There are many ethical considerations that have to be made before deciding whether or not a patient is warranted long term or short term care. Short term health care is usually offered by private insurance companies for duration of time up to six months. Long term health care on the other hand is also called nursing home care. This is usually for the elderly seeing as costs in homes have gone up most people prefer to take out long term insurance (Ruth Ludwick, 2003). The age of the patient is taken into consideration with the very elderly not recommended for the short term insurance. The health status of the patient is also taken into consideration as an ethical issue. Most short term health care is not for the critically ill (Asher, 2010). Optional benefits you expect from the insurance cover.
Micro allocation of health care refers to making decisions on how to utilize limited resources when the demand surpasses the supply. It is faced by many ethical conflicts; one being the political approach of allocation. The health care facility would prefer to spend its resources to save more patients at the expense of one patient. Another ethical consideration is whether one should receive resources on the first come first served basis or those in greater need should be treated before. The urgency of the treatment and the probability that it will work are other ethical considerations to be made. The micro allocation policy by the health care facility on micro allocation affects a facilities long term policy (Michael nd). It would mean that the long term policy will be raised for those with scarce resources and the cover may not meet all the required needs.
References
Asher, J. P. (2010). The Right to Health: A Resource Manual for NGOs. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.
Michael A. Gillette, P. (n.d.). Introduction to Micro Allocation. Bioethical services .
Ruth Ludwick, P. R. (2003). Ethics. Online Journal of Nursing .
