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Healthcare Challenges
Healthcare Challenges
During my entrance into the healthcare program, the industry was facing a number of challenges. At the time, there was a declaration that the United States Healthcare was broken. This was because of the number of Americans that did not have insurance that rate of increase of premiums was also alarming (Ronsenstock, 2007). Notably there have been no positive changes occurring in the sector. In fact, the condition has been deteriorating. Currently, there around 45 million Americans that do not have insurance. Premiums are on the increase and the hassles for physicians and patients abound.
In addition to the previously mentioned challenges, there is the issue of an aging population and concerns about the healthcare system sustainability. There has been undeniable increase in life expectancy. This has the meaning more populations will suffer from certain ailments that have a relation to aging. The consequence of this is that this will have an effect on the sustainability of healthcare and the society. Currently, cost of healthcare is not sustainable. In accordance, there is the need of using scarce resource available in the sector effectively to meet the rising demand.
Over the next five years, challenges in the health sector are likely to increase owing to the improving technology. Technology is bound to increase the efficiency of the treatments and tests within healthcare (Ronsenstock, 2007). This will increase the cost of healthcare will equate to savings. Physicians will become better at treating patients and consequently increase the life of individuals. This will lead to an increase in the number of people requiring healthcare. Baby boomers will also cause a rise in the cost of healthcare leading to an increase in the instability in the sector.
References
Ronsenstock, L. (2007). Changing the US Healthcare System: Key Issues in Health Services Policy and Management. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.
Healthcare And Inequality
Healthcare And Inequality
Societal inequality is a vital contributor to the difficulties that people with few resources face in accessing healthcare in the United States (Wilkinson, 2006). Whitehall study did investigate the health conditions of individuals at different societal levels. Their conclusion is that individuals at the end of the list have the highest health risk. Cited reasons include living standards, level of education, and other societal dynamics (Wilkinson, 2006). However, the study fails to indicate that low-income earners have challenges of accessing healthcare because of affordability. Many poor people cannot afford insurance premiums. Medicaid is a program likely to assist the country in acquiring universal health (Rogers, 2000). It is, however, vital that the government deals with the societal inequalities inhibiting healthcare access to eradicate the problem entirely.
Studies indicate that poor individuals are at greater health risk than their counterparts that are a rich. According to the Whitehall study, there are high mortality rates among the poor citizens because of coronary complications relative to rich citizens. Some of the reasons that citizens in the United States that are poor are a health risk include nutrition and social-political conditions (Wilkinson, 2006). Medicaid intends to deal with the disparity that exists between the rich and the poor. However, studies indicate that only few states in the country are likely to implement this provision. This has the meaning that poor citizens risk not having adequate access to medical attention.
There are also indications according to the Whitehall study that individuals within a certain occupation tend to have similar characteristics. That is social distinctions have implications on the health of individuals. The poor have high levels of stress and consequently have high levels of cortisol release. Cortisol has an effect of reducing the immune system. This means that poor people release more cortisol and eventually, reduce their immune system. Immune system reduction increases the chances of contracting ailments. In accordance, poor people are at higher health risk than their rich counterparts.
Whitehall studies concentrated on the social dynamics that contribute to poor health among poor citizens. Studies, however, indicate that poor citizens in a country have limited access to healthcare (Wilkinson, 2006). This was one aspect that the studies conducted in the United States by the Whitehall study failed to document. There is sufficient evidence to conclude that despite the fact that societal dynamics do contribute to the health complications among the poor, difficulty in accessing health facility is another risk (Kaplan, 2005). In the United States, more than 30 million people are poor, and have a difficult of accessing care because of lack proper insurance due to financial constraints.
The inability of many individuals with few resources to maintain their health is a problem. This is because much insurance and medical care providers are not willing to offer services to poor because of the cost effectiveness of the practice (Rogers, 2000). In accordance, the poor have to seek assistance from programs such as Medicaid. If some of the states decide not to adopt Medicaid, then more citizens will be at health risk.
There are various ways to reduce health risks, but the most basic is ensuring that all individuals access medical care regardless of their social status. United States government should channel resources at ensuring that all Americans do have access to medical care (Barkan, 2011). Medicaid is one of the largest insurance programs, which aims to provide the poor with adequate medical access. The government should strengthen the program and ensure that all states within the nation do adopt the program (Barkan, 2011). This is because of its ability to deal with the problem of accessibility of healthcare to all individuals.
Despite programs such as Medicaid providing universal access to medical care, there still exist disparities in the access of health based on income (Barkan, 2011). For the purposes of eradicating the problem, it is critical that the government does deal with inequalities existing within the economy. Disparity in income is, obviously, one of the major contributors to the problem of accessing healthcare. Some of the proposals is developing a program that will adequately address the uninsured. In addition, advancing community resources will also contribute immensely towards the eradication of health care access inequalities. In accordance, eradication of social inequality is the only possible solution towards attaining universal access to health and eradicating access inequality.
Studies indicate that there are 30 million poor people in the United States. According to Whitehall and other studies, the poor have difficulty-accessing healthcare (Kaplan, 2005). In most cases, societal inequalities are the reasons that the poor are a higher health risk than the rich. Initially, only homicide had a direct relation to inequality, but statistics indicate that mortality also relates to inequalities. In accordance, and according to data, the poor in the United States have the highest health risk (Barkan, 2011). This has the meaning that the government has to come up with ways of dealing with the problem of societal inequalities. Eradication of societal inequality will assist in dealing with access to health care.
References
Barkan, S. E. (2011). Sociology: Understanding the Changing Social World. New York: Flat World Knowledge, L.L.C.
Wilkinson, R. G. (2006). The impact of inequality. London: Routledge.
Rogers, D. E. (2000). Medicare and the Poor. Boulder: Worldview Press.
Kaplan, G. A. (2005). Income Inequality and Mortality: Importance to Health of Individual Income. British Journal 320.
AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE EFFECT OF REWARD SYSTEMS ON JOB SATISFACTION IN SINGAPORE
AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE EFFECT OF REWARD SYSTEMS ON JOB SATISFACTION IN SINGAPORE
(Author’s name)
(Institutional Affiliation)
Individual performance in organizations is in most cases depended on exchanges where inducements of motivation are offered for the productivity of the organization’s employees (Cranny , Smith & Stone 1992). In this case, the utilization of inducements, which in most cases are related to finance, is commonly used on both the agendas of practitioners and researchers in the matters of human resource. There are different kinds of inducements for performance some of which include setting of objectives and goals, paying of incentives, enrichment of jobs, and participation (Locke, Feren, McCaleb, Shaw & Denny 1980). Researchers into the issue have found that paying of incentives is one of the most critical motivational inducements in most associations that desire to amplify the performance of their workers. As it follows, more and more researchers are supporting the need for the use of incentives in increasing productivity in organizations (Fisher & Locke 1992).
However, despite the fact that most studies point to the beneficial effects of incentives, some have argued against it (Kohn 1993). Kohn argues against the basis of the theory that employees at all stages can be satisfied and motivated to perform more by the use of incentive programs or reward systems, arguing that workers who expect external rewards in exchange for performance perform poorly when compared to those who perform without expecting any rewards. Other researchers such as Beer (1995) point out that programs for motivation or reward has a maximum half-life of five years, after which it expires and organizations have to get rid of it.
Other than the issue that the debate on the effectiveness of motivation or reward systems on performance of employees, it has also been noted that other debates exist on the issue of the effects of these incentives or reward systems on the attitudes of the employees towards their job (Greene 1973). Furthermore, there has been little o no evidence at all linking motivational schemes or reward systems to job satisfaction of employees. As a result, this paper will seek to address these issues through the evaluation and study of numerous researches and studies to establish the impact of the motivational scheme on a number of aspects in job satisfaction in Singapore. Through a wide and deep study of job satisfaction of employees, after and before the use of incentives and reward systems, the paper looks at the effects of a number of incentives or reward mechanisms on job satisfaction of a number of employees all derived from studies on employees from Singapore.
The incentive behind this paper results from the need to explore an essential dependent variable that resulted from a recent study that suggested that it is an essential factor for a firm to engage in motivational or reward systems for the success of the organization in the service industry (Mobley, Griffeth, Hand & Meglino 1979). Choosing Singapore as a country of interest in this study does not stem from any special circumstance other than a matter of choice and convenience. As the country, just like many others globally, enter the limiting economic times, more organizations are turning into reward and incentive programs as a way of improving productivity and profitability (Ilgen & Pulakos 1999). The study, therefore, hopes to find out what kind of incentives are used in Singapore to encourage employee productivity, and whether these incentives are effective in improving performance, and whether they are related in any way to job satisfaction of the employees.
To achieve this, the study will adopt a research methodology, which will include an intense and longitudinal survey of the available literature and surveys on the issue to come up with a conclusive comparison and conclusion. Through the study, the research paper will try to come to a conclusive answer to the issues at hand.
References
Beer M1993, Rethinking rewards, Harvard Business Review, December, 37-45
Cranny J, Smith P C & Stone E1992, Job satisfaction: How people feel about their jobs and how it affects their performance, Lexington Books, New York.
Fisher CD & Locke EA 1992, A new look in job satisfaction research and theory. In C. J. Cranny, P. C. Smith, & E. F. Stone (Eds.), Job satisfaction: How people feel about their jobs and how it affects their performance, Lexington Books, New York.
Greene C N 1973, Causal connections among managers’ merit pay, job satisfaction, and performance, Journal of Applied Psychology, vol. 58, no. 1, 95-100.
Ilgen DR & Pulakos D 1999, The changing nature of performance: Implications for staffing, motivation, and development, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.
Kohn A 1993, Alfie Kohn responds. Harvard Business Review. December, 48-49.
Locke EA, Feren B, McCaleb M, Shaw N & Denny AT 1980, The relative effectiveness of four methods of motivating employee performance. In K.D. Duncan, MM. Gruneburg & D. Wallis (Eds.), Changes in Working Life, Wiley, New York.
Mobley WH, Griffeth W, Hand H & Meglino BM 1979, Review and conceptual analysis of the employee turnover process, Psychological Bulletin, May, 493-522.
Podsakoff P M, MacKenzie S B, Moorman RH & Fetter R 1990, Transformational leader behaviors and their effects on trust, satisfaction, and organizational citizenship behaviors, Leadership Quarterly, vol.1, 107-142
Podsakoff P M & Todor W 1985, Relationship between leader reward and punishment behavior and group processes and productivity, Journal of Management, vol.11, 55-73.
Schofield P 1998, It’s true: Happy workers are more productive, Works Management, December 1998, vol. 51, no. 12, 33-35.
Singapore National Employers’ Federation 1992, Survey report on performance-related schemes, SNEF, Singapore.
Smith PC, Kendall LM & Hulin CL, 1969, The measurement of satisfaction in work and retirement: A strategy for the study of attitudes, Rand McNally, Chicago.
Taylor P 1991, Morale is the main issue, Financial Times, p.12.
Winstanly N 1982, Are merit increases really effective? ASPA Personnel Administrator Berea, April.