Here below, I am giving you an example for an answer for one of the classmate AND the response from another student to her answer:
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Linda Daley-Atila Email Author
Issues I think will impact healthcare in the future
Socially, I would say that because today is AIDS Awareness Day, I am going to say that the AIDS epidemic has not seen a drastic reduction in the number of new cases of the HIV/AIDS. Today as I rested at home, I watch Cookie Johnson, the wife of NBA great Magic Johnson speak bluntly on Live with Kelly Ripa and Michael Strahan Show on ABC about how youth comprise the majority of the new cases and she believes it is due to them seeing Magic Johnson. Magic looks healthy, and Cookie said he hasn’t had any illness that are related to having HIV but we have to remember that Magic is a millionaire and has access to the best medications and physicians around the world, so his battle will not look the same as our neighbors. According to AIDS.gov 1 in 5 individuals are living or 18.1% of the population with HIV but the scary part is that they are unaware due to them not being tested. Also, AIDS.gov 1 in 4 new infections are within the age group of 13 to 24 years old and that group equals 1.1 million individuals within the United States. Also, 30 years ago, AIDS was a disease of the gay population. Today, however, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that 1,148,200 people age 13 are infected with the disease. In order to reduce the new incidences of HIV/AIDS, we have to make sure our children are educated about the disease and are aware that the new meds help to slow the progression of the disease but their priority should be not to get infected in the first place. Also, practicing safer sex measures is important for all individuals and unfaithful couples should also practice safer sex because married women are also a high statistics in getting the disease. We should ensure that our grandparents are also educated on the disease because Grandma’s are showing up at their annual visits infected because Grandpa is taking Viagra and running around getting sex from random women and then going home to his wife and infecting her.
Economically, I would add the sequestration to the list of challenges the United States faces for the first part of 2014. With the sequester in full swing with $85 billion dollars in cuts for 2013 with proposals of $90 billion in 2014 with the individuals on Capitol Hill so caught up with creating pitfalls for the Affordable Care Act that no one is working on fixing the financial problems that are currently facing deficits in their budget. The cuts have affected meals for seniors, funding for programs for children like Head Start, funding to national parks, research, and job training programs. If seniors that are suffering from low incomes and the inabilities to buy groceries and make nutritious meals, then will inevitably start to develop maladies associated with starvation and hunger and will cause them to go to the hospital for care and cause a strain on the healthcare system. With money reduced from research grants, cures for diseases and chronic illnesses are placed on the back burner and no advances in medical cures are being identified and individuals waiting for organs or medicines are left waiting for money to fund the research at the CDC or any other federal or research institutions across the country.
Politically, the website issues for the Affordable Care health insurance has been plagued with issues. Today, it was revealed that the site can now accommodate 50,000 individuals to sign up at the same time without the system collapsing, which is positive. However, the backlash from individuals being sent documentation indicating that they have been dropped from their current policies in hopes that they will sign up under the Affordable Care plans being offered now is horrifying. As I have stated in many of my posts this semester, I am fearful that companies across the country will opt out of offering health insurance to its employees without fears of any penalties the government may enforce because at the end of the day, the penalties that will be instituted will be substantially less than the amount of money they will spend to give each employee benefits. As we selected our medical options for 2014, are we able to look far enough in the future in order to plan for our medical needs next year, because we may have to opt to have any elective procedures done while we know we have access to affordable health insurance because our employer is paying a good portion of the fees associated with being insured. It’s not the best situation that a parent would like to be in if they are uncertain of their ability to take care of their children or bet yet themselves if they need medical care in the future.
Linda
NOW, here is the replay to this answer from another student
SaskiaRupnarain
RE: Issues I think will impact healthcare in the future
Linda,
Excellent post! I was just looking at the Towson Daily Announcements email and noticed that today Towson is providing free confidential HIV testing and is also hosting a talk about HIV/AIDS today. Thus, it would appear that HIV/AIDS is in fact an issue among the younger generation. I know a few people who were careless and practiced unsafe sex when they were younger and are now living with HIV. When I talked to them about this a lot of them said they wished they would have been safer and gotten tested often when they were younger. So, I would agree that as a society we should do a better job of educating the general public because as you pointed out HIV/AIDS is no longer affecting a certain demographic but rather everyone.
My cousin was not accepted to head start last year because according to the school our family made too much money, which is not true because my uncle is the only one working. The head start program was only accepting kids who were in dire need of the program and could only accept a limited number of kids due to funding reasons, which is upsetting if you think about it because I don’t think any child should be denied access to early start education.
Finally, the ACA’s website also has me fearful. I wish the President’s administration had waited a little bit and tested the website before releasing to the general public. I’ve heard a lot of negative comments from friends and family members. As you mentioned the penalty fee for failing to obtain insurance in certain cases is cheaper than purchasing a plan and I’ve heard some individuals say they would rather pay the penalty fee instead of purchasing health insurance. I understand their frustrations because some families are being dropped from previous plans that may have offered more services and I was under the impression that they could opt to keep their existing plans if they wanted to. However, it seems that is not the case for some families.
Saskia
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