Health Policy Values
Write a paper of 750-1,000 words examining your personal values and beliefs. Include the
following:
1) Describe your personal values and spiritual beliefs.
Fully describes personal values and beliefs with no inconsistencies. Clear examples given.
2) Using the elements of cost, quality, and social issues to frame your description,
differentiate your beliefs and opinions about health care policy. Give examples of relevant
ethical principles, supported by your values.
Clearly and systematically differentiates beliefs and opinions about health care policy using
the elements of cost, quality, and social issues to frame the description. Gives relevant
examples of ethical principles supported by values. Clear details and examples given. No
inconsistencies
3) Analyze how factors such as your upbringing, spiritual or religious beliefs/doctrine,
personal and professional experiences, and political ideology affect your current
perspective on health care policy.
Comprehensively analyzes how all factors of family upbringing, spiritual or religious
beliefs/doctrine, personal and professional experiences, and political ideology affect the
current perspective on health care policy. Clear details and examples given. No
inconsistencies.
4) Examine any inconsistencies you discovered relative to the alignment of your personal
values and beliefs with those concerning health policy. Discuss what insights this has given
you.
Comprehensively examines inconsistencies discovered relative to the alignment of personal
values and beliefs with those concerning health policy. Fully discusses insights. Clear
examples and details given. No inconsistencies
Health Policy Values
As human beings, we all have different values and beliefs that develop throughout the
course of our lives. The people we meet and the environments in general in which we are raised
contribute in shaping of people values and beliefs. Values are standards, principles or qualities
that people or individual holds. These values guides the way we live and even contributes to the
way we make our decision (Neal, 1971). People hold their values so dear and always aspire to
meet or live up to them. Formation of values results from a belief relating to an idea or
HEALTH POLICY VALUES 1
something of worth. This paper focuses on the personal values, opinions, spiritual beliefs people
hold, and their relationship to health care policy and peoples’ daily lives.
Personally, my personal values and spiritual beliefs are variable and transient as some
are core and define who I am while others may arise and become of values depending on the
circumstances at play. One of my values is to always be calm and take things the way they come.
This is my core value that has kept me going and making me feel optimistic about life.
Remaining calm, all the time has enabled me to remain relax and avoid unnecessary anxieties. I
do understand that my body is driven by my thoughts and therefore, remaining calm allows me
to approach various instincts in a calm manner and making me always to enjoy my live.
Another value is to always love. Love is one of my important values that I cherish. I have
learned to appreciate and to love my friends and enemies. I believe that I need to love myself and
accept the way as I am. I cannot claim to love others if I myself do not love myself. It is this live
that has enabled me to restrain in judging others. I appreciate others the way they are. This
however does not mean that I am a foolish or a person who does not appreciate himself. I feel
good when I relate well with other people.
My other personal value is humility. Humility has enabled me to love and respect myself
as well as others despite the fact that I may differ with their opinions and cultures or point of
views. I appreciate that I do live in my own dreamland as well as others and therefore we view
issues in different perspectives. Humility therefore, allows me to be humble and refrain from
imposing issues to control other people or differing with their point of views. I believe that other
people are competent to live their own lives and have their own experiences and are able to take
control of their actions.
HEALTH POLICY VALUES 1
Always remaining healthy is another value that I have. I always ensure that, I manage
my health by going an extra mile to eat selected foods and engaging in body exercises to
accomplish this. Similarly, I have spiritual belief, which has made me whom I am. I am a
Christian and observe the teachings of the holy bible. I believe that as human beings we are
passing mortals and therefore, we need to use the time that God has given us wisely. I use my
time wisely by doing that which is righteous and avoiding engaging in sins. I have therefore,
learned a lot from these spiritual books about life after our death and I hold this to be the truth of
the matter. A good example to illustrate this is that I belief that, this world is under supernatural
being and that his son died for our sake to save us from the forces of darkness.
I believe that every individual has the right to quality, affordable healthcare.
Accessibility to healthcare should be facilitated to ensure that no individual is not able to be
treated on any other basis. Therefore, my take of the health policy is to ensure that there is no
discrimination in the healthcare provision for all the people. As a person who understands and
values, health does not feel that people at this time and age should suffer because of lack of
funds to meet their healthcare.
Costs, quality and social issues are some of the factors that affect health policy. The cost
of seeking medical care sometimes is out of reach to many people and this denies them and
opportunity to such services. Quality is also another factor that compromises the provision of
healthcare. This normally arises due to lack of enough equipment, facilities and competence
medical practitioners. Social issues such as beliefs of people also affect the healthy policy. Some
people cling to their beliefs and this deter them from accessing to medical care. I therefore, tend
to disagree with people who deny their workers from access to healthcare because of the beliefs
they have. This is something that denies such individuals an opportunity to good health. It is also
HEALTH POLICY VALUES 1
against ethical principles of beneficence that requires that people to do good for others
(Catherine, 2013). It is not doing well to other by denying them and opportunity to access to
medical care
Justice is also not adhered to by denying people accessibility to healthcare by charging
them highly and providing poor services. This contravenes the value of love. For example,
patients who are not given better treatment by medical practitioner are effectively denied justice.
Respect for autonomy is also important ethical principles that should be respected (Catherine,
2013). Individuals request to either seek medical attention or cling on their beliefs should be
granted in exercise of humility as long as the individual is making decision concisely and
understand the consequences.
Various factors that we experience in our lives such as upbringing, spiritual or religious
beliefs/doctrine, personal and professional experiences, and political ideology affect our current
perspective on health care policy in different ways. Our experiences play a key role in the way
we perceive some of the health policies in place (Kinzig et al. 2013). For example, a person, who
experienced a problem in accessing to medical facility when an emergency struck because of
lack of a healthcare facility in the vicinity, will not want to experience the situation again. Such
individuals will be at the forefront in lobbying for establishment of such facilities in the vicinity
to ensure that a recurrence of episodes is well contained. In its true that as human being, we learn
and gain experiences through our interactions with the environment and this plays key role in the
way we think and perceive various issues in our society. Religious beliefs also affect an
individual perception about healthcare policy. Religious beliefs that are against seeking
treatment will not be party to any policies relating to healthcare. The way we are brought up also
affects the way we currently perceive healthcare policy. For instance, being brought up in low-
HEALTH POLICY VALUES 1
level income it means that such a person was vulnerable to disease and will be in the forefront in
contribution to policies that are able to ensure that accessibility to healthcare is lowered and its
quality improved.
One of the inconsistencies that I discovered in line with alignment of my personal values
and beliefs with those of health policy is lack of initiatives to promote affordable and quality
healthcare. My value is to always manage my health but health policy has not put in place
programs to ensure that people are able to take good care of their health. Other inconsistencies
arise because of the right to autonomy. Giving people rights to either seek medical care or not
compromises on my values of love and the healthcare policy of promoting healthcare. An
example is when an individual fails to see a doctor because of his or her religion beliefs and yet
there is an opportunity for that person to access treatment.
In conclusion, personal opinions, beliefs and spiritual beliefs are instrumental in
individual’s decision-makings. In many occasion, there is inconsistencies between these values
with the healthcare policies, which compromises the health of an individuals. People should not
cling on values that put their lives in danger but be conscious in the decisions they make in
regards to health.
HEALTH POLICY VALUES 1
References
Catherine, R. (2013). Description of ethical theories and principles.
Kinzig, A. et al. (2013). Social Norms and Global Environmental Challenges: The Complex
Interaction of Behaviors, Values, and Policy, BioScience, 63(3): 164-175.
Neal, M. (1971). Part II. The relation between religious belief and structural change in religious
orders: some evidence, Review of Religious Research, 12(3):153-165.