Vaccine or Flu?

So this may seem like a pointless post but it was something that was recently on my mind and that is flu vaccines. I had done a good job of avoiding getting mine because I hate shots but over break my mom dragged me to CVS to get one stating it was better to get the vaccine then to get the flu. While there I found out the vaccine was not covered under my insurance so it was a thirty dollar cost. I am sure that to some people, including me as a college student, thirty dollars is expensive for a shot but then I thought of the other side-getting the flu and possibly ending up in the hospital-that would cost a lot more than thirty dollars. Also there are places people can go to get the shot for free if they are willing to do some research and possibly wait a while. The flu is no laughing matter and a lot of times people end up in the hospital with it, and this can be avoided.
For people that don't have insurance I think they should be the first ones in line for the vaccines. When it comes to accidents or pre-existing conditions sometimes a trip to the hospital can't be helped but when it comes to getting the flu that can be prevented and with the high hospital costs I am sure they also want to prevent it. So sure getting shots stinks, and it makes your arm sore the next day but it is still way better then the alternative of getting the flu.

Go Get Your Flu Shot!! :)

Will Republican victory mean a loss for health care reform?

Following the mid-term election results that took place on Tuesday November, 2nd the Republican's victory caused a lot of stir about which direction the state will now go in. According the The Monkey Cage  the two main things they will be focusing on is keeping Obama from getting elected for a second term and repealing the healthcare reform that he has started to put into motion. This to me seems like a step backwards. How can our country makes strides if changes can be repealed as soon as a different party takes control? Also something interesting about this article was that it showed that just because Republicans generally are more against health care reform that does not mean repealing it is going to be a winning issue for them. Rather it seems that the majority of the republican population supports bits and pieces of the bill and would be unhappy with repealing it in its entirety but want parts of it to be taken out. A large majority support the parts of the bill that includes providing more financial support for people to purchase health insurance, keeping the increased Medicare payroll tax, and keeping the coverage for pre-existing conditions (thanks Republicans I appreciate the support :) ), the only thing that the majority of them want is for the mandate to purchase health care to be taken out.
This won't be a simple issue for the Republicans in office to put into action however, because obviously insurance companies are a fan of the mandate so if the Republicans only fight to take out the health care mandate they will be making an enemy of insurance companies. The leaders are going to have to walk a tight rope when choosing what action they want to take against health care. Either decision is going to upset some people. What do you think should be done?

Rise in Smoking-Should Health Care Cover This

Hey everyone! 
So I know I usually post on Sunday but I wanted to get a head start this weekend plus I had an idea about a topic. I am not a smoker and never have been. My mom's dad died when she was 11 from lung cancer so she always made it clear to me and my sisters that if she ever found out we smoked she would kill us faster then the cancer could. Lately though I have noticed that I am becoming the minority in my friends that don't smoke. More and more of them are lighting up to deal with stress, because they are drinking 'and only smoke when they drink', or just because it started out of habit and became an addiction. It seems that everywhere I go on campus students are smoking, do they not realize the consequences they could be causing to their lungs? I found an article that showed that one third of college students are smoking. The percentage of smoking teens is up from 28% in 1997 to 33% today. Although this is not a drastic increase it does show that the amount of teens smoking is going up. 
The reason I thought to post about this is because earlier I blogged about if things like eating disorders should be covered and now I am wondering if insurance companies should be required to cover the medical expenses people get from smoking. I mean the cigarette companies explain on each pack that smoking leads to cancer so when people decide to light up shouldn't they take responsibility for the consequences? I mean it doesn't seem fair that companies could not cover someone born with a disease they did nothing to cause but will cover chemo treatments for people who decided to smoke a pack a day. I do know that some employers require that their employees don't smoke as a way to help with their insurance prices, but like I said it doesn't seem fair that people with chronic diseases they have had since birth, or did nothing to deserve have to pay a higher price then people who may have caused their problems. What do you think? 

Election Day Poll

On Tuesday November 2nd 2010 my Public Opinion class carried out an Election Day Poll that we had created in class. This was a really great experience to be a part of the political process and hand out the poll to varies people on campus. I gave 10 people the poll and our class had a total of 212 people take the poll which is great. In terms of my topic health care question 17 asked people their opinion about health care reform. The results were that 26 strong favored it, 62 favored it, 42 opposed it, 23 strongly opposed it, 31 had no opinion, and 27 were unsure. This just reminded me again that health care reform is such a split topic. Some else I noticed from the results was that when it came to the open ended questions most people left the space blank. We discussed in class that it is important to have open ended questions so that people don't feel like they are limited in their options, but what is the point if people are just going to leave it blank? How do you think you can create open ended questions that people actually answer? Is it just that people taking polls are just lazy or do they actually have no opinion? Let me know what you think.