Health and Medical Discussion
Health and Medical Discussion
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Please reply to at least two peers .Ensure you are synthesizing the information presented in the initial post and your response contributes to the conversation and topic presented by your peer. Include at least one reference that is new to the discussion from scholarly literature (not the textbook) to add to the discussion topic. Responses to peers should be robust and a minimum of two well-written substantive paragraphs per reply.
Jamera Hubbard posted
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The Affordable Care Act amended by the Health and Education Reconciliation Act became law on March 23, 2010. The Act establishes the basic and legal protections that until now have been absent. When this Act became fully implemented it will cut the number of uninsured American’s by more than half. Through a series of provisions that create premium and cost-sharing subsidies, establish new rules for the health industry and created a new market for health insurance purchasing. The Act is this basic reinvention of American’s relationship to health insurance that lies at the epicenter of legal battle over the law’s constitutionality.
The barriers that remain are, but not limited to the lack of people still being uninsured after the Act. The main reason is the high cost of insurance. My two main questions are if it is so important and necessity to have health care coverage why is it so hard to find plan to make it affordable for all classes of people. The other question I would want more answers too would be why was the ACA made to be for everyone if in the end it did not help nor benefit every American citizen?
National Association of Community Health Centers (cited 2010, September 12)
Bradley Evans posted
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On March 23, 2010, the bill known as “The federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act”, also known as “Obamacare” was signed into law. While to this day controversial, there can be no doubt that many Americans have taken great advantage of this bill. Almost repealed just a few years ago, the ACA has been on a bumpy road since becoming law, and the road to getting it passed was just as bumpy. The rationale behind passing the sweeping legislation in the first place was summarized by a White House senior advisor in 2013, saying this;, “the blueprint for Obamacare: that everyone should have access to quality, affordable health care, and no one should ever go broke just because they get sick” (Simas 2013). It did not take long for the Obama White House to take credit and go on a victory tour. These results were summarized by that same source here: “nearly half of single, uninsured Americans between the ages of 18 and 34 can get coverage for $50 or less, often lower than the cost of their cable bill. That comes on top of the new benefits — including free preventive services like mammograms, and a prohibition against denying coverage for pre-existing conditions” (Simas 2013). While the obvious positive effects of the ACA speak for themselves, it is not to say that everything was a silver lining. Many Americans also voiced their complaints, including everything from limited choices, to expensive premiums, and the infamous individual mandate.
Despite its controversy, the Affordable Care Act has proven to be quite popular. In an age where healthcare has risen to the top of the national debate, the ACA could not have seemingly come at a better time. For example, one issue that has not been discussed as frequently as it should is the detrimental effect the coronavirus pandemic has had on mental health. While mental health issues were already an epidemic in the US, COVID has drastically increased it to a point many areas of the country simply cannot handle. Thankfully, one provision of the ACA is to cover mental health procedures. Before the ACA, mental health was often overlooked as part of a coverage option. This also goes along with its coverage of substance use disorder services, and rehabilitation programs.
Even with the expanded protections of the ACA, many Americans still find themselves unable to receive the adequate medical care to function. The COVID-19 pandemic has exasperated these issues unfortunately. For much of the year 2020, many elective surgeries and procedures were not able to be performed out of abundance of caution. This could have detrimental effects on many throughout the country. “The negative effects on patient health outcomes are being realized as delays become disruptions in care. A survey conducted by Massachusetts General Hospital among 534 patients with breast cancer indicated that 31.7% reported they experienced delays in screening or treatment from May to July 2020” (Meredith 2020). Unfortunately, even the best health insurance plan cannot do anything about many of these COVID-related dilemmas.
A question I have is, does anybody have Obamacare in 2022? And if so, has it met your expectations?
Another one I would ask is, has anybody put off an elective medical procedure due to COVID?
References
Why we passed the Affordable Care Act in the first place. (2015, August 12). whitehouse.gov. https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2013/10/30/why-we-passed-affordable-care-act-first-place
Preserving elective surgeries in the COVID-19 pandemic and the future. (2020, November 3). JAMA Network | Home of JAMA and the Specialty Journals of the American Medical Association. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2771580
Spirituality is the way to find meaning, hope, comfort, and inner peace in life. Many people find spirituality through religion. Some people find it through music, art, or a connection with nature. Others find it in their values and principles. Spirituality involves the recognition of a feeling or sense or belief that there is something greater than myself, something more to being human than sensory experience, and that the greater whole of which we are part is cosmic or divine in nature.
Healthy spirituality gives a sense of peace, wholeness, and balance among the physical, emotional, social, and spiritual aspects of our lives. However, for most people, the path to such spirituality passes through struggles and suffering and often includes experiences that are frightening and painful. Positive beliefs, comfort, and strength gained from religion, meditation, and prayer can contribute to well-being. It may even promote healing. Improving your spiritual health may not cure an illness, but it may help you feel better.
Patients who are spiritual may utilize their beliefs in coping with illness, pain, and life stresses. Some studies indicate that those who are spiritual tend to have a more positive outlook and a better quality of life (Bogue, 2020).
Similar to other caring activities and procedures, spiritual care improves people’s spiritual well-being and performance as well as the quality of their spiritual life. Spiritual care has positive effects on individuals’ stress responses, and spiritual well-being such as the balance between physical, psychosocial, and spiritual aspects of self, a sense of integrity and excellence, and interpersonal relationships. Spiritual well-being is important for an individual’s health potential and the experience of illness/hospitalization can threaten the optimum achievement of this potential. Professional nursing embraces spiritual care as a dimension of practice.
Nurses’ practice patterns in the area of spiritual care can be grouped into two categories including religious and nonreligious interventions. Religious interventions include treating patients’ religious beliefs without prejudice, providing them with opportunities for connecting with God and expressing their values and beliefs, helping them practice their religion, and referring them to clerical and religious leaders (O’Brien, et al., 2019). Nonreligious interventions include nurses’ presence for patients and their families, making direct eye contact when communicating with patients, sympathizing with patients and their families, listening to patients and their families attentively, and having love and enthusiasm for patients.
Although spiritual care is meant to help people, I frequently gain as a nurse. Interpersonal trust and a connection with the patient require high emotional intelligence. It’s important to realize that spirituality isn’t always theological care (Ross et al., 2018). Whereas the healthcare industry easily incorporates spirituality into therapy, spiritual care is essential in all sectors of operation. For the sake of our clients, we as caregivers must respect spiritual support, learn the required skills, and schedule time to satisfy these needs.
References
Bogue, D. W., & Hogan, M. (2020). Practicing dignity: An introduction to Christian values and decision making in Health Care. Retrieved from https://lc.gcumedia.com/phi413v/practicing-dignity-an-introduction-to-christian-values-and-decision-making-in-health-care/v1.1/#/chapter/1
O’Brien, M., Kinloch, K., Groves, K., & Jack, B. (2019, August 9). Meeting patients’ spiritual needs during end of life care: A qualitative study of nurses’ and healthcare professionals’ perceptions of spiritual care training. Edge Hill University. Retrieved from https://research.edgehill.ac.uk/en/publications/meeting-patients-spiritual-needs-during-end-of-life-care-a-qualit-2
Ross , L., McSherry, W., Giske, T., Van Leeuwen, R., Schep-Akkerman, A., Koslander, T., Hall, J., Ostergaard Steenfeldt , V., & Jarvis, P. (2018, August). Nursing and midwifery students’ perceptions of spirituality, spiritual care, and spiritual care competency: A prospective, Longitudinal, correlational European study. Nurse education today. Retrieved from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29763841/