The Effects of Health Policy

Over the past several decades, US healthcare costs have significantly skyrocketed,
eclipsing all OECD countries (Chernew, Cutler, & Shah, 2021). Social determinants of health
(SDOH), including socioeconomic and political factors, play a crucial role in healthcare
decisions and often determine health outcomes. Health policies or programs are the primary
political factors that usually affect access to affordable and quality health care services.
Simply put, a health policy determines a population’s health outcomes in a given locality.
An example of a health policy in the US is the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Cherry and Jacob
(2019) assert that the ACA policy has provisions that significantly improve insurance coverage,
reduce costs, and increase access and quality of care. Zhao et al. (2020) state that when people
are insured, they can access quality care to prevent, diagnose, and treat diseases promptly.
Additionally, insured individuals can access palliative services, improving disease outcomes.
Policies also reduce healthcare costs in several ways. For instance, the Affordable Care
Act has shifted the focus from treatment to prevention of diseases. Moreover, ACA has reduced
the out-of-pocket healthcare burden for most low-income and at-risk populations, including
African Americans. It is also worth noting that the ACA provides public and community health
agencies funds for primary preventive programs (Isola & Reddivari, 2022). More previously
marginalized communities can now access quality and safe healthcare services, substantially
lowering healthcare disparities in the country.

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References

Chernew, M., Cutler, D., & Shah, S. (2021, August 18). Reducing health care spending: What
tools can states leverage? Commonwealth Fund.
https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/fund-reports/2021/aug/reducing-
health-care-spending-what-tools-can-states-leverage
Cherry, B., & Jacob, S. R. (2019). Contemporary nursing: Issues, trends, & management (8 th
ed.). Mosby.
Isola, S., & Reddivari, A. K. R. (2022). Affordable Care Act (ACA). StatPearls Publishing.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK549767/
Zhao, J., Mao, Z., Fedewa, S. A., Nogueira, L., Yabroff, K. R., Jemal, A., & Han, X. (2020). The
Affordable Care Act and access to care across the cancer control continuum: A review at
10 years. CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, 70(3), 165-181. doi: 10.3322/caac.21604