The Healthcare Infrastructure

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Please see response attached, which is also presented below. I also attached a supporting article.

RESPONSE:

1. What do we as consumers expect our government's role to be in influencing the health-care infrastructure? Are the expectations reasonable? If so, why, and if not, why not.

Many people expect the government to play a large role in influencing the health-care infrastructure. At Least in part, stems from the idea of the welfare state, where the people's expectations are one of dependency on the government to meet our needs, including our health care needs. It is an ideology that operates, regardless of the reasonableness of the expectations. However, this is somewhat less in the United States than in other developed countries. However, others argue that the government should stay out of the healthcare infrastructure (e.g., managed care).

Do you think it is reasonable to expect the government to play a large role in the health-care infrastructure e.g., expecting the government to be responsible for providing healthcare to the those who cannot afford healthcare, such as elderly and the lower socio-economic status customers who cannot afford healthcare (e.g., Medicare and Medicaid)? From the 'welfare state' mindset it is reasonable. However, the concept of the welfare state remains controversial (and less in the United States than in other developed countries, e.g. Universal health coverage), and there is continuing debate over governments' responsibility for their citizens' welfare and healthcare. In contrast, and from another perspective, perhaps you think the government should have little influence over healthcare infrastructure (e.g., managed care). Managed care has had many unforeseen consequences, for example, even though the government expected and promised cost reduction and containment through the managed care policies (see attached article).

You could consider some of the following arguments in terms of the governments' responsibility for their citizen's healthcare needs through influencing healthcare infrastructure. The arguments include other needs as well as healthcare provisions.

Arguments in favour of government influences:

· Humanitarian - the right to the basic necessities of life is a fundamental human right, and people should not be allowed to suffer unnecessarily through lack of provision (e.g., healthcare).

· Democratic - the gradual extension of social protection is increasingly favoured by the citizens of mature economies, who have approved these as part of political election campaign promises.

· Ethical - reciprocity (or fair ...