Impact Of Health Care Legislation Hr 3962 On The Outsourcing Industry

President Barack Obama had a hard won victory on Saturday night (the 7-8th day of November 2009) when the landmark health care reform legislation (HR 3962) was passed with 220-215 votes. Now if everything goes the Obama way, then by the end of the year ’09 “Affordable Health Care for America Act” would apply as a law impacting almost fifty million US lives. But what does this Act actually imply? How does it stand to impact an average US life? How does the Act affect the outsourcing industry at large? Through my article below I endeavor to answer these and many more questions.
Ab-initio we will refresh the fundamentals of federalism, stating the Roles, Duties, Nature, Scope and Restrictions on the government in a written federal constitution. Next we proceed to see whether the above attempt by the federal government to accede healthcare legislation is ultra-vires the powers granted by the US Constitution.

What is Federalism?

According to the traditional classification followed by the political scientists, constitutions are either unitary or federal. In a unitary constitution, the powers of the government are centralized in one government viz., the Central Government. In the federal constitution, on the contrary, there is a division of power between the federal and the state governments in a way that they are both inter-dependent and independent at the same time.
As we all know that Constitutions are organic documents which operate as fundamental law. The governments and their organs owe their origin to the constitution, derive their authority from the constitution and discharge their responsibilities within the framework of the constitution. The judiciary has the power to declare a law unconstitutional if the law is found to have contravened any provision of the constitution. The American Constitution is the oldest and a well praised example of federalism.

What are the powers granted by the US Constitution to the State Government?

Powers reserved for State Governments are:
• Establishing local governments
• Issuing licenses (driver, hunting, marriage, etc.)
• Regulating intrastate commerce
• Conducting elections
• Ratifying amendments to the U.S. Constitution
• Providing for public health and safety
• Exercising powers which are neither delegated to the Federal Government nor were prohibited from the States by the Federal Constitution (residuary powers)
• Framing other domestic law (for example, setting legal drinking and smoking ages etc.)

Conceptualizing Mental Health Care Utilization Using The Health Belief Model

The process of change in psychotherapy, regardless of the clinician's orientation, length of treatment, or outcome measure, begins with this: The client must attend a first session. However, several national surveys in the past decade converge on a rate of approximately one-third of individuals diagnosed with a mental disorder receiving any professional treatment (Alegría, Bijl, Lin, Walters, & Kessler, 2000; Andrews, Issakidis, & Carter, 2001; Wang et al., 2005). A review of the literature surrounding mental health utilization reveals evidence that a complex array of psychological, social, and demographic factors influence a distressed individual's arrival to a mental health clinic. Thus, developing effective strategies for decreasing barriers to care is a critical task for clinicians and administrators. The

aim of this article was to review current research focused on appropriate utilization of mental health services and to use the Health Belief Model (HBM; Becker, 1974) as a parsimonious model for conceptualizing the current knowledge base, as well as predicting and suggesting future research and implementation strategies in the field.

First, it is important to address whether increasing mental health service use is an appropriate public health goal. A World Health Organization (WHO) survey comparing individuals with severe, moderate, or mild disorder symptoms indicated that approximately half of those surveyed went untreated in the past year (WHO World Mental Health Survey Consortium, 2004), with even less treatment among those with more severe symptoms. Many costs are associated with untreated mental disorders, including overuse of primary care services for a variety of reasons (Katon, 2003; White et al., 2008), lost productivity for businesses and lost wages for employees (Adler et al., 2006), as well as the negative impact of mental disorders on medical disorders, such as diabetes and hypertension (Katon & Ciechanowski, 2002). These com

bined expenses have been calculated to rival some of the most common and costly physical disorders, such as heart disease, hypertension, and diabetes (Druss, Rosenheck, & Sledge, 2000; Katon et al., 2008).

The consequences of providing additional services to address unmet need may vary by the cost-effectiveness of treatment, availability of providers, and the interaction of mental health symptoms with other illnesses. Medical cost offset and cost-effectiveness research address these questions (for further review, see Blount et al., 2007; Hunsley, 2003). Medical cost offset refers to the estimation of cost savings produced by reduced use of services for primary care as a result of providing psychological services. Reduced medical expenses could occur for several reasons: increased adherence to lifestyle recommendation changes such as diet, exercise, smoking, or taking medications; improved psychological and physical health; and reduction in unnecessary medical visits which serve a secondary purpose (e.g