Societal Mysteries🔎: The Issues of Healthcare

Author(s): The Biosis Journal

Published by: The Bioinformatics in Society Foundation

Published on: June 22, 2024

Healthcare. It's an aspect of our societies today that has benefitted millions of individuals to date. For context, the term healthcare can be defined as a group of

programs or services directed towards the goal of helping others with medical related issues, either through financial expenditures, or direct medical support. Over the past few centuries, the concept of healthcare has been advancing more and

more, allowing various individuals to live life more effectively because of its life-changing benefits. From allowing many to pay off medical bills, to saving lives, healthcare as an aspect in society has transformed a lot of lives for the better. Now, although several perceive healthcare to be a beneficial idea, there has always been one question concealed in the minds of many: Exactly how many people have access to a viable source of healthcare?

The answer to this often-hidden question is quite staggering to note the least. Over the past few years, many organizations have conducted research in regard to the number of people in our world today who don't have access to an authenticated healthcare program. The results, as stated before, are severely shocking. For elaboration, according to an analytical article published by the World Economic Forum on September 20, 2019, "Half of the world’s population lack access to essential health services..." This data effectively shows the magnitude regarding

the number of individuals not being able to gain access to even the simplest forms of healthcare. At this point, a valid argument could be that this article presented was published in 2019, but the problem is still persistent in society today as according to a scientific article published by the World Health Organization on September 18, 2023, "In 2021, about 4.5 billion people, more than half of the global population, were not fully covered by essential health services." This itself is an abysmal data statistic as it comes to show the extent to which individuals, on a global scale, are unable to gain access to validated forms of healthcare. From these sources of data, it can immediately be noted that more and more people are being regulated from accessing healthcare programs and their benefits. So, now that the concern for accessing healthcare on a global spectrum is substantiated, what are the problems people face if they don't have access to a corroborated form of healthcare?

Staggering statistics from the World Health Organization regarding poverty rates.

Credits: The World Health Organization 1

The issues that come with not having access to a healthcare-oriented system can unfortunately ruin one's life to a severe extent. The main purpose of a healthcare program is to provide aid to individuals who need support in anything medical-affiliated. So, if there is no support provided, individuals are forced to find some way to resolve their medical issue(s). For more elaboration, when an individual is forced to go to the hospital to undergo a major surgery, the medical expenses in result of that surgery are usually very high. Now, many people, with the help of a healthcare program can pay off those bills, but individuals who don't have access to healthcare programs will be plunged into severe levels of debt. To put financial statures into context, according to an analysis article published by The White House on September 21, 2023, "...one in three adults — some 100 million Americans — struggle with unpaid medical bills..." To put this into a global context, since the

United States is primary considered one of the most developed nations in the world, just image the number of people on a global scale that experience the same thing revolving around unpaid medical bills. The fact that individuals are unable to gain access to healthcare programs is presenting a sense of ambivalence towards the main purpose of healthcare itself. With the aspect of debt increasing, more and more families are having to change their priorities, reducing their welfare rates. This is disastrous in the long run because of how regulated many of the families without access to healthcare programs have become. So, since the primary issue of debt is in occurrence due to unpaid medical bills, what are some steps societies are taking to resolve this issue?

In addition to the issues presented above, here are some more conflicts people around the world are facing because of a lack of access to healthcare programs. These issues are shown below.

Overloading debt is a serious issue that is current faced by many individuals who don't have access to an authenticated healthcare program or service. Because of no financial support from healthcare providers, individuals are forced to try and pay off medical expenses, but because of their extreme costs, many are put into a lowered sense of financial stature than they previously were in, degrading their lifestyle entirely.
Regulated living is another major issue that many people who don't have access to a viable healthcare program face. This issue is arguably one of the worst consequences that come with not having access to a healthcare program because due to piling up debts, many individuals are forced to live in a world where all they think about is getting the next paycheck to pay off their particular debt. Because of this forced lifestyle, many cannot enjoy their lives, further degrading their welfare.
Diminishing health is one of the many issues that people without access to viable healthcare programs face. For elaboration, without financial support, many individuals are hit with an unpayable level of debt, and because of this, their main focus in life from that point is to pay off that debt. During this process, many individuals will avoid getting their health checked because in doing so, their debt will only increase by a staggering amount, reducing their financial stature even more. Due to this altered priority, the health of individuals in this position will decline severely, resulting in dangerous medical problems, and even quite possibly death in severe instances.

So, considering the fact that there are many major issues associated with not having access to even the simplest forms of healthcare, what are some solutions to this particular problem? Well, companies, organizations, and agencies all across the world are trying to find ways to increase the scope of healthcare programs that are currently established, on a global scale, to better improve the lives of millions of people. At this current moment, in addition, the aspect of Artificial Intelligence, more formally known as AI, is seemingly becoming a huge trend, both in the public perspective, and in the scientific perspective. Due to its increasingly

adaptive nature, its usage in various fields has increased in terms of scope, making companies using AI divert their focus in regard to integrating AI to solve societal issues that many face today. An example of this integration comes with our very own organization called The Biosis Foundation, where we strive to integrate AI in combination with health in order to resolve the issue revolving around accessing healthcare. Various other organizations and companies aim for similar goals, and with the rising potential of AI, its integration in societies to solve problems has increased exponentially. Companies and organizations such as our very own are trying to apply the aspects of AI in combination with health to resolve major issues that many face today. With diversion from AI, companies and organizations are similarly trying to increase the scope of healthcare programs by integrating new policies, laws, and regulations so that millions of people can experience the valued benefits of healthcare and not be deprived from those benefits.

For elaboration, according to an analysis article published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on January 10, 2024, "Under the Biden-Harris Administration, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced today that over 20 million people have selected an Affordable Care Act (ACA) Health Insurance Marketplace plan since the 2024 Marketplace Open Enrollment Period launched on November 1 — a record number of enrollments." To provide

context, the Affordable Care Act is a government-certified statute that effectively aims to increase accessibility of healthcare programs by reducing their costs and barriers. From this example, it can be noted that laws and regulations set by the government are aimed to improve the provisional aspect of healthcare programs for all individuals alike. As seen from these examples, all of these companies, organizations, and agencies, although separate, are working towards a common goal: to increase the scope of healthcare programs on a global scale to transform various lives for the better.

In correlation to the actions many are taking today to resolve the issue revolving around accessing healthcare, below, are a few other positive and renowned actions some organizations and individuals are taking in order to increase the scope of healthcare programs in our world today, and in the future.

The Biosis Mission is a path that The Bioinformatics in Society Foundation aims to tread on by integrating various components of AI in combination with various components of health in order to resolve issues in our society. This mission propels this organization to find new developments in the combining of AI and health to better increase the accessibility of healthcare in societies on a global scale to moreover improve various lives. In addition to the problem of healthcare reach, The Biosis Foundation aims to strive for this mission in order to use the components of AI in combination with health to resolve various other negative issues in our world today.
The Global Health Equity Network's Zero Health Gaps Dashboard and Health Equity Partnerships Platform is an initiative that prompts for various organizations to come together and figure out solutions to increase the scope of healthcare programs and just beneficial programs in general to the common public. This initiative aims to diminish the wealth gap that is currently ruining the world at a consistent rate whilst also trying to find a solution to healthcare access. This imitative does not only involve one company, but rather can involve various different companies who all allocate their resources in order to solve set problems, in this case: healthcare access.
Obamacare (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act) is a government-certified health legislation aimed to provide individuals within the United States with as much access as possible to a healthcare program in order to increase welfare rates by a large value. This piece of legislature was passed in 2010 and has since benefitted various individuals because of its ability to increase the scope of various healthcare constituents. In addition to the increased scope of healthcare programs, this act effectively aimed to provide medical benefits to the citizens of the United States, and these benefits effectively came in the forms of financial aid, direct medical provisions, and mode. With the integration of this health-oriented legislature, millions of people have been able to avoid mass levels of debt and live life with joy due to its staggering benefits.
Health Workforces Initiative is a program that aims to provide access to healthcare, just like all the other previously presented programs, but at a more specific level. For context, the Health Workforces Initiative effectively aims to provide health benefits to people in the work force who have mental health disorders in order to improve their lives by a major magnitude. This initiative effectively aims to widen the scope of healthcare programs, but to a more specific group, and with the help of this organization towards people in the workforce who have mental health disorders, more and more people will start to get access to healthcare at a rate never seen before in combination with all of the other beneficial initiatives presented.
HHS Equity Action Plan (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Action Plan) is an initiative that is currently being taken by a government faction known as the Department of Health and Human Services in order to mediate the growing inequity of health conditions between different individuals. For context, various individuals in the world right now are at differing levels, on a financial basis. Some on the low end of the spectrum are unable to get crucial life-saving medical procedures done because of the factor of cost, whilst others on the high end of the spectrum are able to get their procedures done with ease and no worry. The HHS Equity Action Plan aims to bring health benefits and financial support to individuals and groups of people on the low end of the financial spectrum in order to saving, improve, and increase the stature of various lives.

With the developments of new solutions towards the problem regarding health accessibility comes a new and bright future. As companies, organizations, and agencies, such as our very own, create initiatives to increase the scope of healthcare programs, more and more people, regardless of their financial statures will be able to gain access to various healthcare programs, therefore receiving those programs' correlating benefits. As more and more organizations come

together in order to solve this devasting problem in our society, more and more individuals will be able to gain access to viable healthcare programs and with this increased support from these programs, individuals will be able to focus on their health and improve various prospects of their lives. Welfare rates will increase exponentially as solutions become more and more developed. The Bioinformatics in Society Foundation is aiming to solve the issue of healthcare access in addition to the other various organizations doing the same by following the Biosis mission. Of course, we cannot create solutions and bring humanity closer to the eradication of this problem without the support of our volunteers; you included. Help us get one step closer to the negation of the problem revolving around healthcare access by support, becoming a volunteer, or donating at our organization, or other organizations driven by the same goal; to increase the scope of health and bring humanity one step closer to a new, and improved future.

Bibliography

"Billions left behind on the path to universal health coverage." Pan American Health Organization, Billions left behind on the path to universal health coverage - PAHO/WHO | Pan American Health Organization. Accessed 22 June 2024.

"Half of the world’s population lack access to essential health services – are we doing enough?" World Economic Forum, 20 Sept. 2019, Half of the world’s population lack access to essential health services – are we doing enough? | World Economic Forum (weforum.org ). Accessed 22 June 2024.

"Press Call by Vice President Harris on an Announcement to Ease the Burden of Medical Debt on American Family Budgets." The White House, Press Call by Vice President Harris on an Announcement to Ease the Burden of Medical Debt on American Family Budgets | The White House. Accessed 22 June 2024.

"Under the Biden-Harris Administration, Over 20 Million Selected Affordable Health Coverage in ACA Marketplace Since Start of Open Enrollment Period, a Record High." U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Under the Biden-Harris Administration, Over 20 Million Selected Affordable Health Coverage in ACA Marketplace Since Start of Open Enrollment Period, a Record High | HHS.gov. Accessed 22 June 2024.

1 World Health Organization (WHO). "Each Year 100 MILLION PEOPLE are pushed into extreme poverty because they must pay for health care out of their own pockets. We need #HealthForAll!." Facebook, 2 April 2019, Facebook. Accessed 22 June 2024.