My last post will be about health care because of my personal interest in the field. I hope that after finishing my sociology degree, I may be able to enter an accelerated baccalaureate program to become a registered nurse. I have always been interested in providing care to others from the time I was young until now. It was no surprise to any of my family members that I would go this route. And so it is no surprise that I would wish to explore the chapter about health care programs a bit more.  |
| I chose the stethoscope in the shape of a heart because I plant to enter the healthcare field. And no matter the cost of health care, I still believe that healthcare professionals have the best interest of the patient at heart. |
- People age 65 and older account for over 30% of the nationals health care expenditures.
- Medicare and Medicaid consume about 24% of the federal budget.
- The average older household spends an average of 12% of its annual income on health care costs.
- Acute and long term care are two separate systems
I feel that the above points are worth discussing a little more. First, is it any surprise that over 30% of health care beneficiaries are over 65? We have learned over the duration of this course that as we age, our body starts to deteriorate and we may need help to perform of activities of daily living. At first I couldn't decide if this was good or bad. In theory it seems great that almost a quarter of our national budget is spent on healthcare for the elderly (and those under 19). But then I thought, why do we spend that much? We are talking about a federal budget in the trillions of dollars. Say the federal budget were only one trillion dollars. Roughly 250 billion dollars of that is spent on healthcare and another 10-15 percent on retirement income like social security (Seabrook, 2007). Also please note that the $3 Trillion dollar budget was for 2007. According to the National Debt Awareness Center, there is no budget for fiscal year 2012 (or 13) because congress refuses to approve the budget the president has submitted. From some of the research that I have done it would seem that so much is spent on healthcare because of the rising costs of health care. There is also the opinion that because the government subsidizes health care through medicaid and medicare then health care costs go up. And then its a vicious circle as the government subsidizes care because the costs keep rising.
I would also like to talk about the differences between Medicare and Medicaid (Please click on the live links for access to the official sites for medicare and medicaid). Medicare is exclusively for people over the age of 65. It has three parts. Hospital Insurance, Supplemental Medical Insurance and Prescription Drugs (Hooyman p 736, 745). It does not account however for long term care unless that care is physician prescribed. And it has lifetime or 'per visit' maximums. This is where Medicaid comes in. Medicaid is income based instead of age based. Unlike Medicare it does pay for long term care for the poor but only after the poor have used up the resources they had available- like savings and property assets. Sadly even after the coverage of medicare and medicaid, many elders are still paying out of pocket for some of their care. Below is a video better explaining medicare and medicaid. It was made by the University of Georgia. While it is specifically talks about the programs in Georgia, I believe it is of great use to those in other states as well. It is also only a part of a series of videos about the elderly and their care. They are all worth looking in to.
With the current hot topic in the Obama Administration being about Healthcare then I can't write a blog about healthcare without addressing this issue. One side of the issue is to adopt universal health care so that everyone can receive the same quality of care and all pay the same price. Below I have included a video by the Rivoli Review of the tea party with a "Big, Fat, No." Though I am not sure where I stand on the issue of health care the video does have some interesting points.
I would also like to point you to the official white house page about the healthcare reforms made in the last few years and what is projected to change as well. It can be found here. I do find it necessary to point out that this website isn't about universal health care but more about making insurance accessible to all. Some things it talks more about include allowing a child to stay on their parents insurance until age 26, making it easier for small businesses to supply insurance to its employees, and helping seniors who have to pay for all of their own prescription drug costs. It is of course a start contrast to what is shared in the song by Rivoli Review but I think that looking at both sides of the health care reform (those for and against) help make our own views more educated and well rounded.
I would also like to talk about the differences between Medicare and Medicaid (Please click on the live links for access to the official sites for medicare and medicaid). Medicare is exclusively for people over the age of 65. It has three parts. Hospital Insurance, Supplemental Medical Insurance and Prescription Drugs (Hooyman p 736, 745). It does not account however for long term care unless that care is physician prescribed. And it has lifetime or 'per visit' maximums. This is where Medicaid comes in. Medicaid is income based instead of age based. Unlike Medicare it does pay for long term care for the poor but only after the poor have used up the resources they had available- like savings and property assets. Sadly even after the coverage of medicare and medicaid, many elders are still paying out of pocket for some of their care. Below is a video better explaining medicare and medicaid. It was made by the University of Georgia. While it is specifically talks about the programs in Georgia, I believe it is of great use to those in other states as well. It is also only a part of a series of videos about the elderly and their care. They are all worth looking in to.
I would also like to point you to the official white house page about the healthcare reforms made in the last few years and what is projected to change as well. It can be found here. I do find it necessary to point out that this website isn't about universal health care but more about making insurance accessible to all. Some things it talks more about include allowing a child to stay on their parents insurance until age 26, making it easier for small businesses to supply insurance to its employees, and helping seniors who have to pay for all of their own prescription drug costs. It is of course a start contrast to what is shared in the song by Rivoli Review but I think that looking at both sides of the health care reform (those for and against) help make our own views more educated and well rounded.
