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.   

Hoffman Chapter 6- epilouge

I believe that in the reading, chapter six the topics of Medicare and Medicaid, covers the most important points because these are issues that are still being discussed in todays society. There were limitations that were placed on the use of Medicare. I found it very interesting to see that whenever they would get feedback on the experience of using Medicaid, many of the people who gave their input stated that they were very grateful for the program. This program gave them the opportunity to for the first time in their lives of being able to get medical care, but as Medicaid expanded so did they over crowding in hospitals. One point that was made by activist Etta Horn, was that they viewed the Medicaid programs as a “welfare program rather than a healthcare program.” I have to disagree with that statement because if the poor cannot afford healthcare then that a portion of the population that is sick, which could cause a public health issue.

Hoffman Chapters 1-5

It was interesting of how the book begins with discussing the economic standpoint of the United States as a whole. This time period was during the Great Depression, which was a time period in which many people who had jobs with a steady income found themselves without a job. The depression had a tremendous impact on the healthcare system. There were increasing development to help prolong the life span expectancy, but the more benefits the greater the amount of people became unemployed. Many people could not afford healthcare, so they went from a private family doctor to local clinics. This plays a major part in life or death between people. They were unable to call ambulances, get check ups, and take other preventive measures in staying healthy. I was shocked at how private family doctors would somewhat ignore patients because they were no longer going to them because of their financial situation. It was ridiculous how there were segregated hospitals and they would actually turn African Americans away, despite the fact they were dying.  People were also turned away from hospitals because for whom the doctor was, their mental status, health condition, and health insurance.

Howell Chapters 6-8

In chapters 6-8 it is discussion about the different techniques that were used as instrumental techniques in regards to blood. The techniques included: looking at solid elements in the blood through a microscope, measuring properties of blood in some other way, and counting blood cells. Many people did not believe that white blood cells play any important role in regards to the body.  The questions that were brought up in the chapters were how should medical practitioners examine the blood? When coming up with a blood exam many different things went into a count as far as who will be conducting it, because they doctors could be doing more important thing, so you would have to create another job and teach them how to work the equipment and conduct the exam. The blood test also helps when it comes to figuring out certain illnesses and diseases, such as pneumonia.

Howell Chapters 3-5

Chapters 3-5 move from the advances and technology on the administrative side to advances that were taking place in the laboratories. Urinalysis was something that was not new; it was already being use by hospitals. There were scientists who very curious as to what diseases could be known from a urinalysis. Most patients would go to the hospital and have only one urinalysis. As technology expanded so did the thinking and ideas of physician. It soon became regulatory to obtain several urine samples during a patients stay at the hospital.  It is also discussed in the chapters that the x-ray became into to great use. The x-ray was very beneficial to many and was seen and viewed as a great asset to the medical field by society. Although the x-ray had all of the great benefits to it, many were still reserved about it. I my opinion I feel that doctors were intimidated by the x-ray and new technology because many of their patients would put more trust into the machines than the doctors. This could have been a negative thing for patients also, because on the other hand this could have made doctors lazy and because the machines were so expensive they may give unnecessary treatment with it to increase cost for patients. 

Howell Chapters 1&2

Chapter one focused on the hospitals administrative side of structure had begun to design around the “efficiency movement”. This structure was based on new technology, scientific ideas going into financial and accounting, and making the hospital as modern as possible. The most interesting thing that was discussed in the book was the fact that they stated that the most important technology that was moving into hospitals was technology that kept track of money. This showed that hospitals were slowly starting to become more of a profit organization and attract more people who could actually cover some of their cost. The hospitals also began to keep data gathered a put the information in the form of charts and graphs.

Chapter two covers the business and management aspect of the hospitals. The financials of hospitals were not as important, but when more people for the middle class started coming to hospitals. This is why the hospitals needed more structure and organization. The technology being purchased included: calculating machines and machines that analyze.

Chapter7 to Chapter 11

When reading the rest of the book it became clear that the healthcare system was beginning to transform and adjust to the growing scientific field around it.  Physicians were being better educated and students in medical school were given opportunities to observe procedures to ensure that people of society were going to be getting the best possible treatment they could get. Prisoners of war were also discussed in the book and this really stood out because when reading about how people were starving and being harmed. It was crazy to see that all of this happened in the United States. It was also very interesting and educational to learn that the International American Red Cross was developed.