Health Care in the U.S.
Here is another source to consider when thinking about the government’s role in health care:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/25/walmart.insurance.battle/index.html
802 – You can post your essays on SICKO here.
The URI to TrackBack this entry is: http://msfuller.edublogs.org/2008/03/26/health-care-in-the-us/trackback/
This is my essay on the movie Sicko:
Jonathan Kwok 3/26/08
802 M.S. 131
Ms. Fuller/Ms. Myers S.S
What should the Government’s Role in Keeping its Citizens Healthy?
During many recent speeches, debates, addresses, and quotes, the idea of universal health care was discussed. Many of the speakers pledged to bring universal health care to America. However, a variety of things have happened in the health industry. First, many people in America do not have health insurance. Those who do have it sometimes have to pay a lot of money just to do a simple operation. Also, denials from insurance companies are devastating for the families who really need it. Second, it has been revealed that health insurance companies purposely deny claims and create guidelines in order to make sure that the client cannot get the money to cure themselves and or the sick person. The government’s role in keeping its citizens healthy should not be ignoring them but creating a system that works for them that will help all citizens, whether they have or do not have health insurance.
According to the movie Sicko by Michael Moore, about 50 million people in the United States don’t have health insurance. These people cannot get money from an insurance company in order to help pay for medical costs. One person in the movie got the tops of his middle and ring finger cut off and he had to choose which finger to sew back on. The middle finger cost $60,000 and the ring finger cost $12,000. He ended up paying the $12,000 for fixing the ring finger. However, a person with health insurance could get the money to pay for the medical fee. Also, another person had a bad cut in his knee. To get it stitched would cost too much money for him. Since he couldn’t afford the hospital to do it, he ended up stitching up the wound himself. If this is the country that so many politicians said had universal health care, then why are these people forced to fend for themselves when it is their country’s duty to protect them?
According the Sicko, about 250 million people in the United States do have health insurance. Some of them are very happy with it and could get free check ups by the doctor and get sicknesses cured by the hospital for free or a reduced amount. However, it isn’t always effective. There were two people from Colorado in the movie who sold their home to help pay for medical fees. They also had health insurance. But since the husband had three heart attacks and the wife had cancer, the fees from the medication and the therapy stacked and even with the health insurance it was too much to pay. This seems impossible but it does happen. If this actually happens in the United States, then how would other countries be like? Astonishingly, countries like France, Britain, Canada, Norway, even Cuba have better health insurance. In Britain, if you have health insurance, the country would pay for your medical fees. For example, a man from America pulled his arm and went to a British hospital. They fixed his arm and when he asked how much he had to pay, the doctors said he had to pay nothing. Another American patient in France had cancer and didn’t have to pay anything for chemo therapy. He even was able to go on a three month paid vacation in southern France. In the United States, that would be almost impossible to obtain. If these countries can do this, America can do the same.
Over the years, our health care was said to be the greatest on earth. However, is it really that great? Even well known friends and enemies supposedly have better health care than us. For example, Cuba, a classic enemy of the United States, was able to spend $251 per person on health care while the United States spent roughly $7,000. This may sound like the Cubans do not care as much so they don’t spend that much, but it’s for two reasons. First, Cuban pesos are a lot less in value than dollars and second, it seems that the idea of Communism in Cuba allowed the Cubans to have the government care for it’s citizens and the citizens in return care for the government. With this is mind, they can afford to help others even if they’re from another country. For example, in the movie Sicko, Michael Moore brought three American 9/11 rescue workers to Cuba to get treatment. The rescue workers were able to get medical treatment for a much lower cost and at an arguably lower fee. One of the prescription medicines obtained would have cost $120 in the US but in Cuba, it was roughly 23 cents. If medication in Cuba costs 23 cents, then why is the same medication in the United States about 520 times more expensive when they’re both just as effective? Maybe it’s because the companies in the United States are more focused on bringing in money rather than giving money to help the needy.
The government’s job is to represent and protect the people. The people’s job is to create and support the government. Since the government gets its power from the people, it would make sense to take care of the people and have them support the government even more. But some people in health care companies such as Humana might agree openly but inside, they do not. To them, they have to give away money to people which takes away from company funds. Although some people do get covered with health insurance, many people who need it do not. Is it not the government’s job to protect its people? Why doesn’t the government try and at least fix this problem? They had better act fast for their people, their homeland, is bleeding.
Larry Lin 3/25/08
802 Ms131
Ms.Fuller/Myers S.S
Essay Question: What should the government’s role in keeping the Citizen’s healthy?
Did you ever worry about getting in to a car accident and not being able to go to the hospital just because you don’t have enough money? While, then you better watch out for traffic now. Well, as you may know already, the United States doesn’t have universal healthcare. What does that mean? That means that in the United States if you don’t have enough money or have insurance, then whether you got into a car accident or broke you leg, you can’t go in the hospital and get help. This is the issue here in United States. If you don’t have insurance, then you would have to pay your self if you go into an accident. The bills are crazy anyways. To repair a finger, you would need tens of hundreds. That is crazy isn’t it? Well, there is also hospital that also drops patients off even though they are in serious trouble because the patient can pay the bills. Well I think that is going too far. I think that the government should provided universal health care. Universal health care is the top most important issue in the United States right now.
One reason that I think that’s government should have universal health care is that that history of the Great Depression cannot repeat itself. During the Great Depression, there was also no universal health care and there was no money to give to the old who couldn’t work anymore. It was during the New Deal the president FDR that created many organization that provided free health care for the old. Now the governments are trying to close remove that deal. The insurance companies are also the one that is taking all the money. They send denial letter to a hospital patient that need to pay for the money to get hospital care. Even if the patients have insurance, the insurance company finds their background information about them. Then they give out denial letter because they find something totally unrelated to their injuries. Then they wouldn’t have to pay for the money to treat the patients. Also, there was a bonus prize for the insurance companies that gave out the most denial letters. This was going back to the Great Depression.
Another reason that I strongly believe that there should be universal health care is that people in the United States dies almost a few years younger than other countries who have universal health care. There are many people who die because they couldn’t go to the hospital. Imagine you got a big cut on your leg and you could pay the money to stitch it back. In result, he had to stitch the cut himself. That is really sick, don’t you think? People in Canada eat many fatty food and smoke their cigarettes, but in result the American who watches their health dies a few years earlier on average compared to Canadians. Well, why is that? That is that because the people don’t have health care and they just simply die on their own. This might be unbelievable, but it is actually occurring in the Unites States.
The last reason that I think that the Unites States should have universal health care is that America is the only Western country that doesn’t have universal health care. Countries like France, Canada, and Cuba all have universal health care. Only United States Citizen is still suffering from health care. Hospitals in Canada cures patients the first thing when a patient is sent to the hospital. In American, the first thing a patient comes to the hospital is asking if you have insurance and to see if you can pay the bill. What if you are in a car accident and you are almost dying right now? Can a free country like the United States be this harsh? The poorest people in Canada have better health care than the wealthiest people in America. Would that be a little too weird? Since the country is still in good shape, then why not provide health care to everyone like other western countries?
Well, this is all my three evidence of why I would think that the Unite States should have universal health care. America is one of the falling countries in health care. We are not poor country and we could afford everyone to have health care if everyone pays their taxes. With universal health, people would be scared about getting in an accident and not being able to pay the bills. That is too harsh for Citizens when they believe in the government. Even heroes during the September 11 doesn’t have universal health care. Well, why don’t the government think without these heroes, how could American be here today?
Wilson Chen March 26, 2008
802 M.S.131
Ms. Fuller/Ms. Myers S.S
Essay on Sicko
When people get hit by a car, run over by a truck; have their lungs explode who will help them? When you have cancer and you need medical help are you sure your health insurance will help you? Can you say yes for sure? What should be the government’s role in keeping its citizens healthy? I say they need to do a lot. In this essay I will show you the acts that your health insurance can do to prevent you from getting your treatments when you need it, what are other countries like when they deal with health and insurance, and what should the government change.
When you trust health insurance and you picked the wrong one that can be the worst mistake you have ever made. Some health insurance companies will not pay for your payments. They can find problems in your application and they will use it against you. When you have a dept of say 20,000 dollars and your health insurance doesn’t pay for it what will you do? You’ll be bankrupt. As in the movie Sicko an employee from the health insurance company Humana said that other employees that work for Humana will gain bonuses for making more profit for the company. Making profits means denying people when they need the insurance company to help pay for their medical bills. So when you get hit by a car and you know something is wrong with your application for your insurance company and you can’t pay for the medical treatment, have your lawyer ready.
Have you ever wanted to travel to London? France? Cuba? Or even Canada? Well I can tell you this; all of those places have free health insurance. When you go to London and you get hit by a truck and you don’t have health insurance there, all you have to do is pay for the pain killers that they provide which is about 10 dollars. So does Canada, France, and Cuba. Why is it that the powerful rich united states so greedy and all of the other places aren’t? Why isn’t the United States like France? It’s because the United States is greedy! So greedy that they will deny people who really need the money but they can’t afford it. Many people get into accidents every single day and who are they suppose to rely on? Are they supposed to rely on their health insurance? NO!!!!! In the bonus features in the movie Sicko the French citizens who work for an American company get their health insurance also free! Why is it that in France their employees get their health insurance while the Americans get no helping what so ever? The French employers have to pay for their employee’s injuries if they are worked at the job but in the United States, it isn’t like that.
The American government is doing a horrible job. If the people of America are hurt shouldn’t America be helping them? The government should be like France, Canada, and London, all of those places that provide definite health insurance. People are going bankrupt and even dying because of the American health insurance. What Michel Moore, the director of Sicko, said was correct, he has stated his facts in the movie and even in his bonus features. Many people have been forced to death because their health insurance did not pay the bills. They abandoned those people and they paid with their lives.
In conclusion, The American policies that refer to American health insurance should be changed to the fact that all Americans will get their bills paid if they get into an accident, need to pay bills after a surgery, paying an ambulance, and much, much more.
Nancy Zheng 3/26/08
802 M.S.131
Ms. Fuller/Ms. Myers S.S.
Although the majority of people in America (250 million) do have health insurance, most of those people aren’t able to get their medical bills pay for. Many of them pledged to see free universal health care here in America. The government should definitely provide free universal health care for all Americans because it is their role to be responsible for their people’s health. “Free” health care isn’t really free since we must pay for it with taxes; expenses for health care would have to be paid for with higher taxes. Paying higher taxes is worth it if you can save people’s life. One might say that the government should take a part in the free universal healthcare; to lower the price for medical fee. Some might think that the government should have citizens get involved in lowering their health costs meaning to take charge of their health care. Majority of people might want the government to pay for their medical bills. It is clear to see that the government’s role in keeping its citizens healthy shouldn’t be denials and ignorance but helping them in a way which makes capable for them to pay medical bills…
The denial letters from insurance companies were making people suffer even to people insured. Eventually, health care prevents the country from making an economic recovery since health care has become increasingly unaffordable for businesses and individuals. According to the article Brain-damaged woman at center of Wal-Mart suit, Debbie Shank who suffered severe brain damage after a traffic accident in May 2000 signed up for Wal-Mart’s health and benefits plan. Two years after the accident, Shank and her husband, Jim, were awarded about $1 million in a lawsuit against the trucking company involved in the crash.Wal-Mart had paid out about $470,000 for Shank’s medical expenses however later sued for the same amount. The Shanks didn’t notice in the fine print of Wal-Mart’s health plan policy that the company has the right to recoup medical expenses if an employee collects damages in a lawsuit. So eventually they lost their suit to Wal-Mart. The family’s situation is so dire that last year Jim Shank divorced Debbie, so she could receive more money from Medicaid. Jim Shank, 54, is recovering from prostate cancer, works two jobs and struggles to pay the bills. He’s afraid he won’t be able to send their youngest son to college and pay for his and Debbie’s care.
“Who needs the money more? A disabled lady in a wheelchair with no future, whatsoever, or does Wal-Mart need $90 billion, plus $200,000?” he asked.
Base from the article Brain-damaged woman at center of Wal-Mart suit, it is clear that the government should take a part in the free universal healthcare; to lower the price for medical fee.
According to a money magazine article Take Charge of Your Health, the Jeffords, who say they spend about $2,000 a year on care so far, love the deal of getting the most out of their HSA plan. Jason and Jean Jeffords of Bedford, N.H. pay about $240 a month for their health insurance they got through the company Jason works for. The one big twist was that their insurance won’t pay for most of their medical care until $10,000 was deducted for the year. Fortunately, Jason’s employer will offset that cost by depositing $5,800 into his health savings account. The Jeffords believe that if they stay healthy and watch their expenses, the money in their HSA will builds and builds. They can use it to cover deductibles, to pay for insurance, or save it for retirement. Based from the article Take Charge of Your Health, the government should let people take charge of their health care.
People in the United States live a shorter life than people in areas such as Norway, Canada, Britain, France, and Cuba because in these areas, people’s health insurance is free. Their government isn’t just part of the free universal healthcare; it’s almost like the government theirself taking money out of their pocket to help their people. Doctors are there for helping people instead of turning them down. Citizens even with health insurance couldn’t afford the amount of money added up from the fees of medication and after the therapy stacked. According to the movie SICKO by Michael Moore, a couple, Larry and Donna Smith, were forced to move to live with her daughter. Things wasn’t suppose to end up like that for them. They both had good jobs. Donna was a newspaper editor. Larry was a union machinist. They raised 6 kids who all went to find schools at the University of Chicago. But Larry had a heart attack, then another one, and then another one. Then Donna got cancer. Even though they had health insurance, the payment soon added up to the point where they can no longer afford to keep their home. They were bankrupted. A lot of people got denied for very small reasons. One example from SICKO is that Jason got rejected for health insurance because of his height and weight (6ft tall, 130 pounds=too thin). Another example is a girl who got rejected because of her height and weight (5ft 1in, 175 pounds=too fat). Michael Moore thought the health insurance was there to help Americans but he noticed that it’s not. So he posted a note on the internet asking people if they had any similar stories about problem w/ their insurance company. Within 24 hrs, had over 3,700 responses, by the end of the week, over 25,000 people had sent him their horror health care stories. Doctor Linda Peno left her job working as a medical reviver of Humana because she didn’t like their way her company of doing business.
“Hospitals deny to save money. It was their goal making saving to their company,” she said.
Because Tarsha had yeast infection, the hospital dropped her, denied her after they had approved her operation. They health insurance Blue Cross of California send her a letter stating that it was necessary to retroactively cancel this agreement. Blue Cross changed their mind and told hospital to get their money back. Then get the payment from the patient, Tarsha. She felt bitter and said that don’t trust health insurance anymore. To her, she thinks that the health insurance company seemed like they are always looking for a way out. Some how Tarsha ended paying the operation.
“They are supposed to be fair and even handed but with insurance company, it’s their money,” Tarsha cleared.
Overall, it’s the government’s role to be responsible to look after their people’s health help pay for the medical bills.
United States is the only country in the western hemisphere that doesn’t have free Universal Medicare. It’s no secret that health care costs are spiralling out of control in this country. On average, we now spend more per person on health care than both food and housing. Therefore, economic growth’s leaves businesses with less money to give raises or hire more workers. Businesses and individuals that choose to keep their health plans still must pay a much higher amount. We pay high taxes and where does that money go towards if it’s use to pay for our needs? People in the US is bleeding!
Michelle Marmol O326O8 802 M.S.131 Ms.Fuller/Ms. Myers S.S.
The government should pay more attention to their citizen’s health. If the citizens of where they live aren’t healthy then there would be many problems. For example if the government doesn’t pay attention to peoples health and they become sick how will they be able to go to work if their sick, and they don’t have money to go to the hospital to get better? The government all over the United States needs to pay more attention too this problem before we have a catastrophe. The government could try to make health care services free because not only would that be helpful to the patients who need to be treated, but it will be helpful to everyone.
Let’s pretend that we have a bus driver who’s sick and needs to see a doctor that would give him medicine so that he could get better and continue with his job. But he can’t go to the doctors because he knows that if he does go it’s gonna cost him a lot of money. So now the guy is left without a job and he’s still sick. That doesn’t help anybody because now the people who take the bus that the bus driver was driving now isn’t in service. Then that’s going to cause even more problems. So the only solution to this is for the government to make health care services free. In the “sicko” movie Cuba had a better health service than we do. And that’s something very strange because Cuba is supposed to be a really small island in the Caribbean that doesn’t have the resources that people in the United States have. And still when people from the United States need help and go to Cuba they help us. That is something really hard to believe because Cuba is supposed to be our enemy. That just proves that the government in the United States is one of the worse governments. It’s also very surprising that hospitals in Los Angeles throw their patients in a cab and send them somewhere else just because they don’t have money to pay their bills. Haven’t they ever heard of treat others as you would like others to treat you. How would they react if they were the one who were being dropped of somewhere they didn’t know, and at the same time being ill. Im pretty sure that they would act the same way. With these examples it proves that the government in the United States should pay way more attention to their citizen’s health because we would have fewer problems and people who live here would be safe and happy.
Lin Qiang Wang 3-26-08
802 M.S.131
Ms. Fuller/Ms. Myers S.S.
Do you know what happens when someone got serious injure due to accidents or big disease in America? Well the truth is they won’t get proper treatments because the cost is deadly. We can’t possible to able to afford the thousands of dollars needed, or tens of thousands. The government’s role in keeping the citizens healthy should be providing us with health cares. America is a very wealthy country but the government has done nothing about the health care. Thus many people couldn’t afford doctors and healing their illnesses.
The United States of America’s history is repeating itself. During the Great Depression FDR created programs to give free health to the old. Right now the government is trying to take back the deals that were made during the Great Depression. Now all our money goes into the health insurance but they don’t do anything to help us. Those 9/11 heroes did their best to help, but the government didn’t even help them cure their illness. The 9/11 heroes illness came from their help at ground zero, but the government just kept the 50million dollar fund that was suppose to help those heroes. This is why we need free universal health care.
America’s health care is terrible for many reasons. America’s health care in the world list has fallen all the way to the 37th on the list. Think about it, that’s pretty sad for a country of great wealth and power. Also another great problem is that the health insurances that people bought will always reject your request. Many people who gotten sick and request the health insurances to aid them, the heath care companies will simply reply with a letter of denial. Those health care companies kick you out of the insurance if they have the chance to do it if you’re sick. This is why America should have free universal health care.
The United States’ health is in a poor condition for many reasons. In other countries the health services are free. Even in Cuba people there lived longer than the people in the United States. The poorest people in France actually live longer than rich people in America. This is also the same for England, Canada and other countries. As we can see we need free universal health care.
The government’s role in keeping its citizens healthy is to provide us with free universal health cares. Many other countries do it, and it works very fine. Those other countries are poorer than the United States, and fewer resources and they can do it. Why cant us? Many people in America died way faster than the people in other countries. This is why I think the government’s role in keeping its citizens healthy is to provide us with free universal health cares.
Alina Zhen March 26, 2008
802 M.S.131
Ms. Fuller/Ms. Meyers Social Studies
What should the government’s role be in keeping its citizens healthy?
Resource: SICKO the movie, by: Michael Moore
Many people today, have no sort of health insurance whatsoever. Even if you HAVE health insurance, you somehow get screwed over in the end. They usually ask you things like, what diseases or sicknesses did you have in the past. One woman had a yeast infection, and then got rejected by her insurance company. Another man that did not have any health insurance, got the tops of his middle and ring finger sawed off. He had to pay to get it fixed. He had to choose between fixing the middle finger for $60,000 or fixing his ring finger for $12,000. He had to pick the ring finger because he was already in debt, and not rich. How can the government do this to us? We demand for health insurance, but we get rejected. Then we get all of our money taken away! Isn’t insurance supposed to mean to insure us, to take care of us?
I think that the government should have universal healthcare for all citizens because even though people do have things like health insurance, they shouldn’t be dropped out and left behind from their health insurance companies. It’s not fair for many people because they had something like a disease before, like yeast infection. They also don’t really explain their reasoning for dropping people out.
Most people that got cut out from their insurance companies had something really serious but the companies’ doctors denied helping them. One man died from that and that is unfair because the doctors or company could’ve been racist to him since he was African American. His wife even worked in the company and still couldn’t get him the help. Although, she said that if it was another couple who were both white or were a higher level in their job, they would have granted to help them.
Many people get health insurance, but they get dropped, and on the other hand, many people DON’T have health insurance, they also get screwed over because they can’t pay for their bills or the doctors and surgeries they need! Lots of people get hurt nowadays since there’s so many causes to GET hurt. How fair is that? We SHOULD have healthcare for the whole universe. Even though we need the money for the war, we still need some sort of help for the fifty million citizens here!
So now I think that we should have health care. Many people need to live and to get help. Lots of viruses spread that we DO have the cure for, but nobody is helping them. We will lose lots of people from our population especially if we don’t care for them. We always stood behind them, why can’t they stand behind us for once?
Branden Jerez/ 4/1/08
ms. fuller/myers s.s.
Sicko responce:
Well I personally think that its stupid how almost every country has free health care and the United States doesn’t. Even worse the health ensurance companies are always tryin to keep the money the citizens are paying them for health ensurance.They cause the deaths of alot of people by refusing to pay for the surgeries they need in order to live. Plus the united states doent even want to know about free health care.
A great example of how bad the united states is in the movie a lady took her dauhghter to the hospital because she was sick. Then she found out that her daughter couldn’t be treated because her heath ensurance only covered treatments in a specific hospital. Soon after that happened the baby died and her mother felt guilty for her death. This is a good example of how some heath ensurance companies cause the deaths of people to save money.
Paying higher taxes is worth it if you can save people’s life. One might say that the government should take a part in the free universal healthcare; to lower the price for medical fee. Some might think that the government should have citizens get involved in lowering their health costs meaning to take charge of their health care. Majority of people might want the government to pay for their medical bills. It is clear to see that the government’s role in keeping its citizens healthy shouldn’t be denials and ignorance but helping them in a way which makes capable for them to pay medical bills…
The denial letters from insurance companies were making people suffer even to people insured. Eventually, health care prevents the country from making an economic recovery since health care has become increasingly unaffordable for businesses and individuals. According to the article Brain-damaged woman at center of Wal-Mart suit, Debbie Shank who suffered severe brain damage after a traffic accident in May 2000 signed up for Wal-Mart’s health and benefits plan. Two years after the accident, Shank and her husband, Jim, were awarded about $1 million in a lawsuit against the trucking company involved in the crash.Wal-Mart had paid out about $470,000 for Shank’s medical expenses however later sued for the same amount. The Shanks didn’t notice in the fine print of Wal-Mart’s health plan policy that the company has the right to recoup medical expenses if an employee collects damages in a lawsuit. So eventually they lost their suit to Wal-Mart.