Question

Conceptual Frameworks for the Study of Health Policy and Law

Following are three conceptual frameworks for the study of health policy and laws:

Framework one consists of three broad topical domains—health care policy and law, bioethics, and public health policy and law.

Framework two consists of three historically dominant perspectives—social, political, and economic perspectives.

Framework three consists of key stakeholders in the process.

In this assignment, you will focus on the government's health's immunization laws that were passed to protect children from infectious diseases.

Using South University Online Library or the Internet, search articles on the frameworks of study of health policy and law in the areas of immunization of children.

On the basis of your research and your understanding, write a 3- to 4-page APA formatted essay in a Microsoft Word document. Your essay should cover all the three frameworks mentioned above. You need to pick one of the three stakeholders from both framework one and two. Use a minimum of five stakeholders for framework three.

You will be required to use a minimum of three scholarly sources that includes a title page and a separate reference page.

Answer 1

Conceptual Frameworks for the Study of Public Health Policy and Law:

Immunization is considered as one of the achievements in the public health sector especially because of its cost effectiveness. Vaccination has decreased most vaccine-preventable childhood diseases by more than 95 percent and also eliminated the outbreak of certain diseases such as measles and polio. The US has adopted vaccination for all school entrance as a strategy to control vaccine preventable diseases. The main intention of this strategy is to prevent school based outbreaks. Over time there are many jurisdictions and states enacted laws that have been passed to protect children from infectious disease.

The first immunization law in the US was passed in 1809 requiring smallpox vaccination. Later many state laws have been passed to cover the entire school position and also capture those who may have entered school earlier. The state laws ensure that all children over 5 years have gone through the vaccination. The states give the state public health officer the authority to change school requirements through administrative rules. Immunization registries which are computerized systems containing children’s vaccination history remain confidential. This makes it easy for doctors to check the children history in the centralized database in case the child becomes ill.

On the other hand, immunization laws permit certain exemption which varies from state to state. For instance, the state permits medical exemptions for individuals who have allergically reactions to vaccine constituents or severe illness after vaccination. Also, the state laws grant the religious exemption for people who have sincere religious beliefs that prohibit immunizations. The state laws point out that for one to qualify for the medical exemption the parents or the guardians must present medical documentation from the physicians or based on their moral beliefs. Currently, in the US only less than 1% of the US population has enrolled to the medical exemption. Children who do not go through vaccination are at a high risk of suffering from infectious diseases.

However vaccines are not cheap, in fact, the cost of the vaccines has been increasing over the years. State laws requiring immunization for school entrance also come at a price which may interfere with parents medical decisions. Federal funds pay for approximately 95 percent of all publicly funded vaccinations. For instance, there is a program known as Vaccines for Children Program (VFC) that provides free vaccines for children who are uninsured. Majority of the states depend primarily on federal resources to purchase vaccines. Over one dollar in six in the US economy is spent on health care there is need to reach more children especially those who are uninsured, underinsured or those who are Medicaid-eligible (Salmon, 2002).

Private health insurers can encourage enrollees to receive cost free immunizations against preventable diseases by offering rebates premiums to individuals who will complete their vaccination schedule on time. The government must ensure that individuals should not opt out of immunization due to financial challenges. Socioeconomic status is a strong determinant of health, both within and across countries.

On the other hand, vaccination can result in economic growth in the long run. Vaccination has the potential to contribute substantially to improving population health and thereby economic growth. Also, healthy children are more able to concentrate on their education without interruption hence making them become healthy and productive adults in future. This will ensure they can fully contribute to productivity and economic development by avoiding sick leave and lower productivity in future. Vaccination reduces the mortality rate of children allowing them to continue their development towards a healthy adulthood. In addition reductions in mortality and morbidity also contribute to increased consumption and gross domestic product. Vaccination should not be seen as an expenditure or consumption good, but as an investment, since it reduces medical expenditures in the long run. Actually investing in children's health is an investment in tomorrow's society (Quilici, 2015).

There are many key stakeholders that played and still continue to play a major role in the public health care policies and legal process on the government's Health's immunization laws that were passed to protect children from infectious diseases. To begin with, the government is a key stakeholder in the health immunization process. It is the responsibility of the government to protect the interests of the society by ensuring high-quality healthcare and one of the ways to achieve this is to ensure that all children have gone through the vaccination process. The government ensures that the vaccination is affordable to all citizen especially those who are uninsured or underinsured. The government achieves this by providing funds or initiating different programs (Tang, 2004).

The other key stakeholders include children who are the primary stakeholders and are expected to go through the vaccination process with the help of their parents. Another stakeholder is special interest groups such as NGO's who may take the initiative to educate parents on the importance of vaccination. Health care providers also play a major role in the vaccination process because they are responsible for guiding and giving the vaccination to the children. Hospital administrators and governors also ensure that vaccination is available for children and is subscribed in the right manner. Also, health insurance is a main stakeholder because they can opt to ensure the process by issuing premiums (World Health Organization, 2006).

References:

Quilici, S. S. (2015). Role of vaccination in economic growth. Journal of market access & health policy, 3(1), 27044. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4802686/

Salmon, D. A. (2002). Mandatory Immunization Laws and the Role of Medical, Religious and Philosophical Exemptions.

Retrieved from http://www.vaccinesafety.edu/exemptreview101503.pdf

Tang, N. E. (2004). The roles of government in improving health care quality and safety. . The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Safety, , 30(1), 47-55.

World Health Organization (2006). Quality of care: a process for making strategic choices in health systems.