The Political Role of Veterans Healthcare Term Paper

The Political Role of Veterans Healthcare - Term Paper Example From this research it is clear that the Health Care Industry of the United States of America is generally composed of different legal entities. The facilities that make up the said industry are largely owned and operate by the members of the private sector whereas health care insurance have always been provided by the government. The efficiency of the American health care system, however, has always been doubted. Various calls for health care reforms have been made in view of the allegations that the health care industry is nothing but a money making scam where large insurance firms and health institutions participate in. The following problems are usually apparent with respect to the health care industry of the United States: (1) medical bankruptcy, (2) premature deaths among those who are un- and under-insured, and lastly, (3) the wasteful flows of funds that maximize the profits of insurance companies. Longman, the author of the book entitled â€Å"Best care anywhere: why VA heal th care is better than yours† cited the reforms taken in the Veterans Health Care Industry. Longman argues that the reforms in the entire American Health Care Industry must emulate the model in the Veterans Health Care Administration in view of the capacity of the latter to significantly improve and properly cater to the medical needs of the veterans. Aside from Longman, there are other scholars who have also focused on the comparison between Veterans Health Administration and other systems of care in the country. In sum, all of these studies have pointed out that the Veterans Health Administration delivers health care more efficiently as compared with the other health care systems in the United States of America (Kerr, et al., 2003; Petersen, et al., 2003; Rosenthal, et al., 2003). In this sense, these authors have highlighted the need for the health care policy makers in the United States of America to reform the other systems of health care in the country by focusing on the improvements to the Veterans Health Administration as a Model. On the other hand, however, this study focuses on the current issues that affect the Veterans Health Care Industry. Arguably, the policies concerning the Veterans Health Administration have likewise been significantly affected by the political processes concerning them. In this sense, this paper focuses on the following issues: (1) the role of political process on health care delivery, (2) the role of the demanders and suppliers of health policies, (3) how the political process affect cost of health care, human resources and various health care facilities, (4) the involvement of various levels of government in the political process and its effects on health care delivery, (5) involvement of interests groups and organizations in addressing the issues to sway modifications to policy/formation of policy, (6) strategies and recommendations and lastly, (7) the future of initiatives in health care delivery. The Role of the Po litical Process on Health Care Delivery Before going through the analysis of the different issues that currently affect the Veterans Health Administration, this section first focuses on the role of the different political processes on health care delivery. As a general rule, it was claimed that investments in health care are often employed for various political reasons rather than focusing on its benefits for the citizens. Evidently, health reform in various parts of the world, whether in developed or developing countries, is a highly political process (Benoit, 2003). In fact, other researchers even highlight the tendency for politicians to put healthcare reform at the center of their campaigns during electoral seasons. Apparently, health care reforms, as essential part of the political processes most especially with respect to campaigns focus on the following (1) the efforts as regards building better health care facil