...Running head: Health Care Issues in the United States Health Care Issues in the United States Strayer University Winter 2010 Explain how health is affected by behaviors, economics and social questions? As we see in the world today, people’s health are affected by several things such as behavior, economics and social issues. Health or unhealthy living, are caused by certain behaviors which may be considered risky. Let’s take a look at what some people may consider risky behavior; driving reckless, using illicit drugs and or abusing alcohol. These types of behaviors are on the high end. On a less dramatic level, there are some behaviors such as tobacco use unbalanced nutrition along with a lack of physical activities will affect your health. It is known that when you have poor behaviors in any of the above mentioned health areas, can cause or lead to major health diseases which will ultimately lead to death. When looking at the health concerns among people in the United States and other countries in the world today, there are two other areas which have a profound effect on our health. The areas are economic situations and social issues. Our societal and economic statuses have become critical regarding health concerns and problems. For instance, some individuals and most third world countries with little or no income have very poor health. This is mainly due the ability to obtain or maintain health insurance because...
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...Obesity on the Rise The obesity epidemic is a very common health issue in the United States. The Center for Disease Control (2011) calls it “dangerous and expensive.” On July 8th, 2014, Medical News Today, a health news website reported that obesity in the U.S. is due to a decline in exercise, and not due to overeating. The article reports, “a study from Stanford University reported in The American Journal of Medicine suggests the rise in obesity in the US is likely due to increased sedentary lifestyles across the nation, and not eating too many calories” (Paddock, 2014, para 1). Although this health issue has received a lot of attention in the last couple of decades, the rate of obesity still continues to be high. According to the CDC, in 2011–2012, the prevalence of obesity in the U.S. has continued to increase significantly in the past 20 years; 36% of adults and 17% of children and teenagers are currently overweight. Another 17% of children and teenagers are obese (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2010). The terms ‘overweight’ and ‘obese’ are determined by ‘body mass index’ or BMI. Body Mass Index (BMI) is a number determined from a person's weight and height. For an adult, a BMI from 18.5-24.9 is considered normal, a BMI between 25-29.9 is considered overweight, and a BMI greater than 30 is considered obese (CDC, 2011). This paper discusses the Medical News Today article, the topic of obesity, and how it is related to Healthy People 2020. While I agree...
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...[comparison of Health care approaches in america] | This essay describes the broad forms of available health care systems today. The discussion indicates that no current health care system will adequately control costs over time. The basic systems are then compared with the conclusion that there is no good answer to the issue of cost control and equitability in America yet, but a change may be made in spite of the lack of surety. | Introduction One of the biggest issues facing Americans today is health care costs with respect to medical insurance and the increased liability Federal taxpayers are subject to for the funding of current nationalized health care programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, and mandated emergency care. We see models throughout the world, especially in Europe, that look appealing to some Americans, so there have been many champions of reforms that mimic those arrangements. Herein we will define what nationalized and privatized systems consist of, talk about the economics of health care, and discuss some advantages and disadvantages of each arrangement. To quantify the problems that America faces today let us look at a few key statistics. The United States has seen health care costs increase 131% from 1999 to 2007, and there seems to be no respite on the horizon (KaiserEDU, 2010). The United States recently paid 16% of its GDP per capita for health care expenditures, while western European countries spent about 9-11% of their GDP on health care. All...
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...Health Care Spending University of Phoenix One of the major issues in health care has become heath care spending. For those who pay insurance, notice that their insurance premiums have gone up. The reason for that being is to help prepare for future expenses down the road. Since the health care has reformed, more people that are low to middle income have qualified for Medicaid in which others are taxed to help fund. This has caused the spending to increase for the United States. According to National Health Expenditures of 2013, “health care spending increased 3.6 percent to reach $2.9 trillion”. The spending that comes from the different health care facilities are all factored in the overall spending. Hospitals, Dentist, Home Health Care¸ Nursing Homes and even prescription medication are factors, the price of prescription medication is costly. Some people that take specialty medication and the others use name brand medication that cost more than the generic brand. These certain medications drive the expenses up and the spending deficit continually rises. Considering that Medicare and Medicaid will continue to grow as the old become older and the middle class become low and the low become lower. The reason I say this is because eventually more nursing homes will be needed and the need for home health care will be increased. The cost of medication, hospital stays and even going to the dentist for a teeth cleaning will even cost more. The cost of private insurance will...
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...important to us and effects us more than many people may think. The earth is made up of about 70 percent water. More than half of our body contains water. Water is one of the very basic things we need to stay alive. So what happens when water is polluted? How does water become polluted? Is there anything we can do to prevent water pollution? Doesn’t water pollution affect only the creatures that live in the ocean? This subject has endless possibilities to explore. There are things that are happening right now to water all around us that can have major effects on us for a very long time. One of the major issues happening today is all the oil that is spilling into our major bodies of water. We see pictures and hear on the news of what is happening to the creatures that live in those waters, but sometimes we forget that it affects us, even those people that are living in land locked states. The recent disaster of Deepwater Horizon was devastating as people watched as the oil spilled into the Gulf waters for almost three months from April to July. Habitats for hundreds of thousands of animals are destroyed. Land is destroyed and we are expected to see effects of this for years to come. The Exxon Valdez spill was over 20 years ago and there is still evidence of that spill in Alaska. These and many other oil spills and leaks affect our drinking water, the fish and other water creatures we eat. It affects the livelihood of the fisherman. It affects the health of the...
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...Implications of Health Economics Concepts for health Care Marcus Bright Strayer University Health Economics HSA 510 Dr. Jeff Kaluyu October 27, 2014 Abstract Income Inequality and Rising Health-Care Costs in the United States shows that health costs are the biggest driver of income inequality. This reason has made health care economics to go through multiple renovations leading from money which is the substance of health care economics and that has become vital to economists, policymakers, researchers, and organizational leaders. Today, most employers pay their workers a combination of wages and benefits, the most important of which is health coverage. This too has caused employer’s to hold back on salary increases to keep total compensation costs to cover the high cost of health insurance increases. In health care economics, the gross domestic product (GDP) is of paramount importance and in evaluation of, there is a remarkable rise in the GDP from 5.2% in the 1960’s to 16.2% in 2008, and an anticipation of 19% or more by 2019. It is based on those ongoing increases that this paper will reflect on the concepts that have impacted the world of health care economics in the US. Health Care Professionals and Understanding the Discipline of Health Economics The economics of health care methodologies for funding have continuously been changing since the 1800s. This started with the founding of the American Medical Association in 1847, which promoted scientific...
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...world today people have easy access to food, every corner we look we find at least one restaurant or a café and in every corner there is a super market or a gas station that sells some sort of food and snacks. Entering a small market it is easier to spot the unhealthy junk food such as chips and chocolate; they are usually placed in the center of the store, where as the healthy choices are usually set on the sides or in the back. As technology develops the food Inc. is getting larger and larger. Food is getting manufactured easier and artificially, almost everything we eat is processed. Obesity is becoming a huge issue in the US and around the world due to carless eating and processed food which is causing health issues. Obesity has become a major issue in America, overweight and obesity is defined as abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that presents a risk to health. Majority of the people are going for the cheaper food; cheaper food means processed artificial food. Usually when people think obese they think of weight, however it does not always have to do with weight but the percentage of body fat as well. Obesity is usually measured by using the body mass index (BMI), it is basically a person’s weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in meters. “Generally a person with a BMI of 30 or more is considered obese, and a person with a BMI equal to or more than 25 is considered overweight” (Nordqvist). Obesity and overweight are causing major health issues and risks...
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...School should not be allowed because of health, safety issues, and tardies. Why are backpacks bad for our health? The first reason why we should not have backpacks at Bear River Middle School is because of health. Backpacks are bad for our health because they can cause slouching of the back, bad body posture, and rawness on the shoulders. Slouching of the back can cause many other health issues but it does not cause scoliosis. We literally mean baggage: kids are lugging around hefty textbooks, bulging folders and their lunch, dumping more weight into their backpacks (and onto their backs) than ever before. Adults are no better; we’re overstuffing our purses or work bags full of essentials and...
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...United States today. Obesity in children has become a major problem in America. Childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents in the past 30 years. While exercising and doing fun activities are great for children, parents should regulate what their children eat because it causes serious health issues; it inhabits physical activity, and causes self esteem issues. In today’s modern living, with cutting edge technology, excessive fast food, less physical activity and last but not the least trending obesity. The growing number of cases of obesity has made it into a full blown social problem. Child obesity is a highly talked about topic in today’s time. Sometimes, I sit here and wonder what could be the cause of this epidemic? Our luxurious living has taken us to the number one spot on top of the ladder on one side and submerges us in a concave pit known as obesity. As a parent of a growing toddler this issue is very big to me, because I see how I want my daughter to live a healthy life and then I see people who are obese and a low quality life they live. I in fact grew up as an obese child and it carried into my adulthood. I battled with so may health issues that took a toll on me and I...
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...HCA/240 It is amazing how much the health care delivery services have changed and improved over the years. Today, the health care systems have advanced by prolonging life expectancy and quality of life. Though, providing health care is not cheap and easy to do. Cost, accessibility, and quality is a challenge that they face in order to provide the people with healthcare. Learning and being aware of disease trends has definitely impacted our society in a good form. For example, there are organizations such as WHO and CDC that provide the nation with health care information to inform about diseases that can affect the population and how to prevent them. Instead of worrying about curing the diseases, now there are ways to prevent them before they even spread. Though, will these disease trends as well as demographics have an influence in health care delivery services in the future? If it is now being a challenge, what can be expected of health care delivery for the next-generation? Although some disease trends are preventable, it is impossible to not get any form of disease or illness throughout a life time; also there are many factors that can affect the health care delivery systems in many forms. Demographics and disease trends will influence health care delivery services in the future in many different ways. Not only will the current aging population affect the delivery of heath care services because of its rapid growth , but also obesity. Obesity is one of the...
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...of Recent Changes to Meal Plan Student Sample Strayer University ENG 115: English Composition Professor Gabriel Smith February 1, 2014 Children in today’s society may end up “hav[ing] a shorter lifespan than their parents” (United States Department of Agriculture, 2013, p 3) per health professionals, if the ongoing issue of childhood obesity is not addressed. It is in reaction to this type of findings that the United States Government has adapted the United States Department of Agriculture’s New Meal Pattern and passed the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010. Implementing the procedures and policies of these programs, the Georgia State Department of Education’s School Nutrition Program (“Georgia School Nutrition Program”) has made recent changes to its meal plan. The Georgia School Nutrition Program’s new meal plan is now focused on maintaining reasonably priced meal payments for parents, monitoring children’s health issues and improving students’ nutrition by providing healthy meals utilizing the United States Department of Agriculture’s New Meal Pattern guidelines. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, in 2010 there were around 17 million US households that faced the financial hardship of providing enough food for their families. Further, the Georgia Department of Education (2012) has found that if the meal program was not available at school, many students would receive no meal for lunch. Taking this into consideration, the School...
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...Quality in Health Care Shanna Marie Fulwood HCA 305 Tessa Guisinger September 17, 2012 Healthcare has become a major issue within recent years. “In spite of its long history and common years the US healthcare system has a complex puzzle to many Americans” (Sultz and Young, 2010, pg XVII). Obama has tried recently to provide access to every individuals they can have some kind of medical care. His new healthcare bill says that everyone has to have medical insurance. This was done because so many Americans are without health care coverage. Now that is mandated we have healthcare coverage what our options? One of the major concerns that we face and always have faced is the quality of care we received. Anyone deserves quality out of the healthcare system. Fortunately there are ways to measure healthcare quality. These tools are mostly used by the professionals. Some questions that will be answered here are how does the quality of healthcare in the United States compared to the quality of care and other industrialized nations; how can an acceptable quality of healthcare be assured for all; will providing data in areas such as patient outcomes, compliance with national standards for preventive and chronic care, and comparative cost to the public be an acceptable measure of healthcare delivery outcomes; the physicians believe that only physicians could and should judge the quality of medical care, they found participation in such hospital peer review activities and most disagreeable...
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...such as AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria in many parts of the world (Clark, 2011). The World Bank is offering financial help for several programs to help with agriculture, transportation, infrastructure, and irrigation in many South Asian countries to reduce poverty. There has been so much controversy about the activities of the World Bank. Even though the main mission of the World Bank is to alleviate poverty from the face of the earth, there has been severe criticism that the World Bank is changing its focus to financial policy reforms and structural adjustments. The World Bank as an international financial institution has done so much to help numerous developing countries when they are in financial crisis or needed help to undertake a major development project. Regardless of the criticism and corruption accusations, this author believes that the World Bank is in the right direction by providing basic reforms and structural adjustments in order to alleviate poverty. If the World Bank just donated billions of dollars to a developing country without any concrete objective, that money might be used for gaining political advantages. For this research, this author has used resources from Fresno State University Library, Liberty University online Library, Clovis Public Library, and many online search engines. This paper will briefly describe the history,...
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...Running header: POLLUTION 1 POLLUTION: MORAL AND ETHICAL RESPONSIBILITY VANESSA HARRISON HARVEY BUS330 PRINCIPLES OF MARKETING INSTRUCTOR: ANGELA MANLEY AUGUST 14, 2012 Running header: POLLUTION 1 “I do wonder whether there will come a time when we can no longer afford our wastefulness – chemical wastes in rivers, metal wastes everywhere, and atomic wastes buried deep in the earth or sunk in the sea.” – John Steinbeck Pollution is the action of environmental contamination with man-made waste. This includes land, water, and air. Of all the First World countries, the United States is the most polluting nation on Earth. The United States is ranked seventh on pollution control, by only spending 60% of its Gross National Product to help the environment. As a nation we have spent over 120 billions of dollars a year on research and development. The majority of the cost incurred has come from Environmental Quality, our country has consumed over 98 quadrillion Btu of energy in the year 2000 alone. Americans generate five pounds of solid waste every day, creating one ton of solid waste each year. In an average day in the United States, we throw out 200,000 tons of edible food and have thrown 1 million bushels of litter out of our automobiles. The main human contributor for pollution are landfills. It is possible that land pollution can contaminate the air and/or the water. Water pollution is the action of environment contamination...
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...Homelessness is a major social issue facing our society today. Homelessness among United States Veterans in particular is at epidemic levels for those returning to civilian life. Given the Iraq and Afghanistan tours and number of soldiers returning from multiple tours in “hell”, it is little wonder the number of homeless vets has more than doubled in the past two years. (Zoroya, 2014) Serious measures need to be taken to save our “fallen soldiers” from the depressing life on the streets of America. But in order to do this we must first understand the life of homeless vets to determine why conventional attempts at solving this problem just don’t work. Our society needs to take ownership in working with State and Federal Government to implement successful solutions which produce positive results in eliminating homelessness among our veterans. The number of Afghanistan and Iraq veterans who are homeless or risk losing the roof over their heads is increasing as more of these soldiers return home from active duty. At the end of September, 2014, 531 of these vets were living on the streets of Connceticut. (Zoroya, 2014) These numbers are actually much higher because it only represents the number staying in shelters or those receiving federal temporary housing vouchers to pay rent as noted in Department of Veterans’ Affairs reports. (Zoroya, 2014). There were more than 62,600 homeless veterans in the United States according to data from January 2014 report released by...
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