Governments’ Role In Public Health Care In The 21st Century: Policies And Blueprint
A new better approach of policies is required in federal and central Government and public health care for the 21st century blueprint. How effective are the 3 arms of United States’ Government, their blueprints, plans, and policies in working together in public healthcare of the 21st Century? Federal policies emphasize the financing of personal healthcare services and biomedical research. The resultant effect is the creation of a sophisticated personal healthcare system and world’s strongest biomedical research enterprise in the United States.
A blueprint that promotes creation of conditions that lead to healthier lives for all Americans, eliminates health disparities or discrimination and protects communities from hazardous health whilst helping them address their own health is the 21st Century approach.
Type of Structure between Levels of Government
The national or federal and state governments have a structure defined by the Constitution (Carter & Slack, 2010). The structure in question is where three arms are working together to achieve the same purpose for either the state or the federal government.
The legislature formulates laws and policies within the structure which are supposed to be consistent with the guidelines in the constitution as provided. Inconsistency means that the rules become inoperative.
The judiciary, on the other hand, is tasked with providing elaborate interpretations of the laws and policies that have been formulated by the legislative branch. The Executive enforces what the expressions of policy and interprets it.
All these functions are made distinct in the spirit of the doctrine of separation of powers. This system gets replicated across all levels of government.
Functions
Different levels of government work together on cooperation and coordination of some of the affairs that exist at both levels of government; the levels in question here are the state and the federal government. The local governments in any area subscribe to the state government because they exist because of state approval.
What the different states dictate, carries the day. Each jurisdiction level has a particular responsibility to create a situation where there is health for the people in the best possible way.
The national or federal government plays the responsibility of formulating a general policy for states to apply in their health plans because public health is largely a state and local government function (Center for Disease Control, 2013). One example is where the government formulated a policy on Affordable Care Act (ACA) through which states ratified the ACA in their respective jurisdictions to allow for proper health care.
States at times receive federal funding for bail outs after approval by Congress in cases where there is an extreme need. Another is the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHSP), (2015) that advises clinical specialists and scientists, in addition to approving clinical pharmacogenomics and emerging sciences.
Blueprint of the Government for Public Health
The national government provides a blueprint for the states to follow; the blue print is how the arms of government work together to ensure public health works well. The legislature formulates policies and laws that the judiciary interprets and settles lawsuits on. The executive has the mandate to enforce such laws to the latter as dictated by the separation of powers doctrine that exists between the three levels of government. The states replicate this set up within their jurisdictions.
The state and local governments monitor the extent to which the burden of injury and disease in the population has gone using a particular surveillance system (Center for Disease Control, 2013). The two levels go a step further by identifying the individuals and groups of people with public health conditions through testing, notification of partners, and reporting.
Government Levels
The Constitution provides the guidelines to be followed by all levels of government for success in planning health care for all citizens. A precise definition that defines the existing boundaries guides the interaction and cooperation of the different ranks. The federal government has the formula that sets aside some duties that are in need of joint efforts by the states (Bardes, Shelley, & Schmidt, 2014). Those that have no requirement for any joint effort are left to the states to take over.
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the land; it functions by setting in motion the laws that govern the operations that are carried out in the states. Consistency between the laws formulated by the state and those by the Constitution is critical. The federal and state governments share power equally. However, the United States Constitution defines the activities in the several states. The local governments operate within the confines of the state’s approval. The power of a local government usually comes from what has been dictated by the state.
Federal state and local governments have the duty to cooperate with one another to ensure that public health becomes successful. They come up with policies to subsidize the way they provide health care to the people within the states. The federal government is dependent on individual states for funding while each state depends on the federal government to carry out the functions that they have been delegated.
References
Carter, J., & Slack, M. (2010). Pharmacy in public health: basics and beyond. ASHP.
Schmidt, S. W., Shelley, M. C., Bardes, B. A., & Ford, L. E. (2013). American Government and Politics Today, 2013-2014 Edition. Nelson Education. Today: Essentials 2013 – 2014 Edition. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.
Center for Disease Control (2017): https://www.cdc.gov/stltpublichealth/docs/usph101.pdf. CDC Newsroom.
American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. (2015). ASHP statement on the pharmacist’s role in clinical pharmacogenomics. American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy, 72(7), 579-581.
Center for Disease Control. (2013). The United States Public Health. Retrieved July 25, 2017, CDC Newsroom.
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