Nursing Advocacy Statement and Health Bill Analysis

This nursing assignment presents a student's advocacy statement and analysis of a health bill, specifically focusing on the need for affordable healthcare access for all citizens, particularly those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. The student, a nursing professional, draws from personal experiences and observations to support their arguments, highlighting instances where lack of access to healthcare led to negative outcomes. The assignment includes a letter to legislators, emphasizing the importance of the bill and advocating for its inclusion of mental health care, including disorders beyond common diagnoses. The student also references relevant research and provides a fact sheet that outlines the key agendas and background related to mental health issues in the United States and the actions of past presidents regarding mental health care. The assignment incorporates a legislation comparison grid and an advocacy statement, fulfilling the requirements of the assignment brief.

Running head: HEALTH BILL
Health Bill
Student Name
University Name
Author Note

1
Dear John Dingell and other members of the Energy and Commerce,
My name is Kyi Kyi and I am a responsible citizen of the United States of America. It is with
great respect that I am writing the letter to you to thank you for the passing of the bill, HR
3962 and considering the requirement of an affordable care act for the citizens of the nation
(Magleby, Monroe & Robinson, 2018). The primary reason to write the letter to you is the
necessity for the citizens to gain access to healthcare systems equally despite them belonging
from a lower socio-economic background (Nash et al., 2016). There have been several
instances in my life surrounding the issue of individuals not being able to gain access to
primary healthcare services because of no money and belonging from a poor background.
One of my neighbors was unable to get equal access for the treatment of her obsessive
compulsive disorder which resulted in her going into depression and subsequent death. She
had a son who worked for a private organization with a lower income and did not get the
provision to pay for the rising medical costs of his mother. As a nursing professional, it was a
critical time for me to advocate the matter to the higher authorities of the hospital and arrange
for some financial services to the family in times of distress. It is the primary responsibility of
the hospital to provide optimum level of care to the individuals who belong to lower socio-
economic platforms and have lesser access to developing healthcare reforms. However, it is
during this time that I came to know about the discriminations that are carried out on these
individuals which result in a lesser patient satisfaction rate.
On approaching the opposition of the bill, I would like to make them understand that the
mortality rate of the individuals with liver problems is mostly observed in people who belong
to the lower social background and hence, require our support as healthcare professionals to
provide them with the best of cares for their illness (Mechanic & Olfson, 2016). The primary
duty of the nursing and healthcare specialists is to deliver the care to the patient irrespective
of their background, origin, sex, color and religion. It is crucial for them to understand that all
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people are equal in the eyes of healthcare professionals and require the same treatment. In
addition to the above recommended bill, I would like to add one more thing is to specify the
bill into segments of the mental health care such that every illness finds an appropriate
solution. The bill should not be exclusive to the common mental disorders like depression,
schizophrenia and autism. It should encircle around other taboo mental disorders like
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, anxiety attacks and stress-related disorders (Ali et al.,
2016).
I urge you and other committee members to support the enactment of the bill in the higher
court such that the citizens are informed about the equal rights for their healthcare.
Thanks and Regards
Kyi Kyi
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References
Ali, M. M., Teich, J., Woodward, A., & Han, B. (2016). The implications of the
Affordable Care Act for behavioral health services utilization. Administration
and policy in mental health and mental health services research, 43(1), 11-22.
Magleby, D. B., Monroe, N. W., & Robinson, G. (2018). Amendment Politics and Agenda
Setting: A Theory with Evidence from the US House of Representatives. The Journal
of Law, Economics, and Organization, 34(1), 108-131.
Mechanic, D., & Olfson, M. (2016). The relevance of the Affordable Care Act for
improving mental health care. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 12, 515-
542.
Nash, K., Ghinassi, F., Brar, J. S., Alam, A., Bohan, M. C., Gopalan, K., ... &
Chengappa, K. R. (2016). The development and implementation of an
electronic health record tool for monitoring metabolic syndrome indices in
patients with serious mental illness. Clinical schizophrenia & related
psychoses, 10(3), 145-153.
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