Advocacy Project: Issue Review

Hey Everyone!

I am doing my Advocacy Project on adequate Health Care for all. The issue is that there plenty of people in this country with no health care coverage due to low income. I am happy to see that the S.F. No. 2 - Health Care bill (Second Engrossment) has been passed by Senator Linda Berglin as of Feb 28^th 07 on this issue. I think everyone is affected by this issue, but the people affected the most are less educated individuals, which of course ties into low income. Disables are also affected, and males are more affected than women.

Effects:

I think the consequence of providing less accessible or adequate health care to individuals could lead to dispute among government agencies. Deciding on who needs it the most would be a challenge since some might need it more than others. They consequences faced by society could be the feeling of “I deserve this more than you”. "A society should function like a salad bold trying to benefit from each dressing, not trying to force an individual to use the same ingredient as you"- Human Diversity professor. Looking at this issue in this way would definitely have a positive impact.

Impact:

The economic impact associated with this issues could be less efficient workers, leaving employers at a frustrated line end. Employers from every industry could be affected by this, not just hospitals. Having less healthy employees would of course cause jobs to slow down, and as we all know time is money, so this would be a big issue in the corporate world. The benefits of this could be that people are going to be compelled to work harder just so they earn enough money to support their families.A social impact encountered by not having adequate health care could be the feeling of worthlessness. The most important aspect of life is having good health, and if some individuals feel like they can’t help themselves it could make them feel like they are good enough. I think there could also be a benefit associated with this issue. They privileged might feel the need to help others than aren’t a fortunate as they are; of course this would bring our society together.

Barriers/Approaches

Barriers linked to this issue could be the feeling of “I don’t belong” in that group. To some people being able to get medical good medical attention gives them a sense of peace, and if there is a problem they can figure steps to take to help themselves. Not having a more accessible health care might hinder some people from things because of their constant worries of “am really I ok?” This feeling eventually leads to depression and isolation for some because they feel like the have no power over a problem that could be solved. Some approaches that could be used to address this issue could be a door to door questionnaire about the effects of poor health care on individuals in both poor and rich neighborhood so we can get both views. I understand a door question might not be as successful since not everyone is going to want to participate and might also be very inconvenient, but I am sure they are people that would be willing to give their 100% attention. Another way could be through online surveys since, this might be easier.

Solution:

According to Healthy People 2010, through the decade there was a mid course review done by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services agencies, and other experts. Healthy People 2010 also states that “primary care and preventive health care services remain the central health promotion and disease prevention components of the American health care system”.

I think the firm supporters of better health care would be parents, especially if they have a disabled or sick child that demand constant medical attention that overwhelms them. I also think a lot of other people like educators, and everyday people would be very supportive because they are affected by this issue on almost a daily bases. I did some research through the UMD library Academic Search engine to find out who might really oppose to the view because I had a hard thinking of some. Well, it came to my attention that they are actually a lot of people who oppose it and also some health insurance companies because they would lose a lot business. The two opposing viewers who interested the most were Mark Botkin and Mitch Rochester . Their primary reason is that “They’re afraid that the health care lobby is much too powerful to allow meaningful cost containment.”

I would of course be happy to have my policy-makers vote YES on the proposed bill S.F. No. 2 - Health Care bill (Second Engrossment).

Thanks for reading!