Sicko is a documentary film that focuses the healthcare problem and insurance related frauds happening in the U.S. The documentary was released in 2007. During this time, 15 million Americans in the U.S did not have insurance. It was heart moving to see Fill having to choose among his two fingers, as he could not afford to have both the finger, even when healthcare has the ability to restore both the fingers. As Fill did not have the money to get both his finger attached following the accident, he let go of one. This documentary is an eye opener on how health was commercialized and on how it failed in its mission of restoring health. Even for people with health insurance, healthcare was unfordable and caused people to become bankrupt. (Sicko - American Healthcare Documentary (2007))
Healthcare was providing fewer healthcare services and making more money. The main aim of healthcare was to make money, and not to serve. This corrupt attitude led ways to insurance frauds and patient distress. Even for workers who had Medicare, it did not cover the cost of medicine or healthcare. The film illustrates the sad situation of the American healthcare system. Health insurance companies rejected health insurance to people who were overweight or who had a risk for the health problem. This clearly indicates that health insurance companies were not interested in helping the sick, but interested in extracting money by insuring the healthy. (Sicko - American Healthcare Documentary (2007))
Following the healthcare reforms in 2009, most people in the U.S today are insured, and in the coming years, almost all people in the U.S will be covered by either public or private insurance. The federal contributions of funds to the citizen’s insurance have increased to almost 50% of the coverage and strict litigation to prevent insurance frauds has been instituted. This has changed the way in which healthcare is delivered and has broadened the number of people who have access to healthcare. The main goal of these reforms is to ensure that all people in the U.S have access to quality healthcare services at an affordable or low cost. This has led to the surge in the number of people seeking healthcare. This has led to shortage and demand for trained doctors and nurses to attend to these patients. The amount of unnecessary care has also increased. As most people in the U.S have one or another kind of chronic disease condition, they need the repeated service of the healthcare. Further, the chronic disease needs the service of a coordinated health care team that is made of specialist from different disciplines. The need for mobile healthcare services has also increased. Preventing these chronic diseases through education and by devising environmental and social policies that promote health, can reduce the burden of healthcare. It can also save millions of dollars that are spent on treating these diseases. (Gupta, 2015)
Nurses can also educate the people on locally available healthcare programs and insurance scheme that they can benefit from. Health education should be the primary focus of nurses who are engaged in community level services. Through such activities, nurses help to improve population health. Through evidence based practice, nurses also help the client achieve their healthcare goals. Through nurses led healthcare program, patients with complex and chronic health problems can be efficiently cared. Diabetes, hypertension, obesity, COPD, cancer and autoimmune conditions can be effectively handed through nurses led multispecialty team. In the clinics and intensive care unit, nurse help to ensure that patients receive quality and safe healthcare services. While medical insurance has helped patients to cover the cost of acute health care services, the ability of the healthcare system to handle emergency cases efficiently has not improved. Through committed services, nurses can help to reduce medical errors and hospital born infections. (Registered nurses: stepping up to transform health care, 2016)
References
Gupta, S. (2015). America's health: Our 9 biggest issues (Opinion). CNN. Retrieved 23 January 2017, from http://edition.cnn.com/2015/01/02/opinion/gupta-health-challenges-2015/
REGISTERED NURSES: STEPPING UP TO TRANSFORM HEALTH CARE. (2016). Retrieved 23 January 2017, from https://www.cna- aiic.ca/~/media/cna/files/en/registered_nurses_stepping_up_to_transform_health_care_e. pdf
Sicko - American Healthcare Documentary (2007). (2015). YouTube. Retrieved 23 January 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thkBLpRwdSM
