Healthcare Needs of the State of Florida Term Paper

status of Florida State's health care facilities and anticipates what kinds of steps should be taken to cater to the future population based on their developed needs. It has 15 sources.

With improved health care facilities and advanced medical innovations, populations of the world are increasing in their age as they live longer. As a result of this there has been a marked increase in the demands for health care facilities. The U.S. is one of the world's most advanced countries also sees this trend and mostly in its largely populated states. One of these is Florida. Florida one of America's biggest states, ranking 4th in the recent years has seen gradual change in the health care consumer attitude as well as growth. Not only the urban but the rural population has increased in the demand for health care and the government's legislative is responsible for addressing these needs. In the following discussion the researcher will outline some of the important issues for the governor to consider for pursuing an effective policy strategy to address the State's population's needs.

Economic and population diversity:

Statistics from the State of Florida Department of Health Office of Vital Statistics 2001 indicate that the population is increasing at an exponential rate of 2.1% from 2000 to 2001. Decade wise, the population has increased 26% from 1990 to 2001. The rate of increase among non-white population is higher by 2.5% approximately as compared to whites by 2%. The elderly of age 65 and older consist of 17.5%, while the younger population of 14 years and below comprises of 18.9%. This leaves the age between 15-64, which is among the functional groups to about 64%. Life expectancy is at 77.8 therefore the majority of the 64% out of which 776,892 who are at the moment in the age group of 60-64 years are expected to live up to 80 years, 15 years after retirement. This indicates that the future populous is expected to have more years living retired lives. But more staggering is the age groups between 5-9 years of 1024,163 who require medical care constantly till they reach their twenties and work. Parents of these age groups will need medical facilities which insure their children's medical needs.Dental, check ups as well as regular chronic disease attacks can greatly increase the demand for health care. While Medicaid and Medicare are not adequate to address such extensive needs. Instead there should be concentration on managed care programs that are easy to access and allow the parents of this growing population to manage their own health without much dependence on the state [Florida Health Stat, 2003].

Perhaps one of the most important facets of the policy is to address the diverse population structure. The Department of Elderly Affairs of Florida indicates that there is a marked increase in the older population as the department forecast there will be an increase in the age group between 65 and 85 in twenty years time. This population will increase to 70 million doubling the current population of the same age group. It is therefore imperative that the governor formulates policies that would ensure that the graying population is cared for when they get old in 10 years time. The rate of healthcare funds have increased by 54% in the last four years which means that one should anticipate the future will increase by at least 110% by 2013. The Administration on Aging or AoA, the Florida Department of Elder Affairs current receive funds from the local Area Agencies on Aging but nevertheless this cannot wholly depend on the local government for coverage. The State government should increase facilities for the elders from 1100 to 2200 at least to cater to this need [Department of Elder Affairs 2003].

The state of the elder's affair stem from the fact that the State follows the Federal legislature in establishing long-term care as well as short-term strategy. This must be changed so that it caters to both the long and the short terms as the population is even currently facing acute shortage of medical facilities. [McDowell, 2003]. According to a Mental Health Weekly issue [2001] Medicaid is running in a deficit by $1 billion in its budget as mandated by the Florida legislature while the cost of health care.....