problem of societies. It is an admitted fact in some countries the political
policies are better, while in another country due to ineffective democracy the policies are not
capable of meeting the needs of the community (Boerma, & Mathers, 2015: Béland Ride 2016).
Substantial empirical data on social inequalities and health care has exponentially increased.
Hence, the political and social policies on health have not been studied thoroughly (Lafond,
Charlesworth, Roberts, 2016).
In recent years of the 20th century, numerous countries achieved democracy and
implemented the policies for social expenditures, but still not gained that success compared to
developed countries (Béland, & Katapally, 2018). Navarro et al. postulated the multidimensional
theoretical framework that has been used to elaborate on the relationship between health
outcomes and politics (Borrell, Espelt, Rodríguez-Sanz, & Navarro, 2007). The represented how
political trade union characteristics electric behavior promote the welfare state concerning the
labor marketing policies for labor. The theoretical model elaborates that the expansion of welfare
is higher among social democratic countries (Lafond, Charlesworth, Roberts, 2016) as the social
democratic countries provide full employment policies. Also, include women quota in labor
force to eradicate the social inequalities to improve health equality (Oliver, Lorenc, & Innvær,
2014). Therefore, the welfare of the social democratic countries are better and possess fewer
inequalities in health as compared to developing or underdeveloped countries (Borrell, Espelt,
Rodríguez-Sanz, & Navarro, 2007). The significance of political policies cannot be ignored as
the democratic powers can develop or destroy the socioeconomic status of any nation (Oliver,
Lorenc, & Innvær, 2014). Literature is enriched with the studies that highlight that the developed