ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT: COVID-19 has accelerated the dialogue surrounding access to health insurance, including the potential for a public option, "Medicare for All," or modification of the 2010 Affordable Care Act. A dizzying array of terms and assertions surround these health policy discussions, as well as misrepresentation and lack of specificity. This article offers a primer on contemporary reform terms and options that are likely to be prominent over the next several years and outlines some health care-related elements of the American Rescue Plan Act, a massive COVID-relief act passed in March 2021. The aim of this nonpartisan overview is to enhance nurses' understanding of these terms as a basis for effective participation in public policy and patient advocacy.
Subject(s)
Communication , Health Care Reform/methods , Health Care Reform/trends , Health Policy , Humans , United StatesSubject(s)
COVID-19 , Family Practice , Health Care Reform , Pandemics/prevention & control , Primary Health Care , COVID-19/diagnosis , COVID-19/epidemiology , COVID-19/prevention & control , COVID-19 Testing , COVID-19 Vaccines , Family Practice/methods , Family Practice/organization & administration , Family Practice/statistics & numerical data , Health Care Rationing/methods , Health Care Rationing/organization & administration , Health Care Rationing/statistics & numerical data , Health Care Reform/methods , Health Care Reform/organization & administration , Health Services Accessibility/organization & administration , Healthcare Disparities , Humans , Personal Protective Equipment , Physician's Role , Primary Health Care/methods , Primary Health Care/organization & administration , Primary Health Care/statistics & numerical data , United States/epidemiologyABSTRACT
The current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is testing healthcare systems like never before and all efforts are now being put into controlling the COVID-19 crisis. We witness increasing morbidity, delivery systems that sometimes are on the brink of collapse, and some shameless rent seeking. However, besides all the challenges, there are also possibilities that are opening up. In this perspective, we focus on lessons from COVID-19 to increase the sustainability of health systems. If we catch the opportunities, the crisis might very well be a policy window for positive reforms. We describe the positive opportunities that the COVID-19 crisis has opened to reduce the sources of waste for our health systems: failures of care delivery, failures of care coordination, overtreatment or low-value care, administrative complexity, pricing failures and fraud and abuse. We argue that current events can canalize some very needy reforms to make our systems more sustainable. As always, political policy windows are temporarily open, and so swift action is needed, otherwise the opportunity will pass and the vested interests will come back to pursue their own agendas. Professionals can play a key role in this as well.