Question

What is health policy? How can health policies be used as regulatory or allocative tools?

Answer 1

Health policy refers to decisions, plans, and actions Which are taken to achieve specific health care goals and outcomes within a society.

Health policy may be defines as a vision for the future which helps to establish targets and points of reference for the short and medium term.

Health policies can be used as both regulatory and allocative tools. As regulatory tools, health policies call on government to order and control the conduct of a particular target group by observing the group and imposing sanctions if they fail to meet the terms.

As allocative tool health policy involves in the direct term of income,service or good to certain group of

individuals and institutions.allocative tools may be distributive or redistributive.

distributive policies extends the benefits throughout the society. These benefits may include funding for medical research through NIH, construction of institutions, development of medical personnel and initiative for new institutions .

Redistributive policy only benefit certain group of people by taking the money from one group and using it for the benefit of others.the redistributive system has visisble payers and beneficiaries.

Redistributive allocation are more political controversial because the method created more visible and political charged functions where tax revenues are being taken from the wealthy to the people who are less wealthy

programmes like Medicaid, CHIP, Welfare , public housing are all considered redistributive allocation. Redistributive allocation are given identity as fundamental causes of health disparities..

the implementation of ACA is also based on Redistributive allocation.