Access to Free Healthcare for Global Citizens

Citizens' access to various medical covers and services has been a topic worth exploring in the recent past. Depending on people's financial capabilities, diagnosed illnesses, and demographic and social factors, they choose the medical covers to use to sustain their physical and mental health. However, more than half of the global population still cannot afford health services since optimal care depends on a patient's quality of insurance. As a result, people are expected to use their income to pay for healthcare, forego regular check-ups and other times, and treat illnesses using natural methods such as herbs which scientists may not recommend. Access to proper medical care is essential since some of these issues can be resolved. For instance, global pandemics including cancer and varied viruses can be detected and treated if medical check-ups are done at the beginning stages of growth or virus evolution. Additionally, with free access to healthcare, people can continually contact doctors, physicians, and other medical care experts to receive information about their overall wellbeing, leading to the prevention of diseases, and early vaccination. There are innumerable reasons why healthcare should be free, and given adequate research, health organizations worldwide can override the impossibilities of making this free access to healthcare project a success.

Citizens’ financial position and their location within a state or country determine their freedom of action and expression, which necessitates approval for access to proper healthcare to be a right. Many countries have established rights and citizens' freedom, including the right to life and the freedom of expression. While the former seems to protect the life of its citizens, a reflection on how healthcare affects many citizens' right to life would challenge the resources and amendments governments are willing to invest to pioneer this agenda. In addition, the freedom of expression can be curtailed when the shifting nature of good health threatens citizens; that is, since good health is fragile and its insurance is not an option, people may choose to limit how much energy they expend on activities, or how much expression they are willing to give important matters. Though many countries have legalized access to healthcare, some countries, such as the East African Community still fall behind in executing this for their citizens (Ssengooba et al., 2022). Particularly, citizens may have access to proper healthcare until they are at the country's borders, where they must produce health insurance covers and identification cards for the verification process before receiving their desired healthcare options (Ssengooba et al., 2022). Additionally, most people living at the borders of countries are treated as non-citizens, lacking the essential healthcare services a citizen should have within their country or state (Ssengooba et al., 2022). Governments in such cases only focus on issues of immigration, poverty, and conflict resolution while dealing with border issues, without the need to strengthen systems that assure free access to health is a right redeemable by all citizens (Ssengooba et al., 2022). Thus, citizens have varied access to healthcare based on financial stability and physical residence, which questions the existing right to healthcare and the freedom of expression.

Workers in public offices, including legislators, are charged with formulating public policies determining the quality of healthcare received by citizens in varying economic groups. In the U.S., there are varying debates around the division of the population into ethnic groups, nationalities, and social classes, all population brackets that determine citizens' access to proper healthcare. For instance, during Trump's leadership, citizens belonging to the high social class experienced major tax exemptions or deductions, including big corporations in the country (Woolhandler et al., 2021). Additionally, access to proper healthcare was difficult for immigrant citizens, African-Americans, among other ethnic groups within the country, except its native citizens (Woolhandler et al., 2021). Other health concerns included the limited use of contraceptives and set policies against abortion, which put many citizens at risk of unsafe abortions or transmission of viruses and infections (Woolhandler et al., 2021). The government's limited environmental care policies were characterized by few repercussions on industries and citizens polluting the environment. As a result, a major decline in citizens' health and an increase of over 20,000 deaths in 2019 alone from 2018 (Woolhandler et al., 2021). Public policies should therefore not revolve around access to proper healthcare only but the safety of other basic utilities for citizens. Citizens' wellbeing is also dependent on policies against environmental pollution, which is a hazard to people's health since it affects the air, water, food, and other quality regulations pertinent to people's wellbeing. Other developments in a country's facilities, such as infrastructure, can affect citizens' health. For instance, unmanaged flood control and poor infrastructure have caused one of Jackson, Mississippi's biggest public health policies, resulting in a lack of water for its citizens (Shao et al., 2020). Water unsafe for drinking causes many health hazards, including diarrhea and cholera, and should therefore be a government priority. Thus, public policies affect people’s access to proper healthcare services since they involve social and ethnic classifications and infrastructural growth.

Given the political, social, and ethnic biases observed during the allocation of healthcare insurance covers, measures should be taken to promote equality within the population for healthcare. Perks of medical coverage or paying for medical services include improving medical facilities, especially in private institutions which do not depend on government funds for service provision. Making healthcare freely accessible to every citizen may challenge this, strain financial resources within health institutions, and cause burnout for healthcare workers. However, policy formulators can amend current policies to create equality within the population. Hence, everyone has equal access to healthcare, regardless of medical conditions, without straining human, economic, or financial resources. In many countries, health organizations receive medical funds from the government and are additionally financed by insurance bodies. Audits on how well these funds are spent are important to assess healthcare quality accrued to patients and whether it matches the funds allocated to these medical institutions. The value-based purchasing system is an audit mechanism used to evaluate this, and with accountability from institutions, equality can be measured so that medical organizations unbiasedly treat all citizens (Timpka et al., 2018). Additionally, the funds allocated to various health institutions can determine gross evaluation by health economists, determining the variety of health and consultation options given to patients based on the amount of money allocated to health organizations (Timpka et al., 2018). Since life expectancy affects the amount of money a citizen uses for insurance coverage, increasing life expectancy can lower the financial burden on the aged, ensuring they have access to proper healthcare like other citizens. Therefore, through funds allocation and proper audit systems, the quality of health can be accessed based on an organization’s ability to provide healthcare to all citizens without bias.

Some economic problems that need resolution include the overall healthcare cost, education costs, and infrastructural barriers, which need resolution for effective economic operation. The overall health of citizens is important because it affects the economic progression of a country (Flouris et al., 2018). An increase in life expectancy is improved when citizens are educated about healthy living and can consistently consult with their medical providers to check their mental and physical wellbeing. An increased life expectancy causes economic growth since labor, and the amount allocated to healthcare programs reduces (Flouris et al., 2018). Therefore, if a government focuses on improving healthcare for its citizens, economic barriers could be solved. Educational barriers currently include debates around the most effective modes of learning and the short- and long-term education affordability. Many students get through higher education on student loans or scholarships since they are the most viable ways of receiving quality education (Jiménez & Glater, 2020). Additionally, geographic and technological barriers affect students' ability to access classes since recent trends include online and blended learning to accommodate distance learning. Lastly, some infrastructural components within the country are outdated and would need funds allocated for renovation or rebuilding. Here, there is an indirect association between funds allocation to educational improvements and infrastructural renovations. Therefore, certain economic sectors, including the general economic growth, can be affected by making healthcare freely accessible, with other sectors having an indirect relationship with healthcare improvement.

There are many reasons why health organizations worldwide should research making healthcare freely accessible to all citizens. In some countries, healthcare is expensive and difficult to access, especially around the borders, since governments focus on issues like conflict resolution. In addition, political, ethnic, and economic biases limit people's access to better healthcare. Auditing through value-based systems can increase accountability for health organizations, measuring the funds received against the healthcare provided. Policymakers should also make policies that increase the life expectancy of citizens, which positively contributes to economic growth. Also, other economic sectors, such as education and infrastructure, can be impacted by changes in healthcare access. Therefore, given its benefits, healthcare should be freely accessible to all citizens.

References

Flouris, A. D., Dinas, P. C., Ioannou, L. G., Nybo, L., Havenith, G., Kenny, G. P., & Kjellstrom, T. (2018). A systematic review and meta-analysis of workers' health and productivity under occupational heat strain. The Lancet Planetary Health, 2(12), e521-e531. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(18)30237-7

Jiménez, D., & Glater, J. D. (2020). Student debt is a civil rights issue: The case for debt relief and higher education reform. Harv. CR-CLL Rev., 55, 131. https://heinonline.org/hol-cgi-bin/get_pdf.cgi?handle=hein.journals/hcrcl55§ion=7

Shao, W., Jackson, N. P., Ha, H., & Winemiller, T. (2020). Assessing community vulnerability to floods and hurricanes along the Gulf Coast of the United States. Disasters, 44(3), 518–547. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/14677717

Ssengooba, F., Babirye, S., Tuhebwe, D., Ssennyonjo, A., Ssendagire, S., Rutaroh, A., ... & Nangami, M. (2022). The right of access to healthcare: An analysis of how legal and institutional frameworks constrain or facilitate access to healthcare for residents in border areas in the East African Community. https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-1853539/v1

Timpka, T., Nyce, J. M., & Amer-Wåhlin, I. (2018). Value-based reimbursement in collectively financed healthcare requires monitoring of socioeconomic patient data to maintain equality in service provision. Journal of general internal medicine, 33(12), 2240-2243. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-018-4661-x

Woolhandler, S., Himmelstein, D. U., Ahmed, S., Bailey, Z., Bassett, M. T., Bird, M., ... & Venkataramani, A. (2021). Public policy and health in the Trump era. The Lancet, 397(10275), 705-753. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)32545-9