Free «American Medicine» Essay Paper

Health is crucial for all human beings, and it determines people’s success and ability to feel the joy of life. The primary concept of health has three important constituents. It includes physiological, mental, and social stability (Lerner 81). Personal health depends on different factors, such as genetics, style of living, communicative strategies in a social environment and income. If people are born in a poor environment and they grow up being constantly abused, they acquire the ill habits and destructive ways of behavior that ruin even genetically strong individuals.

Technological success of American medicine is great. The development of diagnostics, the widespread use of medical equipment and advanced technical ideas have contributed to the reduction in mortality from cardiovascular diseases, injuries, tuberculosis, and other disorders. However, an unprecedented increase in the cost for medical services leaves many medical benefits unavailable to the millions of Americans. The problem of helpful, effective, and affordable health delivery system remains urgent in the.

The main social determinant of American Health Care system is the large proportion of commercial private medicine (Alters & Schiff 22).Federal Governmentregulates medicine only in general aspects. In order to ease the burden of medical treatment costs, Americans buy insurance policies that entitle them to cover partial payment for treatment depending on the cost and the amount of contributions. Medical policy is a guarantee of receiving medical care, but the volume, nature, and extent of help are predefined by conditions of health insurance policy.

Another crucial problem of American Health Care system is the unresolved forms of interaction between the public and private medical sectors (Alters & Schiff 31). As a result, the federal state can hardly cover the enormous funding for federal health programs and has no effective levers of control in costs regulation and market prices of medical services and pharmaceuticals. Cost of health care is growing rapidly and unnecessarily. The inability to meet high medical costs, low social status, and increased stress levels have led to conscious withdrawal from legal treatment. Many Americans resort to self-treatment and avoid consulting doctors if only possible.

The ultimate goal of health care reform offered by Barack Obama is the provision of health insurance to most Americans and reduction of the high cost of health care. Slightly more than 15% of the population, mainly people over 65 years old, use the program Medicare. Thirteen percent of the poorest population applies for the program Medicaid. These programs are funded by the state. Fifty eight percent of citizens are insured by their employers, and 15% do not have any insurance (Alters & Schiff 29).

Medical reform involves provision of health insurance to additional 31 million of Americans. It can cost up to 940 billion dollars by the end of the program, but at the same period, it will help to reduce the budget deficit to 138 billion due to the struggle with extra costs and medical abuse (Alters & Schiff 29).

In my opinion, government should achieve more influence in controlling the costs for medical services. Many European countries show the efficiency of such a distribution of power and responsibility. Otherwise, the insurance companies and medical service institutions should provide the disadvantaged groups of the population with the urgent assistance and help. Special federal services have to be called upon to deal with an unreasonable increase in insurance fees. Competition on the market can allow every American to find coverage through the media on the Internet. It is crucial to encourage companies and businesses to help their employees with health insurance. The authors of the reforms have to make health insurance more affordable, protect patients from insurance companies that deny coverage for the chronically ill and disabled children.

Education

Education is one of the basic opportunities in life. It helps develop one’s personality, provide one’s living, and acquire a higher social level legally. Modern concepts of development and creativity imply the necessity of non-violent and motivated upbringing. Every human being is a social creature who develops in a social environment. That is why before moving to a new place and buying a house, caring and thoughtful parents choose a good school for their child. However, not many families and single parents can afford moving and sending their children to respectable educational establishments. They do not pay much interest to their children’s success in studies.

Despite the considerable theoretical achievements in questions of equality, American compulsory school suffers from traditional racial and income discrimination. In 1964, the adoption of the Civil Rights Act put racial segregation in public places and schools outside the law. However, after 50 years, segregation persists in American culture. It manifests itself in the concert halls and television programs. De facto segregation is rampant in schools.

Only 15% of whites say they have friends from other racial groups. Among the black population, the share of white friends does not exceed 3%. In these examples, segregation manifests the natural tendency of people to associate with those who are closest to them in spirit, behavior, and culture. They reflect the racial diversity of modern America.

School segregation would not have become one of the key issues had it not resulted in the poor quality of education in segregated schools. These schools send illiterate, uneducated young people into adult life. Examination results of students attending schools located in poor areas are 25-35% worse than in schools located in areas inhabited by the middle class.