探討經濟危機對健康照護的影響

The Effects of Economic Crises on Health Care

2008年9月，美國華爾街掀起了金融海嘯，引發衍生性金融商品市場普遍虧損，美國陷入百年來僅見的金融危機。這波金融海嘯之浪濤遍及全球，從美洲、歐洲到亞洲，無ㄧ倖免，世界經濟正面臨1930年以來最危險的衝擊。經濟的衰退、失業率攀升，最直接的衝擊是人民對於未來前景感到焦慮，進而衍伸出的身、心、靈許多健康問題。本文就經濟危機對健康照護之影響層面，由以下方向作探討：經濟問題造成就醫態度的改變；參與醫療保險人數下降；職場工作者罹患疾病時如何因應職場競爭之危機；政府改變健康照護政策以因應經濟危機；經濟危機對民眾健康造成的身體、心理及社會問題；護理專業之因應。護理人員往往對此議題較缺乏警覺及注意，故本文就經濟危機對健康照護的影響作探討，以提供醫護人員之參考。

In September 2008, financial turmoil on Wall Street led to severe losses in that country’s financial derivatives market and plunged the United States into the most severe financial crisis in over a decade. The backlash of this “financial tsunami” has affected countries around the world. The world economy, facing the most critical financial crisis since the 1930s, must deal with recession, severe unemployment and general fears of worse to come, which have, in turn, spawned a range of physical, psychological and spiritual problems. In this article we study the effects of the economic crisis on healthcare from several angles, including: decreasing incomes causing changing attitudes toward seeking healthcare; decreasing numbers of people covered by medical insurance; increasing impact on the job market of untreated illnesses; changing national healthcare policies in response to economic pressures; increasing physical, psychological and social problems resulting from economic problems; and the need for the nursing profession to respond to these and other rapid changes in the healthcare landscape. Nursing staff are sometimes unaware of social problems outside their profession. This article may, therefore, provide a general reference to medical and nursing staff on the effects of the economic crisis on healthcare.