More Prescriptions, More Money

How is it possible that you get charged 30 dollars for taking two vitamins that you can buy 100 of them for six dollars? The health care system in the U.S. is driven by money. You can get charged for any and everything. Any doctor can charge you for taking vitamins to getting a CAT scan. You can be charged any amount when you visit the doctor. When a doctor prescribes you certain medications you can replace them with cheaper ones from any drug store.

Depending on the medication you are original prescribed, it can cost twice as much or even more than the one you first prescribed. In the book An American Sickness: How Healthcare Became Big Business and How to Take it back, the author Elisabeth Rosenthal talks about how it’s better to have a lifetime of treatment will be better than a cure. The reason for this is with new research there are new drug that say are better than the old ones. 

The new drugs might be better than the old ones but how much better is the real question. The new drug can be a little more effective than the one you are taking now but how much more will this new medication cost you? The reason these drugs and medications cost so much is because there are only a few number of drug companies. You could be in debt for years if your prescriptions are life saving ones you need to take everyday. With only a hand full of drug companies, they can drive the prices of any drug as much as the want to. The sad truth is that these drug companies will continue to have the new medications at a high price since this industry cares more about the money than helping people which it was meant for.

-KD

Invisible Ailment

    Treatment of the mentally ill should be more of a priority for society. The book, No One Cares About Crazy People by Ron Powers, discusses how widespread mental illness is and how there aren’t enough resources being put into it. "Mention mental illness, and the friendly woman who has trimmed your hair for years opens up about her stricken son. The assistant principal nods and tells you of her aunt, once a promising pianist, who has been in and out of psychiatric hospitals. (“ In and out”—that is a phrase you will encounter often.) Your cardiologist and his wife have sunk thousands into the care of his delusional sister." Sometimes the need isn’t as apparent as it is with other issues because people are embarrassed to speak out and draw attention to their own flaws or the flaws of their families.

In the book, No One Cares About Crazy People, it talks about the high percentage of prisoners who has a form of mental illness. Cameras have played a huge role in today’s world, capturing society’s most defenseless members - the mentally ill.

In our book, it states a few cases of mentally ill people being mistreated and eventually killed in the hands of the police. Mr. Boyd was a thirty eight year old man who was known to have a history of schizophrenia. He was never known to be as a violent man until the police forcibly removed him from an area he wasn’t supposed to be in. He was shot to death after reaching down for his backpack when he agreed to comply with the officers.

Many of these victims that fall in the hands of police brutality are were mentally ill and often non-threatening.

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ST & LL

Expensive life

There is a huge percentage of Americans who believe that our healthcare system is majorly flawed, but what makes them think that?

The cost and accessibility of healthcare is seen as one of the most urgent problems in the United States according to its citizens. This is why they think it’s one of the worst things in our country.

Since 1991, Americans believe that the most important concern in the country is the cost, its ranked near the top of the list. The ages of people range from 18 to 65+, agreeing to the fact that our healthcare indeed is awful (taken from this source). The United States spends more money per person for healthcare than any other nation, but they not all receive the proper care they deserve (from this source). How does that make sense?

Having these benefits makes a huge difference in a citizen’s life. For an example, a trip to the hospital and the cost of the treatment. Covered by healthcare, it can range from $50 to $150 which is heaven for Americans. But unfortunately without it, the cost of it can go up to $3000 or more (taken from this source) It got me thinking about something else, “What about the poor?” Do they have to try their best to steer away from any possible accident or sickness to avoid that amount of money?

What are the ways that Americans want to improve our healthcare system? Here are a few examples!

• Thoughtfully constructed reforms that improve health and slow cost growths
• Interventions that are targeted to specific patient populations and clinics which leads to a greater impact on cost containment

(You can check out this information here!)

-LL

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Health "Care"

       Health care has turned into a commodity rather than a standard right for all people (see video here). This is partially due to our political ideology as well as the rising greed of large corporations or “big pharmas.” These big pharmas are infamous in the health care industry for jacking up prices and taking advantage of patients. They know that their patients are often in desperate need of the medications and won’t be able to survive without them, allowing them to manipulate prices however they see fit. Even if they don’t have a monopoly of the industry, prices still remain high once other firms join the market. In the book, An American Sickness by Elisabeth Rosenthal, a women named Mrs. Marcus realized that as her medication was sold to a new manufacturer, it actually increased in price. A competitive market for this product, which would foster lower prices, is prevented by the fact that it is a necessity so they can charge whatever they please. Those who are unable to pay that fee either have to turn to the black market or attempt to survive without it.

Patient at an insane asylum in the Virgin Islands, 1941

       This corporate greed can also be applied to the unequal treatment of those in need of medical attention. Although this problem is not as prevalent as it used to be, it is still present in our society. Those with mental illnesses do not receive proper treatment in the health care sphere as well as other areas of public service. In the 1900’s treatment of the mentally ill reached its all time low in asylums where they were chained up and kept in cold, dark rooms. The book No One Cares About Crazy People, is exactly what it sounds like. It includes an in depth analysis about the mistreatment and ignorance in regards to the mentally ill. Rather than create better institutions for the mentally ill, today’s law enforcement prefers to just throw them into jail because of extra costs and time consumption that the correct treatment would accrue.

-ST




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