1(a). Individuals who are in job can be considered lucky in United States. For the employees, their company provides the health insurance and for big companies like Microsoft, employees do not have to pay their premium even. Such individuals get access to medical care and health care coverage. However, every employee or every working individual can’t be considered lucky as the small businesses are usually not able to cover the whole medical costs of their employees. Hence, individuals working for large corporations are the luckiest in terms of health coverage in United States.
(b). The fact that these individuals do not have to pay their bills themselves and some individuals do not even pay the premium. For them, health insurance comes for no cost and is clubbed other perks of job. The company for which the individual works bears all the medical costs.
2. (a) The case in relation to which Dr. Amylyn Crawford has made this statement presents a stark side of the health care industry of United States. The death of Nikki highlights the condition of many Americans who become uninsured because of many reasons. Nikki might have been alive today as a healthy individual had she got the state aid or any other form of health coverage. More than her ailment, it was the lack of proper treatment at the right time which killed her. In the light of the facts presented, I completely agree with Amylyn Crawford that Nikki died due to failure of health care system.
(b) Medicaid program should be on priority list of the state government and no budget cuts should happen in the medical aid. As evident from Nikki’s case, she wrote several letters explaining her serious condition, but in vain. She never received any reply from them. The major shortcoming of this plan would be that it is state funded whereas such programs should be funded by central government so that the instances of budget cut do not occur. Another shortcoming lies in inadequate communication and understanding of disease. Rather than informing through letter, an interview and examination of Nikki would have let Medicaid program decide more effectively about her condition and her requirement to receive Medicaid from state.
(c) Obama Health Care Plan is proposed to be a national health insurance plan which would cover all Americans not covered by either employer provided health care or Medicare program. The premium to be paid by the individuals would be low and it may cover pre-existing medical conditions. The cost of this plan would be cover by creating health tax credit which would be paid by every employer and the self-employed individuals will pay their own premium. This plan aims to help legal residents of America who have lost their job or are fresh graduates, not covered in family plan anymore. With this plan in place, it can be expected that young individuals like Nikki and victims of downsizing like Paul Stephens would be able to get better and timely medical assistance. As discussed in Frontline coverage, almost 20,000 Americans die every year uninsured and because of not receiving proper medical attention due to fund problems, this death number can be expected to reduce with a universal health insurance policy for every individual. The plan also incorporates the policy to provide funding to state government to provide Medicare to those who remained uninsured and hence, people like Nikki would be able to live with the help of state government. This plan will provide health care benefits for every individual at lower cost and with improved efficiency.
3. The two major problems discussed in the video are the exclusion of graduate children from family health coverage plan due to which they are forced to take up a job with medical benefits or pay the medical bills themselves in case of any medical condition and the rising medical costs which makes it difficult for the self-employed families to pay their health insurance premium and make ends meet. These two conditions are not addressed by Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996
Bibliography
Privacy, H. I. (n.d.). U.S. Department of Health and Human Service. Retrieved September 29, 2011, from HHS.gov: http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/
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