Week 4 mha6999 lecture, discussion, and project instructions

WEEK 4 MHA6999 LECTURE, DISCUSSION, AND PROJECT INSTRUCTIONS

Healthcare Discrimination

There are several groups of people who have experienced discrimination in the healthcare setting; however, as the baby boomers grow older, this group will become prevalent in the years to come. Ageism is common in healthcare. But when older adults experience discrimination, they endure the feeling frequently and—as a consequence of this treatment—they are more likely to develop new or worsened disabilities (DeBrew, 2015). Furthermore, this particular group of individuals experience poor medical treatment very often; and in many cases, older individuals can’t do anything about it due to being ill or because of their advance age.

According to research, one out of five adults over the age of fifty experience discrimination in healthcare settings and one in seventeen aged sixty-five and older experience frequent healthcare discrimination, which leads to new or worsened disabilities (DeBrew, 2015). The healthcare reform legislation encourages healthcare disparities. This is because it addresses health inequities or ensures that the reduction and eventual elimination of healthcare disparities becomes a national priority, causing many groups of color and immigrant populations to stay disproportionately hurt.

Some of the reasons this policy encourages disparities are:

· It does not enforce rules that force health insurance organizations to provide income-based standards for premiums.

· It results in low deductibles.

· It consists of low out-of-pocket coverage or low-cost healthcare coverage.

· It does not prevent the lack of health insurance within low-income populations.

· It does not allow the high healthcare costs to continue to rise.

· It does not provide legal immigrants with the same healthcare eligibility as that of legal citizens.

· It allows poor-quality medical treatments to continue (McDonough, 2017).

A policy for patient empowerment programs that encourage patients to be more active partners in their care by providing productive communication and increasing the interaction time between providers and patients is essential, for instance, building a well-designed policy that provides financial incentives to physicians and healthcare organizations that improves the time physicians spend with this particular group of patients, and by reducing disparities in the quality of care they provide to elderly populations. Poor communication can lead to patient mistrust of the provider and subsequent refusal of treatment (Castro, Van Regenmortel, Vanhaecht, Sermeus, & Van Hecke, 2016).

Discrimination in Healthcare

Federal law specifically protects individuals from many forms of discrimination in the provision of healthcare services. For example, those who qualify for federal health insurance programs such as m