Unnatural Causes Essay

In the movie Unnatural Causes: In Sickness and in Wealth, it compared the lives of four individuals, Taylor, Young, Anderson, and Turner, in different locations, race, and socioeconomic background. The scale of difference between this group of people is that it goes from financially stable and healthy individuals to individuals with lower income and poorer health. This wealth-health gradient reflects that those who have easier access to healthier lifestyles (i.e. running outside without the concern of safety) are more likely to have a higher life expectancy than those who are in living environments that are not as developed and lack healthier options of nutrition. The difference of the average life expectancy scaled down from Jim Taylor whose neighborhood had an average life expectancy of 80 years, Young’s 75.3 years,

The U.S. Health system spends a higher portion of its gross domestic product than any other country but ranks 37 out of 191 countries according to its performance.” (WHO, 2000, p. 1) Progression in the United States has not kept up with the advances in other wealthy nations dealing with the population health. Disease and chronic disability report almost 50% of America health problem (JAMA, 2013).

Rising medical costs are a worldwide problem, but nowhere are they higher than in the U.S. Although Americans with good health insurance coverage may get the best medical treatment in the world, the health of the average American, as measured by life expectancy and infant mortality, is below the average of other major industrial countries. Inefficiency, fraud and the expense of malpractice suits are often blamed for high U.S. costs, but the major reason is overinvestment in technology and personnel.

Recently the Untied States top priority has been to provide accessible and affordable health care to every American. Those that lack access to coverage find it much more difficult to seek proper treatment and when they do they maybe left with astronomical medical bills. The CommanWealth Fund found that one-third or thirty three percent of Americans forgo health care because of costs and one-fifth or twenty percent are thus left with medical bills that have problems being able to pay. The federal government, through the Affordable Care Act (2010), has mandated that every person have health coverage in order

According to Schroeder “ the United States spends more on health care than any other nation in the world, but ranks poorly on every measure of health status” ( Schroeder,1). Schroeder discussed the two main reasons why the United States ranks so poorly on every measure of the health system. One of the reasons for the low ranking in the American health system is “the pathways to better health do not generally depend on better health care” (Schroeder, 1); the fact that we have access to advance tools and technologies in our health care system does not necessary mean that we are healthier than other countries. Determinants such as behaviors patterns, environmental exposures and social circumstances also greatly influence our health.

The United States spends far more money on healthcare than any other developed country and despite the large amounts spent the United States has the poorest health outcomes and highest risk factors (Stone, 2017). When compared to other countries the United States has the lowest life expectancy at birth, the largest population of obese, and the highest number of people over the age of 65 with chronic health conditions. Many health disparities exist in the country due to socioeconomic status. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) law was passed in 2009 and implemented in 2010 in an effort to decrease the number of people uninsured (Parekh, 2017). Since, 2010 the rate of uninsured people in the United States has

In today’s society, there is still a great struggle with health care disparities and many lives are affected by the lack of this fundamental program in our society. There are millions of people who die each year because they are unable to afford quality healthcare. The debate still continues about healthcare inequalities, what causes this disparity and who are affected by it. Health care is more of a necessity rather than a luxury and even though skeptics may argue to the latter, it only underlines the importance of the need for the wellbeing and care of individuals. There are several factors that could contribute to the lack of health care in the United States which ranges from but not limited to race, gender, socio- economic status, and lack of insurance coverage. The truth is there is a great disproportion between who can really afford quality healthcare as appose to individuals who have it. One would imagine that an employed individual would easily afford quality healthcare but we could be no further from the truth, since one’s economic status is an essential determinant to its affordability.

According to the Garber & Skinner (2008), the United States spends more on health care than other nations but continues to score below other nations in numerous areas of measurement. These scores in, consideration with amount spent, suggest that healthcare is the United States is inefficient. Additionally, the United States has a significantly large portion of under

Consequently the U.S. spends more money than any other country on health care, and the medical care that is being provided may be compromised. Research has shown that the lack of health care insurance compromises a person’s health. However, there continues to be unnecessary death every year in the U.S. due to lack of health care

In today’s class we watched the documentary unnatural causes, the film demonstrated how a person’s health, economic status and physical environment intertwine and play a significant role in one’s health and life expectancy. I found this to be very interesting because even if an individual exercises, and eats the right things this doesn’t necessarily equate to better health or a longer life expectancy. The film demonstrated this through four individuals from different social class a CEO, a lab supervisor, a janitor, and an unemployed mother. Those at the top of the social hierarchy have access to the most resources and better opportunities thus having better health outcomes while those at the bottom of the social hierarchy have more stressors

America is without a question the leading country of medical and scientific advances. There always seem to be a new medical breakthrough every time you watch the news or read the paper, especially in the cure of certain diseases. However, the medical research requires an enormous amount of money. The U.S. spends the most money on health care yet many people, mainly the working class Americans are still without any type of health insurance and thus are more susceptible to health risks and problems. The concept of health insurance for Americans was formulated over a century ago. Most Americans obtain health insurance from

Imagine working in a company since you were the age of 16. As you got older you got your high school diploma but stayed in the job, the place were you maybe meet the person you decided you wanted to spend the rest of your life. Imagine it’s the job that you kept though the years of building a family. Now imagine you are maybe your 60’s and close to retiring , but the company announces that they are closing and moving out. Imagine that you become unemployed and your entire life flips. Would minimum wage be sufficient to have the life that you have worked so hard for. To make matters worse imagine the whole community being under that situation. The loss a big company in a community that is dependent cost the Unemployment of many, it In the short video “Unnatural Causes: Not Just a Paycheck” we are introduced to the world of a small community that starts to disintegrate. The community becomes victim to unemployment, chronic illness, and increase its excessive deaths.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) stated that "The health of the individual is almost inseparable from the health of the larger community and that the health of every community in every state and territory determines the overall health status of the nation." It has now become clear that our economy in terms of healthcare insurance is not healthy; the healthcare system in the United States spends 1 cent of every healthcare dollar in the prevention of diseases and 99 cents on the cure. Our healthcare system is the most expensive and yet arguably among the least cost effective in the developed world. Despite the highest per person health care spending among the Organization for Economic Cooperation

Access to preventive health care should not be definable as one of life’s luxuries, yet that is what is has come to be for the approximately “50 million Americans” who have no health insurance (Turka & Caplan, 2010). Clogged emergency rooms and “preventable deaths” are just two of the consequences associated with the lack of health insurance that would provide access to preventive care (Turka & Caplan, 2010). We as a nation are depriving our citizens of one of our most basic needs—being healthy.

The U.S data on the links between social factors and health come from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Commission to Build a Healthier America, which investigates how factors outside the health care system affects living healthy (Knickman, J. R., & Kovner, A. R., 2015, p.86). The Commission research team found that life expectancy varies between county’s, which means between communities. The two predicted factors in life expectancy is income and education. For example, college graduates can expect to live 5 years longer than those that did not complete high school; Adults with less than high school degree are more than two to three times likely to be in less than very good health than college graduates; Upper middle-income Americans can expect to live more than 6 years longer than poor Americans; Middle-income Americans can expect to live shorter lives than those with higher incomes, having health insurance or not (Knickman, J. R., & Kovner, A. R., 2015, p.86). The economic condition and the level of