Brasfield Chapters 6-10

In the last few chapters of the book, Brashfield start off discussing the increasing rate of nursing homes and health care for the elderly. The costs of living in nursing homes are extremely high, quite frankly it is more cost efficient to have at home care. This is having an impact on the economy. Currently the way it works is whenever you do run out of money; the government (Medicaid) will pay for it. Also so it is stated how private long term care insurance only covers %10 of long-term services. To me this is completely in justice to only cover 10% of cost because overalls leaves the entire 90% to that person to have to pay. In the chapters it is also discussed about high-risk pools.  This was interesting to read up on, about how insurance companies would refuse to insure or charge high premiums for individual policies. Different states responded by creating special high-risk pools.

Brasfield discusses how there were key issues with the ACA: cost, the public option, and abortion restrictions. When going over the cost, the house and senate had different approaches in regards to the bill. They were similar in some ways such as, including subsidies for people in insurance exchange. What distinguished the two who purchased policies was the cost. The House bill subsidies were higher, which gave protection to those who received them and the house version cost more. The Senate version was focused on revenue and  savings. The finale version the bill was more closely similar to the Senate.

This book has taught me that there is so much more that going into the health care system on a more political level and government approval level. I myself an not too involved in politics, so reading the book help me see that it is important to understand out political leaders, because we are the people they are suppose to work and fight for. The health care system is a very political matter, especialy in the sense of money. 

Brasfield Chapters 3-5

I can say in chapters 3-5, I definitely learned so much more about Medicare and Medicaid. I first learned that Medicare is broken down into four parts: 1.Hospitalization and skilled nursing facility payments, 2.Physician and outpatient services, 3.Medicare Advantage-to private plans such as a health maintenance organization, 4.Outpatient prescription drug coverage.  Another interesting insert from the book was when it was stated that over the recent years Medicaid has grown step by step to rival Medicare in size and scope. When looking at the too programs. In classed we looked at a graph at which there were some people who were covered on the left because their income was so low and there were those on the right end who were financially able to afford healthcare. The issue with the graph was that majority of people feel within the middle margins; of not being able to afford health care. They were poor enough to qualify or made enough money to pay for it themselves. When looking at society today this is where the problem lies. We have this enormous gap of people who cannot get health care.

Paper Progress

I recently changed my paper topic because I was doing the topic of The system of Organ Donations, basically covering how people are selected and the role that insurance companies play. When doing research on this topic I was not as interested in the topic as I thought I would be, so I decided to change it. When watching the news there was a story on ABC about a measles outbreak and a doctor spoke about how there is an underlying issue of public health vs. individual rights. This captured my attention immediately and I decided to change my topic to this. There is a lot of research and very controversial. I could see both side to the argument, but I personally have my own personal opinion on it. I believe that vaccinations should be given to every person entering school. I plan to argue both sides in my paper, but still present the side that I believe in.

Brasfield (chapters 1-2)

When reading this book you can tell that the entirety of the book is from an economic perspective. I must admit that reading all of the percentages and numbers that corresponded to the cost of health care. There are also many different graphs, which also caused me to get even more confused.  There was a topic that really captured my attention what was “If public spending equals socialism, are we almost there?” Many people believe that our government is headed towards socialized medicine, which is when medical and hospital services are provided by the government and paid for by taxes. I can definitely see both sides to this, some may say that it is not fair that they have to pay for someone else healthcare, but on the other hand public health it extremely important in our nation because everyone is affected one way or another, so it is looking out for the country as a whole. 

Altman Part 4

In part four of the book, the plan Obama has developed is the focal point.  Obama came up with the health reform. Many republicans opposed this plan because of the high cost, they also did not like the fact that there would be an increase in the amount of federal regulation and millions would be added to the public sector Medicaid program. The public option was to reduce health insurance price premiums by lowering cost. Many people opposed the public options because they thought it would eventually lead to lowering of reimbursements to providers and expand eligibility to individuals and providers. The Obama health plan would add millions of people to state Medicaid programs, with the federal government paying a bulk of the cost and the state still paying a portion. In my opinion I believe that Obama Plan was a good plan but it just had to be executed correctly to get the maximum results. There were are still currently are people who greatly oppose Obama Care and they would rather not pay extra money with taxes to ensure the health of others, although the health of others does impact their health in some way shape or form. 

Altman Part 2 and 3 a

The next two parts in the book focus on particular topics: Medicare and controlling healthcare cost. I understand why these two topics where the focal point. Medicare was and still is a major issue because of the growing amount of older people who are unable to afford medical treatments. The Hilton-Burton Bill was did not include anything about helping covering cost for the poor, but later on it was added that they had to devote a reasonable amount of services to people who were unable to pay. I believe that this was good that they did add this to the bill, because it made it more appealing. The cost of healthcare in my opinion is one of the biggest problems in our nation. In the book it states “many argued that the United States should cut cost before expanding coverage.” I disagree with this statement; everyone who cannot afford healthcare should be covered before cutting cost comes into place. I understand that this argument is a controversial but I feel that making sure everyone had the ability to receive treatment is far more important than cost. Cost is important, but our country has to find that perfect balance, if there is one. 

Altman Part 1

This book has a very different approach as compared to the other books. Altman takes a more political approach in the book. He discussed the time when he was working for President Nixon and they, along with secretary Casper Weinberger, to work with Senator Kennedy and Wilbert mills to see if they could come up with a combined plan. They were very discreet with their meetings, so they met at a church. This all fell apart when each of them would leave a go their separate ways. I feel that their plan did not work out because they all were involved in politics and because to running for re elections and campaigning, I feel that their ultimate goal of universal health care was “back seated” while everything else they considered to be important was front-loaded. This idea would be a great one if it could be accomplished one day, but every major groups supports universal coverage but if it has a negative impact on themselves then they just want thing to remain the same. Cost is the biggest issue on both ends, citizens in the U.S. cannot afford healthcare and doctors, and insurance companies do not want to lower there prices/ completely cover patients.