Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Blog #2 My opinion about the current state of health care in the US today...
There is no argument any where in the world that we, as a nation, are privileged to enjoy the finest health care available in the world today. The disagreeable fact is that many citizens of the USA cannot afford to access this excellent health care; some through no fault of their own and some because they choose to purchase other consumable goods rather than health insurance. I have a unique perspective from both sides of this debate – I worked in the healthcare industry for 25 years and enjoyed very good and very affordable employer sponsored coverage during that time period. However, from November of last year through today, I have been unemployed and unable to pay for either COBRA continuation or an individual health plan. I am one of the uninsured.
After some research, I discovered that I can make an appointment to visit a Parkland Community Clinic in my city and that I will pay according to my income level. This is available to anyone. I have a car so I can get myself to the clinic but if I didn’t have a vehicle, the clinic is located on a bus line. I recognize that transportation could be a problem for someone who is disabled or a mother with several children who does not have childcare support. Accessing available health care resources may not necessarily be easy, but it is available. The key is to educate individuals about the resources that are available to them and provide support in applying for services.
I do not agree with the concept of universal free health care for all citizens regardless of income, but I do believe that every child should have easy access to health care from date of birth through the time that they complete high school. Many parents do provide health coverage for their children through an employer health plan or by purchasing an individual plan, but for those children who don’t have health insurance, for whatever reason, health care should be available. One option for school aged children’s health coverage that I believe should be expanded is the school based health center. There are over 1,000 of these clinics in operation in the U.S. today and 89 in Texas (Texas Association of School Based Health Centers.http://www.tasbhc.org). This is a workable alternative and I believe that if children received adequate care and HEALTH EDUCATION, there would be a corresponding decrease in chronic health conditions and a greater respect for a healthy body as they become adults. Health care reform is a massive multi-faceted issue that cannot be resolved all at once, but it can be resolved one step at a time.
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Jeri,
ReplyDeleteI agree with a lot of the points you have made in this blog. I disagree with the idea of universal healthcare in the United States, however, it is alarming to see that so many children are uninsured in America today. I agree that children need more and more health education. There are so many children these days that are falling into obesity, which can develop into diabetes, heart problems, high cholesterol, low self esteem, unable to be attentive in class, etc. There needs to be more programs and extracurricular activites for school aged children to get involved with that can help them get the exercise they need. I think they should also provide children with knowledge on how to eat properly and make sure that school's are providing well balanced meals for lunch.
Hi Jeri,
ReplyDeleteI am one of those people who believe that adequate access to healthcare should be a right for all of those who need it. The keyword is need. I believe if access to healthcare was expanded to cover those who needed at earlier stages it would decrease the massive number of chronic conditions thereby decreasing healthcare costs. I agree with your statements regarding coverage for children because the future of this country depends on their health and knowledge regarding many complex diseases and issues. I'm not sure of how to eliminate health disparities that cause so much distress to our countries healthcare sytem, but we must start somewhere.
Hi Jeri,
ReplyDeleteYou made a lot of good points and I myself have been on both sides of having healthcare through an employer and not having healthcare. Especially in the dental field many offices do not provide insurance plans. Individual plans are extremely high for the coverage that you may get and somethimes depending on your health it may not add up in the end and that is sometimes something people have to look at. As for your comment about universal healthcare for all I agree with you and do not feel that should be the case. You made very good points about finding clinics that go off of your income level and most have some type of transportation route to get there like you had stated.
Hello Jeri,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your post. It was extremely well written, and you did a great job making some critical points. I agree there really are a lot of programs out there that those who really need it may need help getting connected. Is the system flawed and fragmented, yes, but we can work to improve while those small steps are being made. The whole key is education, the kind that works, and is relevant and accessable to the proposed population. I look forward to reading more of your posts, you have a lot of great insight and experiences!
Thank you,
Amy Hicks
hi, you are very much right about everything you said i feel the same way and i really like how it is as far as you can get help and pay latter in my country you have to pay berfor they can do anything for you a lot of people die becouse they dont have the money to pay . but here it really should not be like that bcouse the country have more money to pay and help people and they should .
ReplyDeleteHello Jeri,
ReplyDeleteI am all for a health care system that provides low health coverage for the uninsured. We are headed in that direction slowly. With the new reform taking place in the future, citizens will be able to go to an exchange and buy affordable insurance. I am not too sure on the details but I do know if you are employed you can still purchase low cost insurance through the exchange if you fall into the category of low income. Some working people still cannot afford their employers insurance because they are making minimum wage and have a family to support so they elect not to sign up for their employer coverage because they simply cannot afford it. So their children and themselves are uninsured and do not qualify for government assistance because of their income, doesn’t make sense. But with the new exchange taking place soon these families will be able to elect affordable health coverage. It is a very convoluted subject. This I know because I work in the benefits department for my company and we are trying to wrap our minds around all the changes. I have attended a few seminars and completed some webinars on the subject, but honestly my head just spins with all the information that is thrown my way.
Adequate health should be available to all irrespective of age, race and gender, young and old alike. Preventive health care should be promoted at all levels (young and adult). Universal health care is a noble idea but almost impossible to implement in USA. On an average close to $2,000, is paid only in administrative cost a year by an insured person (through plans available currently) as compared to $339 per person in Canada (which ranks higher than USA in WHO list). In my opinion just by the above statistics give only a small insight to how much more are we wasting as a nation, and there is no accountability for insurance companies to provide an itemized detail as to why this discrepancy in USA and Canada. We in USA live under this false assumption that we have the best health care system. We do have a health care system better than some but it’s not the best. It does need an overhaul. In my opinion preventive health care should be promoted. This would result in long term health benefits for everyone. Preventive health care refers to measures taken to prevent disease rather than curing or treating their symptoms. This would result in treating the risk factors that are the common causes for most health problems namely tobacco smoking, high blood cholesterol, high blood pressure, physical inactivity (main cause for obesity in our nation), diabetes. Please see the following link from American Heart Association advocating Preventive Health care. http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4734
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