In 2007 San Francisco began its Healthy San Francisco Plan designed to provide health care for all San Francisco citizens. In 2007, it was estimated that San Francisco had 82,000 uninsured citizens. Under the plan, all uninsured citizens residing in San Francisco can seek care at the city's public and private clinics and hospitals. The basic coverage includes lab work, x-rays, surgery, and preventative care. The city plans to pay for this $203 million coverage by rerouting the $104 million the city currently spends treating the uninsured in the emergency rooms, mandating business contributions, and requiring income-adjusted enrollment fees. The plan requires all businesses with more than 20 employees to contribute a percentage toward the plan. Many business owners consider this a burden and warn they will not stay in the city. The Mayor sees universal health access a moral obligation for the city. As a city, San Fransico has an obligation to provide it citizens with health access. The questions to be address are: What is the government's role in regulating healthy and unhealthy behavior? Has the balance between personal freedom and the government's responsibility to provide health and welfare of its citizens been eroded? Why or why not? The government’s role in regulating healthy and unhealthy behavior The question of what is the government’s role in regulating healthy and unhealthy behavior is one that would probably spark a debate every time. Originally, the role was to assist in regulating and ensure those that were unable to afford or obtain healthcare insurance for various reasons would be eligible for medical care. However, now it seems that politicians are not really concerned about what’s best for the citizens but woul... ... middle of paper ... ...ions are ageing and increasingly, people are living with one or more chronic conditions for decades (World Health Organization, 2011). If the government can assist in regulating preventive health measure for citizens it will years down the line prove to be a cost effective measure. World Health Organization (2011) states that many chronic conditions were avoidable had the person ben able to receive the preventive education and care needed. Business owners may experience a slight inflation in cost to insure their employees but it does not amount to nearly half as much that will be saved by all citizens having access to preventive medical care. Works Cited Longest, B.B. (2010). Health policymaking in the United States (5th Ed.). Chicago, IL: Health World Health Organization. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs172/en/index.html
One overarching critical question about health care is, “What should the government plan to achieve in the American health care system?” This complex question seems to require a complex answer according to a few individuals. Out of respect of the issue, perhaps determining personal feelings about the Patient Protection and Accordable Care Act, may lead to a further understanding. Many combinations in health care in general vary throughout the globe. One thing however is certain, and this the established minimal and maximum roles that can be played by both federal and state government (Tang, & Eisenberg, 2014).
Despite the established health care facilities in the United States, most citizens do not have access to proper medical care. We must appreciate from the very onset that a healthy and strong nation must have a proper health care system. Such a health system should be available and affordable to all. The cost of health services is high. In fact, the ...
The question of whether the public’s health is an individual’s responsibility or the government’s responsibility has been a sticky topic for quite some time now. In order to get closer to an answer, it is important to evaluate the roles individuals have in protecting and improving their health versus the roles the government has. To better understand the situation, I will discuss the case study of obesity. Is it the individual’s responsibility to exercise in order to avoid being obese or is it firstly the governments responsibility to provide safe environments with parks, for example to improve the individuals’ health? This paper will discuss the causes of obesity, what makes obesity an individual’s responsibility, what makes it the government’s
The common thought of most Americans living in the United States that it is the greatest country on planet earth, and second is not even close. They believe this notion because of the freedoms this great nation was founded on: The freedom of religion, the freedom of speech, the freedom of assembly. These freedoms turn into more simplistic generalities that are assumed and exercised by Americans daily, such as the freedom of choice. Although the freedom of choice is a right given to us at birth, it is a right that the federal government of the greatest nation on earth is slowly starting to rescind. Lets take health care for example, or most specifically, obesity. Law makers are slowing starting to push policies into the forum of public health. Those same law makers are the same people blaming the fast food industry, food manufacturing companies, scientist making artificial ingredients, and everyone else who lays a hand on food before it reaches your table for American becoming obese, not the person choosing to put that food in their mouth. In his essay, “What You Eat Is Your Business”, Radley Balko argues just the same. Balko says that your well-being, shape, and condition have increasingly been deemed matters of public health, instead of matters of personal responsibility, as they should be (396). Balko also says that Instead of manipulating or intervening in the array of food options available to American consumers, our government ought to be working to foster a sense of responsibility in and ownership of our own health and well-being (396). Finally Balko argues that it should only be the responsibility of the individual to be fiscally responsible when it comes to health. What Balko is s...
Brownell and Nestle write, “Imploring people to eat better and exercise more has been the default approach to obesity for years. That is a failed experiment.” How can someone lose weight if it is not through a good diet and exercise? How then the government will stop obesity? If the government intervenes, then it will suggest or beg people to move towards a better a life style. Brownell and Nestle state, “The [personal responsibility] argument is startlingly similar to the tobacco industry’s efforts to stave off legislative and regulatory interventions.” The tobacco industry finally saw interventions into its business when it could no longer advertise its product in television. However, that has not stopped consumers to buy tobacco products because it is their decision to consume them. As there are people who consume tobacco products, there are people who do not; their will can overcome any temptation. There is not even one regulation that could stop people to make a
The movement for changing the Health Care system believes that there is a need for change because of the problems that the system faces today cannot be handled. Every month, 2 million Americans lose their insurance. One out of four, 63 million Americans, will lose their health insurance coverage for some period during the next two years . 37 million Americans have no insurance and another 22 million have inadequate coverage . Losing or changing a job often means losing insurance. Becoming ill or living with a chronic medical condition can mean losing insurance coverage or not being able to obtain it. Long-term care coverage is inadequate. Many elderly and disabled Americans enter nursing homes and other institutions when they would prefer to remain at home. Families exhaust their savings trying to provide for disabled relatives. Many Americans in inner cities and rural areas do not have access to quality care, due to poor distribution of doctors, nurses, hospitals, clinics and support services. Public health services are not well integrated and coordinated with the personal care delivery system. Many serious health problems -- such as lead poisoning and drug-resistant tuberculosis -- are handled inefficiently or not at all, and thus potentially threaten the health of the entire population. Rising health costs mean lower wages, higher prices for goods and services, and higher taxes. The average worker today would be earning at least $1,000 more a year if health insurance costs had not risen faster than wages over the previous 15 years . If the cost of health care continues at the current pace, wages will be held down by an additional $650 by the year 2000.
Most of these articles also argued that healthy policies by themselves cannot achieve the expected health improvement.1-3,7-13 This is why the US healthcare access cannot be improved without paying attention to the social and environmental needs of the poor Americans, who in most cases are at the receiving end. The social determinants of health can only be improved through actions targeted at the factors that improve life.1-3,4-5 Government policies should be translated into actions that are centered on enhancing the conditions in which people live, work, play, and grow.1,3,12 The situation that people are born into should not control their destiny, access to healthcare or other opportunities in life, because it will be then unfair and unjust. 1-3,7-13
Healthcare is one of the major issues that America faces today. The health insurance companies are destroying America’s health care system by raising their premiums and deductibles. One great concern, access to health care is definitely on the decline. As of 2007, more than 75 million adults-42 percent of all adults ages 19 to 64- were either uninsured or underinsured (Commonwealth Fund Commission 9). The health care system in America needs a complete overhaul, reform.
In “What You Eat Is Your Business” Radely Balko brings up the fact that the reason people are becoming unhealthy is because they will not take responsibility for there own actions. He discusses the government’s involvement and how they should stay out of what people choose to eat and leave it too themselves. He brings up the point that over the past couple of decades the American health care system is becoming more and more socialistic because your own well-being is now being considered a matter of public health rather then personal. He proves this by discussing the fact that the government is beginning to regulate many different aspects of o...
Health is by far the most important thing for a human being, so every penny invested on it has to work. This essay is about the study of the current state of American health reforms and why they are desperately required. Unfortunately things are not that bright as they might seem, an American investing most of their money on health care is basically not getting the level of health care they deserves. With all the investment in the medical field and all the advancements of medical domains, government should be providing best health care in the world for its people.
Benjamin Franklin once stated “in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes” (Freakonomics, 2011). Over two centuries have pass since Franklin’s death, and many would argue the addition of universally accessible healthcare to his list of life’s certainties. At some point, even the healthiest among us will be faced with the need for medical assistance, and without health insurance, medical bills could cause dire financial consequences to those in need, or be denied access to healthcare all together.
While recognized as a social problem, policies target individual choices. Natalie Boreo in “All the News That’s Fat to Print” describes how the obesity epidemic is a “post modern epidemic” where it is a social problem because everyone is at risk but also individual in that everyone is responsible for their own weight. It is a social problem that culminates in micro-level solutions (Boreo, 43). Obesity is accepted as a disease, but unlike other diseases, it “needs” public policies because of individual failure: ideally, “… bodies and people would regulate themselves behaviorally, but…some bodies that are so out of control, and such a threat to public health that they need to be surgically altered to facilitate the kind of controlled eating…” (Boero, 48). Dramatic intervention by governments is seen as necessary to contain this “public health
Imagine a place where one would be controlled by their government. Many people could see this as a vast opportunity to stop obesity. However, this could be detrimental to people where food play’s a big role in one’s life. The government shouldn’t control how much we eat because it would affect the holidays, it would ruin restaurants, and it will affect athletes.
The most significant issue affecting the future of healthcare in the United States is an ethical and financial one—access to healthcare. Nearly 50 million people are uninsured, while healthcare costs are rising. Moreover, as the economy has weakened, the number of people with coverage has decreased. The uninsured are deprived the same access and quality of care as those with insurance. As preventative care is a rarely an option for those uninsured, they suffer serious health repercussions and ultimately face serious financial burdens when they eventually do get care.
According to Mary, & Melanie, (2015) Nancy Millio gives six aspects that link the ability of society to give approachable and socially accepted health decisions to an individual expertise to improve their healthy actions. According to her, the available health choices are important in shaping a societies general health status. Individual's health choices are influenced by decisions of governments and private organizations. National based policy on health is the best ways to influence citizen's health rather than focusing on giving information that is aimed at changing individual's behavioral