Comparison of Health Care

Hey Everyone!
Hope you all had a fun Halloween weekend.
For this blog I wanted to discuss some of my findings when I compared the United States health care system with that of Germany and England. America is the only developed country without universal health care which I thought was interesting so I wanted to look into the other countries systems. Germany is known for having one of the best health care systems, because everyone is covered as well as having good quality but the downfall is that this system is expensive and will eventually not be able to persist. England on the other hand also covers everyone however the system has it faults in that it takes a long time to receive treatment as well as the quality of care is not as great. America does not cover all citizens however what we lack in availability we make up for in quality. After researching this topic is seems that every health care system has its faults and it seems to be a trade off of availability and quality. Which do you think is more important? Do you think it is possible to have both?

Health care reform may not be good for the nation, but it is good for me so I approve!

So even though I have very strong opinions on certain topics (including health care) I still try very hard to see everybody's point of view. I think that this is something that makes me easier to get along with in that even if I don't share the same opinions of a person I can still get a long with them as long as they can provide a valid argument as to why they hold that view point...."just because" does not qualify as a reason for me. It is because of this that I enjoyed looking at a recent poll on PollingReport.com in which they asked respondents their opinion on health care reform and if it was going to make things worse or better for them and their family as well as the country as a whole. The reason I found this poll interesting was that in both cases people seemed to think that health care reform would be better for them personally a higher number thought it would be better for the country as a whole. This makes me think that one of the things behind health care reform is individuals looking out for themselves. This shouldn't be surprising because that is just the way people are....we look out for #1 ourselves! I think that people need to try and take a step back and look at the bigger picture and realize that sometimes in order to help society as a whole....they may have to suffer a little. They will just have to decide if health care is worth the price....I personally think it is, however I am a person who would benefit.

Should Health Insurance Cover Eating Disorders??

So this weekend my roommate and her sister were getting into a heated discussion regarding disease types like eating disorders and alcoholism and whether these things are actually considered diseases or weaknesses. I think it is fairly clear, or at least to me, that clear cut diseases such as MS, Parkinson's, Type I Diabetes, kidney disease, and other chronic diseases should be covered through medical insurance because these people have not done anything to cause these diseases and they should not be punished because of things they were born with. The argument that my roommate and her sister were having is that my roommate as well as I see these diseases as not being in the person's control and should be covered through health insurance. Her sister believes that things such as eating disorders and mental illness are weaknesses and personal choices that people make. For example she believes that alcoholics have the choice wether or not to drink and they are simply being weak and therefore health care companies should not be required to cover their illness.

I have mental health issues that have run through my family so I again don't have an unbiased opinion on the matter and I don't see things such as eating disorders and mental illness as a choice and therefore should be covered by health insurance. I think these illnesses fall under the same category of "pre-existing" conditions and therefore they should not be able to be prejudice against when seeking insurance. I think that sometimes people overestimate the power people have over their brain and therefore I don't see it as a weakness. I was look at a website discussing health care issues which gave me more insight into eating disorders and how people who suffer from these already have enough struggles and don't need to have the added pressure of trying to find insurance. What are your thoughts on the topic? Do you consider these illness, diseases or weaknesses??

Do College Kids understand Health Insurance??

So for my Public Opinion class we had to write a paper regarding our topic, which mine is of course health care, and part of the paper was developing a questionnaire and talking about who our target demographic is. For mine I said that my target population would be the college students at Illinois State, since that is where I go and it seemed like the easiest population. However, after writing the paper I started to wonder if college age students would really know much regarding health insurance. I mean most if not all college age students are on their parents insurance plan and have not had to really give much thought to it. I know that if it wasn't for my pre-existing condition I probably would not know anything about health insurance and would just cost through on my parents plan, until I graduated and then got on my own plan when I got a job.

The thing is though that health insurance is a more complicated thing then some people think. Even if your plan is to simply go without insurance until you get a job that will provide insurance, that does not always work out the way you have planned. Some people can't go a period of time without health insurance because they need medicine, or doctor visits that they could not afford otherwise, or people who were always healthy could come down with a illness/get in an accident that then causes huge medical bills. With the rising cost of medical treatment going without health insurance is not a smart option, you never know what life is going to throw your way and it is not smart to take that chance. This is just something that I think college age students may not be aware of, and especially for seniors in college who are so close to graduating it is something that needs to be looked into. Let me know what you guys think? Do you think college age students have a good understanding of the importance of health insurance? Hope everyone had a good weekend.

A Look At The Bill Congress Passed

So I was taking a look at PollingReport.com to see some data on health care just to keep myself updated on the topic of health care and it reminded me again of how close this debate is. I think that this is something that makes the topic interesting is the fact that people are so split on the topic. It is not something everyone is for or everyone is against. Also, for my Public Opinion class we are designing a questionnaire so I was looking at different types of questions to ask and I really liked this question:

CNN/Opinion Research Corporation Poll. Sept. 21-23, 2010. N=1,010 adults nationwide.  Margin of error ± 3.
"Thinking about the health care bill that Congress passed earlier this year,which of the  following statements best describes your view of what Congress  should do in the future?  Congress should leave the bill as it is.  Congress should make additional changes to increase the government's involvement in the nation's health care system.  Congress should repeal most of the major provisions in that bill and replace them with a completely different set of proposals." Options rotated3/10: "Thinking about the health care bill that Congress passed this week. . . ."

It has a lot of options involving the bill that Congress passed and what people think should be done about the bill. The majority of people said that Congress should repeal most of the major provisions in the bill and replace them. This shows that although people do want changes to health care some are not happy with the changes that are being make. What are your thoughts on this bill??