As one of the millions of insured Americans, I know I am fortunate to have access to excellent medical care. I pay the monthly premium, co-insurance and copays required by my health care plan, and in turn my provider pays the rest. But so many other Americans are not as fortunate, and, in fact, over 45 million of our citizens lack health insurance (Alexander, LaRosa, Bader, Garfield and Alexander, 2010). I see this issue as a national crisis, and feel it is the duty and responsibility of our legislators to finally address this issue and develop a health care delivery system that is fair and equitable for all Americans.
Yes, I believe that access to health care is a Right, not a privilege. As Americans, we live in one of the wealthiest, most technologically-advanced countries in the world and enjoy a high standard of living, yet our free market health care system seems to have failed so many by making insurance inaccessible, and therefore limiting access to basic medical care (Alexander et al., 2010).
After viewing the PBS Frontline videos, “Sick Around America” and “Sick Around the World” (Public Broadcasting Service, 2008-2009), my opinion regarding the basic “right” to health care has only intensified. In my opinion, if other major industrialized countries can take a hard look at their dysfunctional health care system and make the difficult decisions to do what is best for their citizens (PBS 2008), then we, as Americans, should be shown the same respect by our own government.
Perhaps as our leaders work through the arduous process of health care reform, they will look at the successful reforms from other major, industrialized countries and apply these principles to create a system that is fair and equitable for all Americans, despite age, gender or socioeconomic status.
Carol Martin
References:
Alexander, L.L., LaRosa, J.H., Bader, H., Garfield, S., Alexander, W.J. (2010) Dimensions in women’s health. (5th Ed.) Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett.
Reid, T.R., Correspondent. 2008, April 15. Sick Around the World. [Television broadcast]. Public Broadcasting Service.
http://video.kera.org/video/1050712790/program/979358040/topic/979379181
2009, March 31. Sick Around America. [Television broadcast]. Public Broadcasting Service.
http://video.kera.org/video/1050712790/feature/87
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Great post Carol. I think you are right on. IF only our government would get their act together and come up with a solution that is agreeable to most, we'd be doing something. Unfortunately, we cant get enough people to agree on that the right steps are. I recently received an email that was going around about "forcing" congress members to use the same health benefits as the rest of the country if the health care reform package should ever be passed. I was confused in that why wouldn't they want to use the same health benefits as the rest of their fellow Americans? Some things just never add up. I think health care reform is a great idea, but it's difficult to understand the truths from the half truths.
ReplyDeleteJulie Diaz
I agree with your statement; Health care is a right. There are many people in the world that are very unhealthy and are living in poverty. Why do these things continue to exist; what happend the American dream. Many of these people are our moms, dads, sisters and brothers. The United States is a selfish nation and its people are more concerned with Flat screen Tv'c for their vehicles and not even aware that their neigbors are dying. I believe if more people get involved, we as a nation can rise above the disasterious fate that may await us if we continue to follow the path we are on.
ReplyDeleteDear carol,
ReplyDeleteI strongly agree with your opinions. Millions of people who are uninsured because of many socio-economic conditions but our government is doing nothing for this. However, the issue whether healthcare is a right or privilege is still a big state of confusion among all of us. But i think that our healthcare providers and government should be using this as a serious situation because health is not like other issues which can be taken as a granted and hopefully they will do something about it to make it a basic right of all people all around the country regardless of where they come from and what kind of economic status they belong to.
Carol,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you somewhat. That we have a right to basic healthcare. I also agree that something needs to be done about the alarming number of people that do not have insurance. I am not sure that we should rely on the government to come in and fix everything. I know that a governmental solution would be great and it would be nice if I didn't have to worry about healthcare for my child, but let's remember other ways that the government has started programs to "fix" problems. Social Security was the governments answer to the problem of poor elderly and widows with orphans when the breadwinner of the family dies. I'm sure we are all aware of the problems that the government has with this program and the problem that many people have with it as well. I'm not saying that everything the government touches goes bad, but let's not just sit back while expecting someone else to provide solutions to the problems that we are facing.