Public Health Policy - Policy Brief Rationale

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Student’s name
Professor’s name
Course
Date
Public health policy
Policy brief rationale
The policy brief to be adopted by the ministry of health and sanitation in New Jersey
State is the provision of medical insurance cover to the people living in poverty since they cannot
afford to cater for their treatment expenses. Following the issue of poverty in the eastern part of
the state, there has been a high number of death cases reported by the local health facilities thus
following the high cost of treatment which hinders members of that particular community from
seeking medical services. The cost of treatment in the region is higher compared to the
economic status of the residents who are living in extreme poverty therefore they cannot afford
to pay for the high cost of treatment.

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With the adoption of the proposed health policy by the government of new jersey state,
the health standard of the residents who are living in the perverse condition and cannot afford the
high cost of treatment will be able to freely access medical services whenever they are sick as the
insurance cover provided by the government will cater for the treatment cost. According to the
report provided by the local medical centers, the large number of residents does not seek medical
services whenever they fall sick instead they choose to visit their traditional doctors who will
charge them less as compared to the high cost charged by the public hospitals (Marrow and
Tiffany, 2270).
To reduce such cases, the government through the ministry of health sanitation has to
adopt the newly proposed health policy being advocated for which will help to improve the
living standards of its citizens and reduce the premature deaths which have been hitting most of
the community due to the high cost of treatment. It is believed that with the provision of health
insurance coverage by the government, many people will shift their attention to seeking modern
medical services rather than traditional doctors since such action has been driven by the high cost
of treatment and poverty among the citizens.
Due to lack medical insurance cover, most of the families have been spending a lot of
resources to cater for their medical expenses which have to render most of the families
financially unstable (Joseph, 115). The cost of treatment in-country has gone high to which low
income and jobless citizens cannot comfortably afford therefore lack of medical insurance cover
has cost many families their wealth and resources in which they could have invested in more
productive activities rather than settling for medical bills. According to the medical records from
the community health centers, there has been a lot of complains and suggestion from the patients

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appealing to the government to provide them with insurance cover to reduce the cost of treatment
which they cannot afford.
The urgency of the policy is witnessed in the rate at which people are losing their loved
ones due to lack of resources to finance their medical bills. Families and friends are also
spending all their wealth and possessions to pay for medical expenses. The government should
consider the urgency of the policy to save lives and to reduce suffering within the families as
most of them have spent their resources hence they cannot afford to provide basic needs for their
families (Thym, 30). The high rate of poverty is believed to be have been contributed by lack of
insurance cover to cater for the high cost of medication since families are forced to spend a lot of
resources in medication thus proofs the urgency of the policy by the government.
The policy of provision of health insurance cover to the citizens of New Jersey State is
directly related to the economic status of the state. This is applicable in the case where the locals
will invest most of their wealth and resources in economic building activities rather than using
them to cater for their medical bills (Pisani, Elizabeth and Kharisma, 273). This will contribute to
economic growth and reduce the level of poverty among the citizens. Locals will be able to
create jobs for themselves like farming and business activities with the money they would have
spent in medical bills thus positively impacts the economic status of the state and also improves
the living standards of its citizens (Rotarou and Dikaios, 500).

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The economic status of every country which is concerned with the health status and social
being of its citizens is well off as compared to other states where citizens are left with the
responsibility of paying their medical expenses. For instance, in the United States of America,
the government has enacted a law which requires citizens and employers to provide medical
insurance cover for the employees to ensure better health and living standards of the citizens
since they value health as the wealth of the state (Vargas and Vickie, 910).
Proposed policy options
The policy option which the government should consider in ensuring better health and
living standards of its people to cut off the high cost of treatment to the level which can be
afforded by the common citizens (Cheng, 505). The graph 1 presented shows the increasing cost
of medication since 2014 to 2018. The reduced medical cost by the government will help casual
workers and jobless citizens to afford some health care services instead of failing to seek for such
services when they fall sick. The health status of the people in the country will be improved due
to the cheap medical services offered by the local medical centers thus helps to ensure a healthy
state. By reducing the cost of treatment, citizens will divert some of the resources allocated for
medical bills into more productive investments which will help to improve their living standards.
Graph 1: family expense in medical bills