In: Nursing
Should every American be entitled to health care? Free health care?
Why are so many Americans so sick?
What is our problem with health care? How and why did poorer countries figure it out and we can't?
Take a stand and make some claims.
Ans .
- Health care must be recognized as a right, not a privilege. Every man, woman and child in our country should be able to access the health care they need regardless of their income… ... Americans should not have to fear losing their health insurance if they lose their job or change employment.
In the United States, we cannot enjoy the right to health care. Our country has a system designed to deny, not support, the right to health. The United States does not really have a health care system, only a health insurance system. ... The right to health care has long been recognized internationally.
Healthcare isn't free in any country. Someone pays for it. Healthcare in the USA is the most expensive in the world and twice as expensive as healthcare that is rated number one in the world. US healthcare is rated 37th in the world in terms of patient outcome.
There are a number of reasons why health care is more expensive in the U.S. than other countries. The New York Times reports that, in addition to U.S. citizens paying more for services, they also pay more for administrative costs related to the complexity of the country's health care system.
The US was once a leader for healthcare and education — now it ranks 27th in the world. The US now ranks 27th in the world for its levels of healthcare and education, according to a new study.
40.6 million people, or 12.7 percent of the population, lived in poverty, as defined by the official poverty measure. ... The official poverty measure is determined by a household's pre-tax income; a family of four earning less than $24,339 would be considered poor.
- Healthcare in the United States: The top five things you need to know. There is no universal healthcare. The U.S. government does not provide health benefits to citizens or visitors. Any time you get medical care, someone has to pay for it.There is no such thing as free health care, unless you're receiving it in a donate building manned by volunteer doctors and nurses. The only way you'll ever get “free” healthcare in the US is to rip the money to pay for it from the wallets of the productive citizens.
Costs of health care are higher in the United States than in other countries and put a strain on the overall economy. ... Health care is paid for by government programs (such as Medicare and Medicaid), private health insurance plans (usually through employers), and the person's own funds (out-of-pocket).
- The bad: According to Gallup, one in four Americans have skipped medical care for fear of rising costs. Newsweek reported a caravan of Americans cross the Canadian border to get affordable medical care , Americans went bankrupt due to medical bills.
The ugly: A new Centers for Disease Control report found more than 30 million Americans did not have health insurance . Mental health is not covered as much as clinical health. Most Americans don’t exercise enough or eat healthfully. Many never see a physician unless they are seriously ill or injured. Ignorance on vaccines has led to spread of preventable disease.
I regularly see the good, bad and ugly. As a human services organization, we help thousands lead healthier lives — elderly, disabled, refugees, teen moms. I see the bad — many suffer from lack of healthcare. And I often see the ugly because government-funded programs have slashed assistance.We know mental health should gain parity with clinical health. We know big pharma is driving the conversation when we need a big-picture view — and real solutions.Surely you are familiar with this pitch from TV pharma ads: “Ask your doctor if (pill) is right for you.” That line usually comes after the warning of possible side effects. It’s meant to educate (i.e. steer) consumers, since the product is pitched as the solution.
pills don’t solve the causes of stress. No drug prepares you to cope with the pain of elderly parents with dementia refusing to enter a nursing home. And financial stress can turn healthy people into sick patients — even those fortunate enough to have insurance coverage. Yet doctors are often frustrated they know of no place to refer patients for helping them overcome such causes.
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One major problem is the increasing internationalization of health risks. How-ever defined, this term has many dimensions, including economic, technological, political, social, scientific and cultural aspects. The links between globalization and health are complex and globalization is a multifaceted phenomenon that can affect health in myriad ways. Its consequences can be either direct, at the level of whole populations, individuals and healthcare delivery systems, or indirect, through the economy and other factors, such as education, sanitation and water supply.Given the enormous complexity and breadth of the issues, our article cannot hope to cover the entire range of topics that link globalization to health. Instead, we focus on those risks to health and health care that are related to central aspects of the globalization process, namely trade, travel and exchange of information.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that the death toll from tobacco abuse alone will reach 10 million a year over the next two decades. Up to 70% of these deaths, caused by lung cancer, cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), lung diseases, diabetes and many other tobacco-related ailments, will occur in developing countries. These countries are at particular risk, as industrialized countries increasingly ban cigarette advertisements and tobacco companies intensively target people in poorer nations as potential customers. The high incidence of smoking among children and adolescents.
Alcohol consumption is another area in which the globalization of an industry has led to more health risks . However, unlike tobacco use, which substantially increases the risk of mortality from an impressive array of diseases, the impact of alcohol consumption on health is much more complex. There is a strong relationship between alcohol consumption and liver cirrhosis, some cancers, and most causes of injuries and violence, although minimal amounts of alcohol are sufficient to reduce the risk of CVD .
The globalization of trade is particularly relevant for health services that have become a commodity that can be traded in distinct ways. First, health services can be provided across borders. Examples include a range of telemedicine tools, such as tele-diagnostics and tele-radiology as well as medical consultation through traditional and electronic channels. Second, patients can travel abroad to receive health care or use certain facilities—the UK government recently allowed UK patients to seek treatment in the European Economic Area. Other countries, including developing ones such as Cuba and India, openly advertise to attract foreign patients to their clinics and hospitals. Third, health services themselves have become an industry that attracts foreign investments. Several transnational companies from developed and developing countries have already created commercial health services through the purchase and establishment of hospitals. Fourth, the international movement of health personnel across borders has become a significant component of the trade in health services and has attracted considerable attention in the scientific and lay press.
Similar to trade, globalization has had large effects on international travel, with serious consequences for global health. The liberalization of the airline industry in many countries has made air travel affordable for more and more people around the world, which has led to a dramatic increase in the amount of global air travel.estimated that about one million people travel internationally every day and a similar number travel between developed and developing countries each week. Another recent report put the number of global tourist arrivals per year at 700 million. Far-reaching air travel, aided by improvements in aircraft technology that allow longer nonstop flights, facilitates the spread of communicable diseases. It is entirely possible that a person in the early stages of an infectious disease could be halfway around the world in 12–15 hours and thus function as a vector for that disease, aiding its spread, perhaps into vulnerable, non-immune populations. The recent epidemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is the best contemporary example of the rapid spread of a hitherto unknown and virulent viral pathogen through travel of infected humans .