Shortcomings Within the Health Care Regulatory Systems Paper Example

Introduction

Many challenges have also characterized this system of health regulation. The fact that there is need by private regulatory bodies to safeguard their reputation and at the same time safeguard the economic status of their industries and professionals that protect the public has made state regulators to have excessive influence from those they are supposed to monitor. Therefore, this has created a federal agency to be bureaucratic, slow and even inefficient. No wonder, in some health regulatory system the authority division is not clearly spelled out. Secondly, with the establishment of ERISA in 1974 still, the lines of responsibility are not clearly spelled out within the law, thus rendering themselves too many confusing court decisions.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Consequences of Health Care Regulatory System

On the other hand, despite all the insufficient and complicated nature of its oversight, American health care has made some tremendous progress in the past decades within its laws, they have been able to extend support and nurture the enterprise. For instance, with the approval of FDA process, these programs contributed to total respect within the significant elements of the health care system, and in return, it expanded markets for the goods and services being provided by them. Other than that, programs of by rendering financial base for the critical sectors within the industry that require significant funding, e.g. Medicare and research support by NIH usually play some roles.

What Is the History of Employees Retirement Income Security Act of 1974(Erisa), and Why Is It Important?

Before 1900, only a few employers were able to provide pensions towards their employees. Therefore, there was little legislation for governing the pension's plans that were existing by then, (Hawkes, C.2018).Evidently, it was entirely down until by the end of the World War II. Actually, the development of private pension system had been paralyzed .primarily, tax legislation was the only mechanism being used for private pension's plans regulatory. For instance, the Revenue Acts of 1921 and 1926 had given employers opportunity to ensure that pension -plans contributions are deducted from corporate income, with regard to this pension fund income had been allowed to accumulate tax free, whereby, there was no any kind of taxation to be imposed on participants but only after pension had been distributed to them. However, to qualify for favorable tax treatment, some minimum requirements had to be met concerning employee coverage and employer contributions.

Moving further, pension coverage had expanded during and after the Second World War according to the reports on abuse of pension funds and mismanagement as well. For example, Jimmy Hoffa being the leader of International Brotherhood of Teamsters had been accused of misusing his union Central and Southern States pension fund. Second of September of the year 1974 which was a Labor Day president Gerald Ford signed into law the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). However, this was a landmark law whose work was to ensure great governing employees benefit plans, private pension plans not excluded. Primarily, ERISA was to provide that there is enormous retirement security to the American workers who are under pensions.

Importance of ERISA

With the establishment of ERISA, it has contributed to some benefits. One, employer having chosen his plan, ERISA is being granted the mandate to regulate such plan by ensuring that employees benefit plan is being created and be maintained as well by the employer. More significantly, there must be an exclusive benefit on the side of employees or to the beneficiaries under plans operation. Consequently, according to ERISA, the plan assets are expected to be held under trust. Other than that, to protect the participants plan significant reporting, the disclosure is far much needed by ERISA during operation of employee benefit plans and administration as well. Along similar lines, ERISA has also imposed some significant participation, vesting, coverage, and requirements of funding on private retirements plan .For instance. Generally, a retirement benefit may not need a condition of participation guaranteeing employee to completes a service period that goes beyond age twenty or one year service. Additionally, ERISA has also imposed some rules under retirement benefit to find out how befits accrue. The primary target of this is to ensure that retirement benefits do increase at an absolute minimum rate and at the same time employers are being kept from skewing which is advantageous to long-serving employees.

However, ERISA is also associated with the integrated mechanism of enforcement which is essential to accomplish Congress mainly for purposes of creating a comprehensive statute to regulate the employees benefit plans.

Limitations of ERISA Concerning Health Care

The judge twisted the interpretation has made ERISA to offer the basis for health insurance companies to stop giving benefit claims with impunity. According to section 514 of ERISA has made all the state laws that tend to relate to employees benefit plan be preempted with certain exceptions that are enumerated. Other than that, another limitation is on the insurance exceptions which has been created by the U.S Supreme court whereby a law regulating insurance need to be pre-empted in case it claims to add some remedies on participants or benefit to the employees benefit plan which has never been explicitly provided by ERISA This would mean that, penalties against bad faith, against insurance claims practices, have been provided by the state laws.

Federal Health Care Regulatory Agency and a Private or Non-private Agency and Their Responsibilities

Public health agency through the local health department has got the key and complex role to play to ensure the proper delivery of essential public health to some communities in the country. In the United States of America nearly 3000 local health departments do exist despite the geographical size, population nature, economic circumstances and structure of the government over which they operate. Fundamentally, this agency is devoted to carrying out the following responsibilities: One, they carry out training and education in local health departments, through this, the new professional is being prepared within the public health. They also train on the current workforces on how one should respond to the emerging areas, new priorities and new technologies to be adopted .furthermore, LHDs do provide incentives in the form of releasing time, an improvement on pay scale, tuition reimbursement as well in order for the public health workforce to get proper education and training. Additionally, public health does offer opportunities to the member of the public health workforce, student's interaction and faculty for enriching practice academic settings not excluded.

On the other hand, the private or non-private agency also play some important roles. For example, private agencies seem to be more efficient and responsive to patients need because of the competition in the market. Remember this can overcome government inefficiency and corruption as well. Secondly, most of the health care is pure private goods. Undeniably, individual products involve most of the therapeutic care especially concerning matters about non-communicable diseases.

References

Dossani, R. H., Brisman, M., & Tuliahan, L. (2018). It is Time for Federal Protection Against Surprise Medical Billing. Neurosurgery, 84(1), E101-E102.

Hawkes, C. (2018). The Department of Labor Fiduciary Rule: How Will it Affect Financial Advisors and Their Clients?

Pollock, A. M., & Price, D. (2000). Rewriting the regulations: how the World Trade Organisation could accelerate privatization in health-care systems. The Lancet, 356(9246), 1995-2000.