Health Policy Initiatives and Medicaid Analysis

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Health Policy Initiatives and Medicaid Analysis

Introduction

Quality is essential when looking for a place to access healthcare services. The reason is

that without quality, one's health can go from bad to worse, especially when the practitioners are

unreliable and incompetent. Over the years, countries globally have been implementing

strategies to promote quality healthcare services and accountability at healthcare facilities. One

of the strategies is developing health policy initiatives (Mazhariazad et al., 2019). The American

government went the extra mile and introduced Medicaid to promote the affordability of

healthcare services. Its development has led to improved health and productivity in the country.

This paper, therefore, analyzes Medicaid, its implementation, and health policy initiatives that

affect advanced nursing.

Health Policy Initiatives and How They Guide Advanced Nursing Practice

The healthcare industry is growing and will likely get bigger in the coming years. Its

growth is largely because of the increasing population, hence the increase of people seeking

healthcare services. Advanced nurses are often at the forefront of patient care activities, meaning

that their decisions are critical to the prosperity of the industry (Kwame & Petrucka, 2021). For

this reason, health policy initiatives help guide advanced nurses and prevent them from

overstepping their scope of practice.

Organizations like the American Nursing Association (ANA) often monitor nursing

activities and develop policies that nurses adhere to. One is that nurses should practice within the

scope they are trained for. For instance, a nurse educator cannot perform a family nurse's role

and vice versa. Nurse educators implement, update, evaluate, and form a nursing education

curriculum (Orozco-Beltrá et al., 2018). On the other hand, family nurses often care for
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chronically ill patients, the elderly, and children. Therefore, a nurse educator will likely make a

critical mistake when attempting to treat a chronically ill patient. As such, the health policy

initiative ensures that all advanced nurses in clinical settings understand their roles and perform

them diligently.

Aside from the American Nursing Association, the government is also active in the

formation of health policy initiatives that direct and guide advanced nurses. For example, some

American states like Alaska, Hawaii, Columbia, Colorado, Idaho, and Arizona grant advanced

nurse practitioners full practice authority (Teófilo et al., 2018). On the other hand, some like

Louisiana, Indiana, Kentucky, New Jersey, and Ohio have advanced nursing practice restrictions.

This means that despite having proper education, knowledge, and skills to take on full practice,

advanced nurses in the states with restrictions still have to perform their duties under physicians'

watch. The policy initiative may seek to promote quality patient care, but the states that have

restrictions mean that advanced nurses cannot provide diagnoses, order laboratory tests, conduct

patient examinations, and administer medication, and if they do so, it will be considered a breach

of practice.

Medicaid Eligibility Criteria

Studies reveal that more than half of Americans cannot afford quality healthcare services

without help. As a result, some patients choose to recover at home or buy over-the-counter

medication, which can be risky. In order to address the problem, the government introduced

Medicaid, an initiative that allows certain groups to access healthcare services at reduced costs

(Hayes et al., 2018). However, different states may have different eligibility criteria for those that

qualify for Medicaid. For example, Hawaii considers low-income adults, parents, children,

pregnant women, people over 65 years, and the disabled as eligible for Medicaid.
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The second state is Illinois, which also covers pregnant mothers, the disabled, persons

over 65, parents, and children as eligible for application. However, unlike Hawaii, Illinois does

not consider low-income adults as eligible for Medicaid. Nevertheless, children, parents, the

disabled, pregnant mothers, and people from 65 and older are eligible. Idaho is another state that

expanded its eligibility scope to include low-income adults (Orozco-Beltrá et al., 2018).

Generally, eligibility in Illinois differs from Idaho and Hawaii regarding low-income adults.

Implications

Decisions have implications and so do policies. In this case, the implication of not

granting low-income adults eligibility is that the specific population in Illinois will have to look

for other alternatives to reduce their healthcare costs. However, this can be challenging for

people with chronic illnesses who may be unable to move around and hustle for work

(Mazhariazad et al., 2019). On the other hand, all three states consider children, pregnant

mothers, parents, the disabled, and people over 65 years of age to be eligible, and its implication

is positive and significant. First, child healthcare can be costly, and helping shoulder healthcare

costs can be a major relief, especially for low-income families. In addition to that, people above

65 years are often prone to chronic illnesses like arthritis and hypertension. Hence, Medicaid

enables them to receive all the care they need at an affordable cost, which also offers great relief.

Conclusion

Accessing quality can be challenging, especially when one lacks adequate financial

capacity. However, as the paper reveals, advanced nurses are knowledgeable about affordability

concerns and always look for quality and alternative healthcare options to provide optimal

healthcare services. The paper also discusses Medicaid, revealing its significance to Americans,

especially those who are eligible for it. Generally, the government and healthcare practitioners
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have the same goal concerning healthcare; making quality healthcare accessible to all

Americans.
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