Burtless, Gary, Siegel, Sarah. “Medical Spending, Health Insurance, and Measurement of American poverty”. Brookings Institute 2001
The article of the authors addresses the ongoing debate on the mechanism that is being used to measure poverty in the United States. Opponents of the mechanisms have long argued that the data, given that the mechanism where it is derived from is flawed, is inherently unreliable. As the work deals with medical spending as a component of the definition of poverty, then the method by which medical spending is integrated into the understanding of poverty in the United States. In the work of the authors, there are several points worth noting. One, medical expenditures, integrated into the construction of the definition of poverty, has a considerable impact on the definition of poverty. This comprehension differs greatly from the definition being offered with the use of prevailing data sets. Two, that by integrating the factor of prudent medical spending costs, the definition of poverty is largely unaffected compared to the subtraction of real medical costs taken from family resources.
The factor of the health condition of a person or members of a certain economic demographic is once again articulated in the work of the organization. In the opinion of the group, the level of income that the person enjoys is directly related to the standard of health as well as access to health care services that the person will be able to acquire. Simply put, to the general society, the premise is that the person will be healthier in correlation to the level of prosperity that the person has. Inversely, if the person is poor, then it is anticipated that the level of health of the person will be decrepit and weakened. Much of the research of the IRP is focused on the mental as well as physical health make up of people in lower income economic levels. The group also provides papers on various topics related to health and income levels.
Murali, Vijaya, Oyebode, Femi. “Poverty, social inequality and mental health”. <http://apt.rcpsych.org/content/10/3/216.full>
The article discusses the comprehension of the World Health Organization describing as one of the greatest human crisis. The agency describes the instance of poverty as “humanity’s greatest killer”, underscoring the significant deleterious effects poverty has on human health. The article also describes the complex nature of poverty, calling it a “multidimensional” concern embracing the incapacitated function of people to meet even the most basic needs of daily living, inability to control the factor of securing resources, and a lack of education as well as decrepit health. It also describes poverty as potentially stigmatizing and isolating, and the authors particularly note the direct as well as the indirect impacts of poverty on the advancement and the control of psychiatric, emotional as well as dispositional issues. In assessing the instance of poverty and health, it was shown that income levels have a direct link to the state of health as well as quality of health care services that the person can avail of.
Kasper, Judith D., Ensminger, Margaret E., Green, Kerry M., Fothergill, Kate E., Soon Juon, Hae, Robertson, Judith and Thorpe, Roland J. “Effects of poverty and family stress over three decades on functional status of older African American women”. Journals of Gerontology 63 (4) 2008 pp. 201-210
The associations of the socioeconomic station in life of the person and the racial background on the health condition as well as the collective health trajectories of the people in the poverty thresholds have been the focus of several studies. In the context of the elderly, the factors of being African American as well as elderly are closely associated with a number of predictors of the individual having poor health, inclusive of the onset of chronic diseases and the possibility that the individual may be afflicted with a disability associated with the factor of being poor. One of the elements being examined and investigated by analysts and researchers among the elderly is the factors of earlier experiences in the life course of the individual. The poverty level of the person increases parallel to the level of exposure of the person to adverse factors, impacting the overall health of the person.
Schor, Juliet. The Overworked American: the unexpected decline of leisure. New York: Basic Books, 2008 Print
Sheppard, Vanessa B., Zambrana, Ruth E., O”Malley, Ann S. “Providing health care to low income women: a matter of trust”. Oxford Journals 21(5) pp. 484-491
The body of work of the authors states that though there have great strides in the care of women and children, there are still visible signs that there are considerable discrepancies in the level of access that are in operation locally as well as in the global community. It was seen that women in the lower economic brackets are more likely to be inflicted with poorer levels of health than those in more affluent economic levels. Though the provision of high quality prenatal as well as postpartum care is regarded as one of the main pillars in eradicating poverty and threats to the health of the women, regrettably, access to quality and even sufficient health care is one of the number of health issues that is being tackled by policy as well as lawmakers. Aside from lack of access, other issues regarding health care services include an inadequacy to up-to-date health care services, and the inequalities have also been seen in the provision of care to the women in poverty threshold demographics.
United Nations. “The United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women”. <http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/platform/poverty.htm>
The article addresses the comprehension of the United Nations on the comprehension of poverty. Among the billions of people that are living in the global community, the great majority of the people that are wallowing in poverty are women. As with the statements of the other sources, the multidimensional aspect of poverty is once again reiterated; however, the impact of the globalization of the world’s economy and the growing dependence of nations with each other is also discussed. With the rapid changes being experienced in the global society, what is being stated by the organization is the increasing incidents of poverty being experienced by women that varies by region. In addition, the rising incidents of racial as well as gender disparities in the global work force are major contributors to the poverty being experienced by women across the globe. In this light, the evidences of poverty are also shown to highlight the plight being experienced by women in the poverty level thresholds.
Williamson, Deanna, Reutter, Linda. “Defining and measuring poverty: implications for the health of Canadians”. Oxford Journals 14 (4) pp. 355-364
The work of the authors focuses on the debates regarding the issue on what actually comprises poverty and arriving at a universally acceptable definition of poverty. In this light, when policy makers arrive at a mutually acceptable accurate definition of poverty, then the conflict of crafting policies in order to address poverty. The authors note the research being done by Canadian authorities in recognizing that poverty as well as health is closely and intrinsically linked to each other. The authors argue that policy makers must recognize that poverty and poor health is linked to each other; the mechanisms that measure the poverty in Canada, however, is said to be severely flawed to come up with an accurate and acceptable definition of poverty. Without an accurate as well as acceptable definition of poverty, policies and laws designed to address these twin issues will always be at odds and loggerheads with each other.
