Healthcare Benefits Essay

Identify and discuss the various types of private and/or social insurance available in and through your state and local government. Relate the application of social insurance to consumers based on their social and economic status using the profiles listed below. For which demographic(s) do gaps exist in your area? You can use the Internet and sites such as www. cms. gov for statistical data by state to locate this information. Do you feel it’s the government’s role to provide health insurance for these individuals? Why? Support your answers with research and reasoning. 1. A child of parents who do not have private health insurance 2. An elderly WWII veteran with diabetes 3. A bank teller who has just been laid off 4. A homeless individual 5. A college student who has just graduated without a guaranteed employment I live in Richmond, VA. The various types of private and social insurances available through our state and local government are Aetna, Anthem, Carefirst, Celtic, Kaiser Permanente, Optima Health, and United Health One are some of the leading health insurances in Virginia. 6. A child of parents who do not have private health insurance: In Virginia this consumer would receive Medicaid. An elderly WWII veteran with diabetes: In Virginia this consumer would receive Medicare. 8. A bank teller who has just been laid off: In Virginia this consumer would receive unemployment benefits. 9. A homeless individual: In Virginia this consumer would receive Medicaid. 10. A college student who has just graduated without a guaranteed employment: In Virginia this consumer would receive Medicaid. Where I currently live there are gaps in the demographic when it comes to the elderly WWII veteran because there are many war veterans in my area that are homeless and are seen on the streets begging for money. In all of the places I have been, I see this predominantly in Richmond, VA. The government should have a better grasp on who is a veteran and provide these people with the benefits they deserve for fighting for our country. I do believe the government should be responsible for the people who are struggling, but not for the people who take advantage of the system. There are many people who need help, either because they are in a bad situation or because they are physically incapable of helping themselves. These people should most definitely receive aid from the government; healthcare is a huge thing not to have. People lose their lives every day from not being covered by health insurance. In our text Medicare and Medicaid are described like this, â€Å"Although the expansionist social policies of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society in the 1960s are credited with development of the largest social health insurance programs this country has ever known, now known as Medicare and Medicaid, the seeds of these programs were actually sown by Congress during the Eisenhower administration in the 1950s. At a time when private health insurance coverage was increasingly being provided for workers by their employers, the elderly had virtually no such coverage and yet were the group in society with the largest health costs and often the most limited financial resources. The ultimate passage of the Kerr-Mills Act by Congress in 1960 provided for federal matching grants to the states for a new category of â€Å"medically indigent† individuals, but still did not cover elders other than those who had become poor. However, this piece of legislation played a pivotal role as the precursor to Medicaid. It was actually President John F. Kennedy, backed by senior interest groups and supported by labor unions and nurses, who proposed the first Medicare bill to Congress in 1962 in keeping with his strong belief in the need for federal health care for the elderly. Although this measure was defeated by legislative opponents in the Senate, it did serve to raise public awareness of the issues and thus to build future public support. This set the stage for President Johnson to utilize his considerable political popularity, legislative liaisons, and persuasiveness in small groups (such as the AMA) to lead the charge for passage of the Medicare and Medicaid legislation in 1965.