Essay on Global Health Governance: Personal Health Cover Policy

This essay delves into the intricacies of global health governance, specifically focusing on the implementation of personal health cover policies in Saudi Arabia. The introduction highlights the country's health challenges, including the leading causes of death and the potential benefits of personal health cover policies in mitigating financial burdens and promoting healthcare access. The essay then identifies deficiencies in the current system, such as political influences, lack of public awareness, high costs, and the limited role of healthcare professionals in promoting the policy. It proposes solutions, including educating stakeholders, fostering strong leadership within the healthcare sector, and implementing fundamental public health principles to gain support and ensure effective policy implementation. Furthermore, the essay addresses funding sources, suggesting a government-patient cost-sharing model, and the need for flexible options in terms of coverage scope and family inclusion. In conclusion, the essay emphasizes the importance of addressing policy deficiencies, promoting stakeholder education, and ensuring effective funding mechanisms to achieve improved healthcare outcomes.

Running head: GLOBAL HEALTH GOVERNANCE 1
Global Health Governance
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Introduction
Living in Saudi Arabia has got a number of benefits as there is freedom of performing so
many things as well as the protection that a person deserves. However, there are some other
scenarios that greatly impact the normal way that we live in our country. These aspects include
ailments, drug over-usage, and accidents that happen now and then. By the year 2013, the major
causes of death that were recorded in our country included the likes of road injuries by 10%,
diabetes and neck injuries by 7%, heart ailments by 6%, and depression related sicknesses by 5%
among other causes. As a result, it is effective if there is a positive implementation of policies
that will be centered on the patients so as to protect themselves from the claws of huge costs that
may arise from the causes of loss of lives. However, this essay will specifically handle the
implementation of the personal health cover policy that will enable a person to be treated and an
advanced paid bill that will reduce the chances of the inability to pay and high losses if the
person dies while receiving treatment. Not only does the personal health policy save treatment
costs but also installs the feeling of freedom from the depression caused by too much thinking of
where the funds to pay the medical bills amass for the patient. As a result, more people will be
turning up for the health coverage and this aspect will boost both the insurance and health sectors
once the patients have signed up for it.
Deficiencies of the personal health cover policy
There is a huge possibility of having this policy implemented in our society but there are
some reasons that keep it from being implemented. Some of the factors that hugely affect it
include the extreme politics and unfavorable policies on personal health covers (Obermeyer,
Bott, & Sassine, 2015), lack of the complete knowledge on its benefits to the public (World
Health Organization, 2015), huge costs that come from the private providers of such a policy
(Mokdad, et al., 2015), and the inability of the registered nurses talking about it to their patients.
Most healthcare stakeholders are in the rush of identifying one or another loophole in the
healthcare sector in order to benefit from it but fail to understand that the full support of its
effective results in better care provision to the public.
The lack of complete knowledge, or rather the knowledge gaps in the benefits of the
policy affects the masses that can and will access it even after it has been implemented. Thus, the

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healthcare professionals, especially the registered nurses and the home caregivers, should be
educated on how best they can inform their patients of the benefits of the policy. For instance,
the great number of continuing accidents in the country, which contributed to the 10% (U. S.
Department of Health & Human Services, 2016) of the total deaths, can be resolved by the
education of the citizens not only on the importance of proper driving but also the benefit that
personal health cover will have on them as they will always have the chance to be treated even
before their families have been identified.
The other deficiency of the policy is the issue of improper reaction that the people will
have once the policy is put into work. Since there is an existing cover for the people, the reaction
towards the personal health cover may be negative. It is in the nature of people to neglect an
aspect that may milk them their money, the effective marketing strategy for this policy
implementation may be needed and with the effective stakeholders.
Finally, raising the funds for the policy may be a huge problem for both the customers
and the state. It is to be noted that the cost of the health cover depends on the number of ailments
covered as well as the maximum amount of money that can be cashed out once a patient is
admitted in the hospital. If a patient needs a cover that will pay his or her costs of medical
treatment of expensive diagnosis and treatment such as cardiovascular treatment, he or she will
have to make huge premium contributions for the cover which may hinder their interest in the
personal health cover.
The vision changes for the policy
In order to make the policy work out here in Saudi Arabia, a number of solutions need to
be implemented so as to make people accept it fully and put it into work. Such changes that need
to be facilitated include the following.
The first solution is to educate different stakeholders on the importance of the cover. For
instance, the lack of this cover makes the treatment of some patients, when in an emergency
situation, unable to be treated as his or her payer for the service difficult (Avorn, 2018).
However, an emergency nurse will never hesitate to treat a patient who he or she is aware that is
covered by a personal health cover. Therefore, the number of deaths that is witnessed due to the
slower response of nurses to the injured patients can effectively be reduced.

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Secondly, having a very strong leadership in the healthcare sector may aid in the
resolution of the funding problem for the policy (Trastek, Hamilton, & Niles, 2014). Good
leadership will implement this policy and make it mandatory for every citizen since the benefits
that come with it are more compared to the deficiency that is observed in the policy. Through the
best leadership, the sources of the funds will be directed to the public sourced revenues through
taxes raised from the public sector. In addition, monthly contribution for the policy can be
facilitated through the employee check-off system.
Finally, the implementation of the basic and/or fundamental public health principles such
as the distribution of justice, patient satisfaction analysis, and the right health may aid in the
resolution of these problems (Dunn, 2015). Once a patient is educated about his or her rights to
better health, he or she may be a determinant to undertake the personal health cover loan just to
secure themselves for the unknown. As a result, the inclusion of these principles in the Saudi
Arabian health system will effectively promote the mass positive reaction of the population
towards this policy.
Gaining support for the vision
In order for the policy to be implemented effectively, the appropriate gaining of support
from both the internal and external stakeholders may be fundamental. The internal support can
be done through the luring of the nurses and care facility managers to implement and accept this
policy cover as a means of payment for any person who may be admitted before the official
payment is made. In addition, nurses and other healthcare professionals such as surgeons and X-
ray operators among others may be educated on the benefit of having such a system in their
facility as it is a way of reducing medical process and costs such as continuous confirmation of
payment by patients.
The external stakeholders such as the government and customers may be educated on the
positive benefits of the policy. The government officials may be educated on the benefits that the
government such as the revenues raised through check-off deductions on the salaries of the
subscribers. This policy will also be favorable to the government as it will be enabling the
recognition of the reduction of the ailments in the society. The customers may be educated on
why it is necessary to have a personal health cover as it will allow them to choose the number of

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ailments that they would cover, the period that the cover will last, and the number of family
members to be included in the cover as well. Most people will identify the benefits of the policy
and will accept it wholeheartedly.
Sources of funds
Since the policy is aiding the government to reduce the high number of deaths caused by
the increased number of deaths, the government may be involved in the funding of the policy by
about 50% while the patients pay for the remaining 50% of the amount. In addition, the
customers can gladly contribute to the remaining 50% since it will be cheaper for those who
would need a cover for the notorious ailments and a minimum number of ailments per a cover
(Atun, et al., 2015). In addition, the availability of choices of how many ailments will be covered
as well as which ailments will be included in the said cover.
Conclusion
Due to the increased number of deaths due to the rise in the injuries from accidents and
diverse ailments in the society, it is very effective to implement a policy that will cover every
member of the society once they are admitted in the hospital. There are other health covers in the
society and are not as effective as they are implemented based on the idea of the policy makers
but not the patients themselves. Solving the deficiencies of the policy by proper education of the
stakeholders and effective involvement of the internal stakeholders is effective in implementing
the policy.

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Works Cited
Atun, R., De Andrade, L. O., Almeida, G., Cotlear, D., Dmytraczenko, T., Frenz, P., et al.
(2015). Health-system reform and universal health coverage in Latin America. The
Lancet, 385(9974), 1230-1247.
Avorn, J. (2018). Engaging With Patients on Health Policy Changes: An Urgent Issue. Jama,
319(3), 233-234.
Dunn, W. N. (2015). Public policy analysis. Routledge.
Mokdad, A. H., Tuffaha, M., Hanlon, M., El Bcheraoui, C., Daoud, F., Al Saeedi, M., et al.
(2015). Cost of diabetes in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. J Diabetes Metab, 5(575), 2.
Obermeyer, C. M., Bott, S., & Sassine, A. J. (2015). Arab adolescents: health, gender, and social
context. Journal of Adolescent Health, 57(3), 252-262.
Trastek, V. F., Hamilton, N. W., & Niles, E. E. (2014). Leadership models in health care—a case
for servant leadership. . In Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 89(3), 374-381.
U. S. Department of Health & Human Services. (2016). Global Health - Saudi Arabia. Retrieved
from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:
https://www.cdc.gov/globalhealth/countries/Saudi_Arabia/
World Health Organization. (2015). World malaria report 2014. World Health Organization.