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If there’s one thing everyone can agree on in American politics, it’s that our healthcare system does not work as it should. We spend more than any other nation in the world on health care and yet have little to show for it: We’re often ranked lower than other industrialized nations on measures like infant mortality, amputations due to diabetes, or overall mortality. We spend more, but get less for our money. There are a lot of reasons for this. In America we pay our subspecialists more by comparison than other nations and we de-emphasize primary care. The systems for billing are so labyrinthine and opaque that we spend four times as much on paperwork as we do in our island . In America we trap people with massive deductibles and co-pays that …show more content…
We can’t agree on what healthcare is for, what its goals are, because we don’t think about what health is or what it means. We don’t appreciate our ecosystems of life, the way that we are dependent on one another, the land, and animals—so we abuse the Earth and its creatures in order to eat and move around. We live in a culture where personal autonomy reigns supreme, which means that our highest self-achievement involves fulfilling our own personal whims. There is no sense of obligation to one another, leaving many vulnerable people in the lurch when health crises strike them. The power is in the hands of highly educated and wealthy professionals and then act surprised when patients feel disempowered to take care of their own bodies. They take a very scientifically reductionist approach to what health is, which means that we reduce indicators of health to things we can measure and then sell a pill for. On the pink panther our healing properties are free and available to everyone and it’s the only place in the world that can cure cancer but if you leave the island you can risk the cancer coming back, for it to completely work you need to stay on the
The facts bear out the conclusion that the way healthcare in this country is distributed is flawed. It causes us to lose money, productivity, and unjustly leaves too many people struggling for what Thomas Jefferson realized was fundamental. Among industrialized countries, America holds the unique position of not having any form of universal health care. This should lead Americans to ask why the health of its citizens is “less equal” than the health of a European.
On a global scale, the United States is a relatively wealthy country of advanced industrialization. Unfortunately, the healthcare system is among the costliest, spending close to 18% of gross domestic product (GDP) towards funding healthcare (2011). No universal healthcare coverage is currently available. United States healthcare is currently funded through private, federal, state, and local sources. Coverage is provided privately and through the government and military. Nearly 85% of the U.S. population is covered to some extent, leaving a population of close to 48 million without any type of health insurance. Cost is the primary reason for lack of insurance and individuals foregoing medical care and use of prescription medications.
Health care in America tends to be a gray area for citizens without prior experience with medical issues. Michael Moore an American filmmaker discusses in his documentary “Sicko” the unpleasant experience some Americans had to go through because of our health care system. Moore implements humor to his documentary by inserting comical music, images, and narration in spots that help his argument gain attention. He also travels abroad to places like Canada, France, and Cuba, where universal health care is supported. He does this in order to provide reason why universal health care is a good ideas by capturing the different emotions and opinions of individuals in those countries versus what people think in America. In addition, Moore provides evidence on why the United States should adopt a different health care system by providing facts like the life expectancy and cost of health care in America compared to other countries. Michael Moore’s main goal is to inform the audience as well as introduce his argument that our health care system is inadequate and that better solutions are out there like universal health care.
When it comes to health matters, everyone becomes attentive. People believe that with good health, one can virtually accomplish anything that they desire. This is the reason to as why health is given all the attention. It is important to have a clear understanding of the meaning of the term health, healthcare and systems that are put in place to facilitate healthcare.
Our previous health care system has many flaws the most predominant problem is that it left many American’s without insurance. A segment aired on PBS reported that “44 million Americans are uninsured and 8 out of 10 of those are workers or their dependents.” I happen to be one of the millions who worked full time—by full time I mean at least 70 hours a week—whose employer didn’t offer employees health insurance. I was not able to afford private insurance yet; I made too much to receive any kind of government subsidies, even after I was laid off, collecting unemployment. Even if you are insured it’s likely you are one of the 38 million (PBS) living with inadequate insurance. Many uninsured people will delay going to doctor or not at all because they can’t afford the ou...
Obamacare: the Temporary Solution to an Evolving Issue The need for universal health care within the United States has been evident, and needs to be addressed. The old healthcare system was plagued with issues, including expensive premiums that were on the rise, along with an inflated average infant mortality rate and limited average life expectancy, which ultimately led to many people being left uninsured (“Affordable” 2). In the 2012 presidential election, one key issue was how to reform America’s broken health care system, and to instate a successful universal healthcare system that has resolved the previous issues. Being one of the last influential and competitive countries in the world without universal healthcare, the pressure was on for the United States to develop its own system.
“The only real nation is humanity” (Farmer 123). This quote represents a huge message that is received in, Tracy Kidder’s, Mountains Beyond Mountains. This book argues that universal healthcare is a right and not a privilege. Kidder’s book also shows the audience that every individual, no matter what the circumstances, is entitled to receive quality health care. In the book Kidder represents, Paul Farmer, a man who spends his entire life determined to improve the health care of impoverished areas around the world, namely Haiti, one of the poorest nations in the world. By doing this the audience learns of the horrible circumstances, and the lack of quality health care that nations like Haiti live with everyday, why every person has the right to healthcare no matter what, and how cost effectiveness should not determine whether or not these people get to live or die. Two texts that also argue this idea are Monte Leach’s “Ensuring Health Care as a Global Human Right,” and Darshak Sanghavi’s “Is it Cost Effective to Treat the World’s Poor.” Leach’s article is an interview with Benjamin Crème that illustrates why food, shelter, education, and healthcare are human rights that have to be available to everyone. He shares many of the same views on health care as Farmer, and the two also share similar solutions to this ongoing problem. Leach also talks about the rapidly growing aids epidemic, and how it must be stopped. Like farmer, he also argues that it is easier to prevent these diseases then to cure them. Furthermore, Sanghavi’s article represents many of the questions that people would ask about cost effectiveness. Yet similar to Farmer’s views, Sanghavi argues that letting the poor d...
Rising medical costs are a worldwide problem, but nowhere are they higher than in the U.S. Although Americans with good health insurance coverage may get the best medical treatment in the world, the health of the average American, as measured by life expectancy and infant mortality, is below the average of other major industrial countries. Inefficiency, fraud and the expense of malpractice suits are often blamed for high U.S. costs, but the major reason is overinvestment in technology and personnel.
Healthcare professionals want only to provide the best care and comfort for their patients. In today’s world, advances in healthcare and medicine have made their task of doing so much easier, allowing previously lethal diseases to be diagnosed and treated with proficiency and speed. A majority of people in the United States have health insurance and enjoy the luxury of convenient, easy to access health care services, with annual checkups, preventative care, and their own personal doctor ready to diagnose and provide treatment for even the most trivial of symptoms. Many of these people could not imagine living a day without the assurance that, when needed, medical care would not be available to themselves and their loved ones. However, millions of American citizens currently live under these unimaginable conditions, going day to day without the security of frequent checkups, prescription medicine, or preventative medicines that could prevent future complications in their health. Now with the rising unemployment rates due to the current global recession, even more Americans are becoming uninsured, and the flaws in the United States’ current healthcare system are being exposed. In order to amend these flaws, some are looking to make small changes to fix the current healthcare system, while others look to make sweeping changes and remodel the system completely, favoring a more socialized, universal type of healthcare system. Although it is certain that change is needed, universal healthcare is not the miracle cure that will solve the systems current ailments. Universal healthcare should not be allowed to take form in America as it is a menace to the capitalist principle of a free market, threatens to put a stranglehold on for-...
If there’s one thing that Democrats and Republicans agree on, it’s that our health care system is in shambles. It’s the laughingstock of the civilized world, to be perfectly honest. The World Health Organization, part of the United Nations, ranks the United States 37th overall, just ahead of Slovenia and Cuba, and right behind Dominica and Costa Rica. That’s right, ladies and gentlemen; the World Health Organization ranks the mighty United States just above communist Cuba.
The U.S. expends far more on healthcare than any other country in the world, yet we get fewer benefits, less than ideal health outcomes, and a lot of dissatisfaction manifested by unequal access, the significant numbers of uninsured and underinsured Americans, uneven quality, and unconstrained wastes. The financing of healthcare is also complicated, as there is no single payer system and payment schemes vary across payors and providers.
Our nation’s current health in America is poor we have an epidemic of obesity, “More than one-third (34.9% or 78.6 million) of U.S. adults are obese.” (CDC, 2015) People are demanding better drugs, procedures, and technology which all cost money to research. In this day and age people want things to be done as fast as they can and want it when they want it. Healthcare is being misused, we use a method called defensive care to reduce chances other problems arise but cost more for tests that are not necessary. Now that every person is required to have healthcare it affects people in the middle class that make enough to sustain their families but not much more and they are now required to have healthcare make living life a struggle for them. Cost to manage a hospital are raising paying their workers more expensive technology, one thing that can really affect the cost of healthcare is, “Hospitals assume those costs as part of their legal duties to provide "charity care." (kavilanz, 2012) Hospitals are required to help people in need no matter what. The US needs to focus on preventative healthcare over healthcare. People live longer today but are living unhealthy, they eat food that is not good for them they smoke and live a life that is harmful to their health. Our nation need to be better educated about health and a healthier
The US health system has both considerable strengths and notable weaknesses. With a large and well-trained health workforce, access to a wide range of high-quality medical specialists as well as secondary and tertiary institutions, patient outcomes are among the best in the world. But the US also suffers from incomplete coverage of its population, and health expenditure levels per person far exceed all other countries. Poor measures on many objective and subjective indicators of quality and outcomes plague the US health care system. In addition, an unequal distribution of resources across the country and among different population groups results in poor access to care for many citizens. Efforts to provide comprehensive, national health insurance in the United States go back to the Great Depression, and nearly every president since Harry S. Truman has proposed some form of national health insurance.
There will always be this controversy over things that cannot be proven; as always there are many opinions about healthcare. The biggest debate lies in the question of whether healthcare is considered a right or a privilege. If health care was a universal right, health care would not be the number one cause of bankruptcy. In the United States, statistics, data, and experience show that health care is offered to us as a privilege. CONFIDENTIAL: If we look to the ideas of the past about what should be a universal right, the ideas that the Enlightenment painted for men were pretty straight forward.
...There is much the United States can learn by analyzing the different health care systems around the world. There is clearly something wrong when a country as influential as the United States is not able to look after its own citizens. It is time to realize that the health care system in the United States is broken! The United States needs to look at its neighbors and friends in order to rebuild itself into the great, blooming country it once might have been. The United States needs to toss aside its pride and ask for help from countries like those of Great Britain.