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shane paulson

Questions on Rosling's New Insights On Poverty - 20 views

I agree with Sharena in a way that culture, while important, is not necessary for growth in development and to rise out of poverty. Naturally, it seems as if economic growth would be at the top of...

started by Gaby Ramirez Castorena on 11 Oct 11 8 follow-ups, last by shane paulson on 12 Oct 11
Matt Nolan

Mangala Kanayson's Questions on Patternicity (2:45 Class) - 13 views

2- I do find myself seen patterns and images that have hidden meanings, but I feel that most people also see this. People want to see paranormal and unusual things because it excites people and thi...

patternicity

started by Mangala Kanayson on 21 Oct 11 5 follow-ups, last by Matt Nolan on 21 Oct 11
Amanda Garcia

McAllen, Texas and the high cost of health care : The New Yorker - 4 views

www.newyorker.com/...090601fa_fact_gawande

shared by Amanda Garcia on 03 Nov 11 - Cached
  • In Washington, the aim of health-care reform is not just to extend medical coverage to everybody but also to bring costs under control.
    • Joette Carini
      Joette Carini on 03 Nov 11
       
      I am not entirely sure if either of these are possible... they have been working on universal healthcare for some time, and there has been an ongoing fight against it. Beyond that, though, bringing costs under control is something that is so widely utilized will be very hard to do. I believe it is something that is much easier said than done.
    • Jonathan Omokawa
      Jonathan Omokawa on 03 Nov 11
       
      I agree with Joette. I think the idea that it is legally mandated to pay for something that should be optional rubs a lot of people the wrong way. Especially those who can barely afford making ends meet. Another bill is not something that would be welcome.
    • Tavish Dunn
      Tavish Dunn on 04 Nov 11
       
      I agree that it would be very difficult to implement universal healthcare. Many people do not see it as something that should be a required cost and fight against it. Part of the reason for fighting it is because it does not seem possible to control the cost. People with financial difficulties now would only face greater problems if another problem if the cost of healthcare was forced upon them.
    • nsamuelian
      nsamuelian on 04 Nov 11
       
      I feel as if people have too much expectation in the US. Just as we all would want to have high aims and goals, there have always been controversy in our laws and regulations. in my opinion, we will always have healthcare cost issues.
    • Tyler Coville
      Tyler Coville on 04 Nov 11
       
      extending medical coverage and bring costs down are two counterintuitive things. How can you bring the cost of health care down while also telling the medical companies involved that you will cover all costs?
    • Sarah McKee
      Sarah McKee on 04 Nov 11
       
      This is one of those instances where the government is trying to say that it knows better than the people and I personally believe that they may be right. Though "forcing" health care on people may be a burden, those same people barely able to make ends meet won't be able to afford any sort of health aid if something happens to them or their family. Then where would they be, but I suppose I may be more overcautious than others.
    • Cameron Schroeck
      Cameron Schroeck on 09 Nov 12
       
      I agree that it is probably impossible to obtain both universal health care coverage and to manage the costs of it. I find it ironic how the people who complain about those who do not have health care are the same ones who strike down the affordable care act. This is because the act FORCES people to get medical coverage. Plain and simple, people hate anything that forces them to do something because they feel they have lost a degree of freedom. I question the financing that is supposed to make healthcare affordable for all.  
    • Carissa Faulk
      Carissa Faulk on 09 Nov 12
       
      I understand that the government is just trying to help those who can't afford (or can't get) healthcare to avoid going into massive debt if they were to have some major medical emergency, but what I don't understand is how providing universal healthcare will bring down the costs at all. It seems to me that those are two disjoint goals. Perhaps, if the government were to focus on bringing down the costs, they wouldn't have to worry so much about making it universal?
    • Brandon White
      Brandon White on 09 Nov 12
       
      I agree with Carissa. I feel that instead of making everyone pay the cost, the government should work on making the cost itself cheaper so that everyone has the ability to pay for insurance on their own. This can be done through tort and malpractice reform, as well as other cost saving measures. This is kind of the Nozick theory that as long as the rules are fair (everyone has the ability to pay for insurance), then the system is fair.
    • khampton44
      khampton44 on 09 Nov 12
       
      To have both does not seem like it will not happen anytime soon.Making people get covered will not just imply solve the problem. And by having it be "affordable" does not mean everyone will rush out and go get it.
    • magen sanders
      magen sanders on 03 Nov 11
       
      considering they have such a low income and it is even lower than what their cost of healthcare is how is it that they even get this healthcare. i understand medicare takes care of it but how does that add up correctly. when they spend 3000 dollars more than the person earns to get them good healthcare. does expensive always mean good?
  • by far the most expensive in the world
    • Mike Frieda
      Mike Frieda on 03 Nov 11
       
      And yet we are ranked 37th in healthcare quality. 
    • Mike Frieda
      Mike Frieda on 03 Nov 11
       
      Yet we are ranked 37th in healthcare quality (according to WHO). However, countries like Morraco spend less (they are ranked 99th in spending) but have a greater quality of service (29th in quality) 
    • Sarah McKee
      Sarah McKee on 04 Nov 11
       
      Well is our health care expensive overall or per person because we do have a larger population than many countries in the world and yes I would like to know how the different health-cares of different countries are ranked.
  • ...17 more annotations...
  • in the past twenty years, he has done some eight thousand heart operations, which exhausts me just thinking about it
    • Mike Frieda
      Mike Frieda on 03 Nov 11
       
      More than 1 per day
    • jeffrey hernandez
      jeffrey hernandez on 09 Nov 12
       
      With doctors in such high demand there is no reason why doctors shouldn't request so much money. Lester Dyke a cardiac surgeon is on the run trying to keep up with all his patients, therefore his expertise is going to become very pricy with the huge demand. 
  • Was the explanation, then, that McAllen was providing unusually good health care?
  • Rich towns get the new school buildings, fire trucks, and roads, not to mention the better teachers and police officers and civil engineers. Poor towns don’t. But that rule doesn’t hold for health care.
    • Mike Frieda
      Mike Frieda on 03 Nov 11
       
      This is very anecdotal. Inner city hospitals are rarely as good as the one described here. Rural, middle america, hospitals are also often lacking in quality compared with the one described here. Not to mention the Mayo Clinic, UCLA medical center, NYU hospital, etc will always beat out small poor town centers. 
    • Jacqueline Ramsay
      Jacqueline Ramsay on 04 Nov 11
       
      I agree! We even read a different article about the lack of adequate health car during birth in some countries. Granted, that was also referring to a third world country rather than cities in America. 
    • Gaby Ramirez Castorena
      Gaby Ramirez Castorena on 04 Nov 11
       
      I also agree...i mean how believable does this even seem for his argument? It lacks credibility.
    • Finn Sukkestad
      Finn Sukkestad on 09 Nov 12
       
      I agree, this was not the case in Braddock, PA.  They are currently having trouble keeping the hospital open there despite being very close to Pittsburgh.  i am sure that is not the only place as pointed out by the posts above.
  • I was impressed. The place had virtually all the technology that you’d find at Harvard and Stanford and the Mayo Clinic, and, as I walked through that hospital on a dusty road in South Texas, this struck me as a remarkable thing
    • Felecia Russell
      Felecia Russell on 03 Nov 11
       
      This makes sense.Hispanic Americans tend to have less insurance coverage than white Americans and receive less regular medical care. The level of insurance coverage is directly correlated with the level of access to healthcare including preventative and ambulatory care.Because most minorities are without insurance, they are most likely to not have medical care, and are unable to provide themselves with prescriptions medicine. It is no secret that minority groups have insurance coverage at a lower rate than whites determined by income and welfare. Because of the high cost, many families have cancelled their insurance and now pay out of their pockets; meaning they only go to the doctor when there is an obvious sickness. Like, Mike Freida highlighted, the rich towns have the things they need and the poor dont. Why is that?
  • Spending on doctors, hospitals, drugs, and the like now consumes more than one of every six dollars we earn. The financial burden has damaged the global competitiveness of American businesses and bankrupted millions of families, even those with insurance. It’s also devouring our government. “The greatest threat to America’s fiscal health is not Social Security,” President Barack Obama said in a March speech at the White House. “It’s not the investments that we’ve made to rescue our economy during this crisis. By a wide margin, the biggest threat to our nation’s balance sheet is the skyrocketing cost of health care. It’s not even close.”
    • Gaby Ramirez Castorena
      Gaby Ramirez Castorena on 04 Nov 11
       
      I really agree with this statement- while the country is facing several problems such as a bad economy, immigration, etc, health is one of the main necessary and important things in/for life. When it comes to the point where getting care for your health/health conditions is almost unattainable (money wise), when you can't afford to be healthy, then you know that the country is having problems.
    • Mark Drach-Meinel
      Mark Drach-Meinel on 04 Nov 11
       
      I agree with Gaby here. Health is a very important commodity. Going by Maslow's hierarchy of needs, health is one of the more important aspects for comfortably living. If it is so important, then why is it so hard to obtain?
    • Nancy Camarillo
      Nancy Camarillo on 04 Nov 11
       
      This is an ongoing issue. Our health care is the most expensive in the world, yet our healthcare system doesn't reflect it. We do not see the "benefit" of such an expensive system where having an insurance plan doesn't guarantee that we will have all our health care needs covered.  This has become an enormous problem that ultimately effects other aspects of our society i.e. our economy. 
  • It was easy to see what had landed them under his knife. They were nearly all obese or diabetic or both. Many had a family history of heart disease. Few were taking preventive measures, such as cholesterol-lowering drugs, which, studies indicate, would have obviated surgery for up to half of them.
    • Sarah McKee
      Sarah McKee on 04 Nov 11
       
      I suppose this a good reason against health care. These people don't take care of themselves, forcing other people's tax dollars to cover their health costs. They are the reason people are against a good idea. Because health care is smart and a good idea if no one is taking advantage of it, such as these people.
    • Lauren Dudley
      Lauren Dudley on 08 Nov 12
       
      I agree this is one reason why people are against setting up a national plan as they do not want to take care of other people with their earned money, especially when people do not take care of themselves and it leads to having to need healthcare in the first place.
    • Alexis Schomer
      Alexis Schomer on 08 Nov 12
       
      These people are disrespecting the system and their country. If they changed simple aspect of their lifestyle, such as sodium ad sugar intake, they would significantly reduce the amount of medical attention they need. People like this should not be allowed to rely on health care because they are lazy and choose to be unhealthy. Healthcare should be used for the individuals who need it, not who chose to be sick and use other people's money. 
    • Devon Meredith
      Devon Meredith on 09 Nov 12
       
      I think all of this is true. Healthcare should have it's greatest emphasis on people who are suffering from diseases that could not have been prevented, like cancer. Yes, diabetes can come from family history and not just from having to great of a sugar intake, but if they were not evening taking any preventive measures then it changes the whole jist of the situation. 
    • Sarah Marroquin
      Sarah Marroquin on 09 Nov 12
       
      I think that the people in McAllen are taking advantage of the health care and they kind of deserve to have high health insurance rates
    • Kelsey Fratello
      Kelsey Fratello on 09 Nov 12
       
      I also agree that it doesn't seem fair, like Lauren said, that people's hard earned money should go to people who are being lazy about their health. If people aren't exercising or eating healthy, then it seems unfair. Now I agree that healthcare should be used for those people who are sick and are either working really hard to become healthy again, or who are in a situation where there is not much that they can do with their situation. When it comes to diabetes, type 2 can go away if you change your lifestyle habits, but you have to be active about it. Having said that healthcare should be used for those who really need it, I think that may be a bit difficult when it comes to actually determining the specific people that it should and shouldn't go to.
  • McAllen has another distinction, too: it is one of the most expensive health-care markets in the country.
    • Kayla Sawoski
      Kayla Sawoski on 06 Nov 12
       
      Healthcare in McAllen is very expensive. Why would you go somewhere to pay for higher healthcare? Why wouldn't you just go to get cheaper healthcare? Is the care better? Is the care worse? These are all issues we are having to deal with. I think that all healthcare prices should stay the same throughout. If all healthcare prices stayed at a steady rate, people would know what they want and how to get it. Healthcare is a topic that has remained in discussion for many years. We must find a solution together. 
  • An unhealthy population couldn’t possibly be the reason that McAllen’s health-care costs are so high.
    • Shannon Wirawan
      Shannon Wirawan on 07 Nov 12
       
      It is maybe not the main reason, but it is probably one of the top reasons. McAllen's health-care seems to have their costs so high to make profits from the large amount of people who have health problems.
    • Amanda Garcia
      Amanda Garcia on 19 Nov 12
       
      I can't argue with that^. It's a big state with a huge population, and unhealthy living habits of its residents can't be helping the situation its in with health care costs. But then again, there are unhealthy people all over the country with the same habits, so it can't be all that's contributing to the problem.
    • Erick Sandoval
      Erick Sandoval on 08 Nov 12
       
      Sounds like a very nice hospital to me. It leaves me thinking, however, because McAllen has the lowest household income in the country. 
  • Yet public-health statistics show that cardiovascular-disease rates in the county are actually lower than average, probably because its smoking rates are quite low. Rates of asthma, H.I.V., infant mortality, cancer, and injury are lower, too. El Paso County, eight hundred miles up the border, has essentially the same demographics.
    • Dana Sacca
      Dana Sacca on 09 Nov 12
       
      If the area is generally healthier why would they have such high health care costs? Shouldn't they be lower because not many people really need them
  • “Just look around,” the cadet said. “People are not healthy here.” McAllen, with its high poverty rate, has an incidence of heavy drinking sixty per cent higher than the national average. And the Tex-Mex diet has contributed to a thirty-eight-per-cent obesity rate
    • Caitlin Fransen
      Caitlin Fransen on 09 Nov 12
       
      For how high high their health care market it is... it is ridiculous to think that the people their are unhealthy. The high health care expenses are attributing to their high drinking rates and their unhealthy diets. 
    • Nicolas Bianchi
      Nicolas Bianchi on 09 Nov 12
       
      For some reason I can't comment on the highlighted portion.  I agree that the deficit and healthcare go hand in hand.  They are not separate.  If they were separate, we would have much bigger problems.
    • Phillip Delgado
      Phillip Delgado on 09 Nov 12
       
      our healthcare cost more then everyother country because America has a much higher standerd of living. the individual person has more money here. To compare the two is wrong.
  • Spending on doctors, hospitals, drugs, and the like now consumes more than one of every six dollars we earn.
    • Devin Milligan
      Devin Milligan on 09 Nov 12
       
      why should people be spending this much money on health care? i think that the government takes too much of peoples money and spends it in correctly. I think the budget just needs to be redirected, and i think that government should stop increasing taxes.
    • Ashley Mehrens
      Ashley Mehrens on 09 Nov 12
       
      I agree here. The idea of providing healthcare is necessary, but having the large amount of money solely directed towards it is unnecessary. The governments spending is obviously controversial, but it still has to happen. People who say that we should do different things often don't actually perform full information searched to determine the actual benefits of the spending we have now. Phrasing this spending as one of every six dollars seems ridiculous, but is it really? Without full investigating to the topic and knowing everything about it, we can not make the strong statements that we tend to make.
    • Justina Cooney
      Justina Cooney on 09 Nov 12
       
      I think that this is a great point as well. Having a mother that has worked in the health care system for the past 25 years I have been hearing for years about the impact of health care costs and how it affects this country. I think with this knowledge it is obvious that our health care system is in desperate need for a reform.
  • But that rule doesn’t hold for health care.
    • Justina Cooney
      Justina Cooney on 09 Nov 12
       
      I do not think this is true in a large portion of impoverished areas. This situation, in my experience, may be more of an exeption.
  • Joshua Gray on 04 Nov 11
     
    I'm led to believe that reining in costs on medical care is possible, but that under our current political situation that there will be no major push to alter our methods in delivering health care to people and so it simply won't occur. There would have to be a major push and it would require enourmous amounts of support and those politicians would still be fearfull of political ramifications from the senior citizens who benefit greatly from these services.
  • Emily Shandorf on 09 Nov 12
     
    People are trying to impose universal healthcare, but there are so many people who can't afford it because it is very expensive. They don't even have enough for saving their own money. Healthcare is something important to have because if anything happens to families, they cant take care of it, but unfortunately, people nowadays especially with the bad economic crisis, will only face bigger problems, also with paying taxes.
  • Edmund Garrett on 09 Nov 12
     
    I thought that it was not necessarily the goal to reform the health care system in order to extend it to all citizens. I thought the money involved was more of the issue (at least for republicans) I doubt all republicans want extend mandatory healthcare upon everybody, especially if they don't want to pay for it.
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