So with the recent Ebola outbreak the last few months in Africa and now with a confirmed case in Texas and the EnterovirusD68 spread in the U.S., I thought now would be a good time to talk about our healthcare system in the United States. In particular I think we should compare it to Canada's healthcare system and take a look at some of the healthcare systems in other countries. Along with that we should tie in infectious diseases (Ebola and the EnterovirusD68 to be specific) to globalization. I think that we should also examine what the future holds for the U.S. healthcare system. One question I have is with the Affordable Care Act now in place, will people be able to afford the bills and premiums that these new potential, epidemic diseases, will surely cost Americans. It will cost millions for hospitals to initiate isolation measures and other specific care that will be needed. And with the high-tech testing that will be required, who will foot the medical bills. We know the medical industry will get their money one way or another.
And just to show an example of the costs of healthcare for the journalist that is now quarantined in a Nebraska facility with Ebola, read this article.
And I thought of another idea yesterday. I have linked an article that helps explain this-if you can follow it. But what about an international healthcare system? What if you had a set of international guidlelines/medical facilities/etc. that promoted competition between health care providers, companies, hospitals, and doctors. This would be true globalization of health care. Just a thought.
So to start with we will answer the questions at the following link (Global Health). We will watch a documentary called Sicko directed by Michael Moore and then we will explore the Ebola disease along with other diseases and tie them into globalization.
1. Step one is to go to my Global Health link above and visit the websites and answer the corresponding questions.
2. Step two is to watch the documentary Sicko and we will answer some questions and blog on it.
3. We will read an article on the concept of a international healthcare system. We will do group work and comments on my blog. linked an article
4. Step 4 is we will investigate the Ebola virus, tying in globalization and the future of the American health care system. Your group will devise a strategy using the Epidemiologic Triangle as a basis for your strategy.
5. We will blog individually on how Globalization and global health are linked together.
Ebola-how it started
current map update
Contagion
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ReplyDeleteBrent, James, Ryan - There are many advantages to international health care. Some of these advantages being that doctors around the world could all receive similar training instead of lacking in education. Doctors from third world countries get the chance to go to a richer country and practice medicine. It also allows for doctors who are better off to go to poorer countries and help in ways that may not have been achieved without globalization. Because of this increase in doctors across international boundaries there is a large fluctuation of patients travelling to foreign countries for cheaper treatment and surgeries. When patients can travel and get cheaper care it forces insurance companies to lower premiums and hospitals would have to lower patient care costs. All of which is a good thing. The downside however is that with international medicine people tend to travel to different countries for treatment. This can be a way that new diseases start spreading. We are already seeing this happen when the Ebola patient entered Texas and introduced the disease to the Americas. There could also be mass movement of people to where health care is cheaper. A movement like this could wind up taking needed care away from the local people. Furthermore it would be very difficult to create international standards that fit the cultures, rules, and skills of doctors across the world.
ReplyDeleteToby, Bo, and Tory agree strongly with your comment. We like your the part that talks about healthcare being taken away from local people. We also strongly agree with your statement about how traveling to different countries could cause the spreading of disease.
DeleteEmily, Tess, Amanda, Connard
DeleteWe agree with them on the fact that it may be easier for diseases to spread. Also we agree with the fact that people can get better and cheaper care. We also agree that doctors can do better work in different countries.
They make a good point in that doctors would be able to help poorer countries. It would have stopped the Ebola out break if the other countries had good health care. If people keep moving to get health care then yah it will spread.
DeleteBy Mitchell, CJ, n' Tate.
Toby, Bo, and Tory think that the advantages include poor countries being able to receive more sophisticated healthcare. Developing international standards in medical education and health care education can help to improve quality of healthcare throughout the world. We agree with the statement in the article that states, “An increase in the movement of patients and healthcare professionals across national boundaries could lead to external procedures being accepted worldwide.” We believe that it would be beneficial for medical students to travel to a different country to train; therefore the hospital may recruit them in order to make it more comfortable for patients from the same country as the doctors.
ReplyDeleteWe think that disadvantages would include people leaving their country to receive cheaper healthcare in other countries. This would lead to the country they left being effected economically because it doesn’t receive money. Patients going to other countries looking for cheaper healthcare might not always receive as good of quality of healthcare for the cheaper price they pay. However, if they stay in their own country and pay a little bit more money for healthcare, they may in some cases receive the best healthcare that is offered.
Brent, James, Ryan - We do not agree with the statement that you made about it being a bad thing that people go to other countries for cheaper healthcare. If people did that it would force countries like the U.S. who overcharge for health care to lower their prices. If you truly believe that it would be an economic damage you are mistaken, do you not remember the article we just read about how much these health care companies and professionals spend on lobbying to politicians.
DeleteCJ, Tate, and Mitch agree with your comment. We think that it would be good if all medical and healthcare education had standards that it would affect the quality of healthcare given. We agree that people go to other countries for healthcare because they cant pay the high prices of their countries healthcare.
DeleteConnard, Amanda, Tess, Emily- like that poorer countries will be able to receive better health care. We also think it will benefit medical students because they can travel anywhere
DeleteEmily, Tess, Amanda, Connard
ReplyDeleteThere are a few advantages that an international health care system would take care of. One advantage would be the health insurance would be cheaper because more people would be open to it. Another advantage would be our ability to send doctors to teach more people about the things that they need to do. The doctors would be able to take care of their patients better and more efficiently.
Also there are a few disadvantages that the system would have. We believe that if the standards are ever set into place the lower class would have a harder time getting the health care that the higher class would receive. Another disadvantage would be waiting for the care that one would need. The reason for that would be now everyone would have the opportunity to get affordable healthcare. Another disadvantage would be more inter-connections of the people and more disease could spread.
Toby, Bo and Tory all agree with this comment. We like the part about the doctors will be able to travel and teach doctors from the poorer countries. Also we like the part about when the patients are traveling it can spread diseases easier.
DeleteBrent, James, Ryan - We completely agree with your advantages. However we disagree with your statement that people in the lower class would have a harder time receiving the same care as people in the higher class. Our system already works that way it would not be a change. In fact international standards would be able to introduce the idea of everybody's health care being equal.
DeleteTate,CJ,Mitch---
DeleteWe find your response confusing. If standards were set wouldn't everybody receive the same care? But we do agree with your statement that doctors should all receive the same training.
Our group believes the world as it is right now is not ready for completely globalized healthcare. We do agree that globalized standards would be a big advantage to people around the world, but not every country has the same needs. We have cultural and political boundaries that need to be accessed before we make these changes to the current health care service. We do believe that one of those standards being affordable healthcare would be a good idea, so anywhere you go you wont have to worry about getting charged unreasonably if you were hurt in that country. A good question to ask is what kind of healthcare system would be globalized, would it be free? or would it be like our countries system. If It was free the whole world would have access to healthcare with international standards, but our countries economy would struggle because health insurance companies would be obsolete and health goods manufacturers profits would be cut drastically. If American style healthcare was globalized our economy would boom because of the money flowing into our countries healthcare companies, but the people of the world will suffer as we do with the high cost of healthcare. Me and CJ think a globalized healthcare system is a step toward a world government and we don't like that for numerous reasons, but Mitch thinks a good idea, but that's just Mitch.
ReplyDeleteToby, Bo, and Tory really like your comment. We also agree that affordable healthcare worldwide would be a good idea. What kind of healthcare would be globalized is a good question that your comment raises.
DeleteConnard, Emily, Tess, and Amanda agree with you guys. But we do not agree with having a world government. We understand where you are coming from on your other points though.
DeleteFirst off Me and CJ, really guys, grammar. Secondly we do agree that this world is not ready for international health care. Although we believe that the sooner we start changing the world the sooner this would be possible.
ReplyDelete