Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Critique of On Death and Dying by Elisabeth Kubler Ross
socioeconomic status within mental health
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Sacrifice in an Aging Society
Our society is currently suffering from a severely limited supply of health care resources. In his State of the Union address this past January, President Bush announced that he intends to commit an additional 400 billion dollars of the budget over the next decade to reform and strengthen Medicare. Currently, Medicare provides coverage to 40 million elderly; by the year 2031, that number is expected to reach 77 million. [1] As it is, the government allocates 21.6% of its annual budget to meeting health care needs; [2] unbelievably, due to the present nature of the system, even this huge proportion of the budget is not sufficient to meet the requirements of this growing, and aging, population. Today, our society is experiencing an extreme increase in both the numbers and the proportion of the population over the age of 65; as the number of elderly increases, so does the amount of federal health care funding allocated to them. The demographic realities, along with the fact of the finitude of our financial resources, provoke the question of how to appropriately allocate these resources; however, what initially begins as a material matter quickly expands into a number of other realms.
A host of social and ethical problems and implications are raised by the facts that not only are our resources limited, they are also unjustly distributed. In his book, Setting Limits, Daniel Callahan deals with this very issue, investigating the moral maturity of a society that bestows six times more in federal health care expenditures upon its elderly than upon its children. [3] Callahan explores the underlying social beliefs and values that have brought us to this point, suggests new perspectives and possibilitie...
... middle of paper ...
...y Elisabeth Kubler-Ross (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1975) x.
[20] Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, Death: The Final Stage of Growth (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1975) 39.
[21] Kubler-Ross 28
[22] Harry R. Moody, Ethics in an Aging Society (Baltimore, London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992) 29.
[23] Callahan 53
[24] Callahan 80
[25] Callahan 173
[26] Callahan 143
[27] Callahan 146-149
[28] Callahan 215
[29] Callahan 24
[30] Kubler-Ross 37
[31] Callahan 37
[32] Callahan 60
[33] Callahan 43
[34] Callahan 83
[35] Callahan 134
[36] Callahan 137
[37] Callahan 114
[38] Carole Straw, “’A Very Special Death’: Christian Martyrdom in Its Classical Context,” Sacrificing the Self: Perspectives on Martyrdom and Religion, ed. Margaret Cormack (New York: The American Academy of Religion, 2001) 40-41.
[39] Callahan 82
The two major components of Medicare, the Hospital Insurance Program (Part A of Medicare) and the supplementary Medical Insurance program (Part B) may be exhausted by the year 2025, another sad fact of the Medicare situation at hand (“Medicare’s Future”). The burden brought about by the unfair dealings of HMO’s is having an adverse affect on the Medicare system. With the incredibly large burden brought about by the large amount of patients that Medicare is handed, it is becoming increasingly difficult to fund the system in the way that is necessary for it to function effectively. Most elderly people over the age of 65 are eligible for Medicare, but for a quite disturbing reason they are not able to reap the benefits of the taxes they have paid. Medicare is a national health plan covering 40 mi...
Since 1970, health care spending has grown at an average annual rate of 9.8%, or about 2.5 percentage points faster than the economy as measured by the nominal gross domestic product (GDP). Annual spending on health care increased from $75 billion in 1970 to $2.0 trillion in 2005, and is estimated to reach $4 trillion in 2015. As a share of the economy, health care has more than doubled over the past 35 years, rising from 7.2% of GDP in 1970 to 16.0% of GDP in 2005, and is projected to be 20% of GDP in 2015. Health care spending per capita increased from $356 in 1970 to $6,697 in 2005, and is projected to rise to $12,320 in 2015.” (Henry J,
Healthcare professionals want only to provide the best care and comfort for their patients. In today’s world, advances in healthcare and medicine have made their task of doing so much easier, allowing previously lethal diseases to be diagnosed and treated with proficiency and speed. A majority of people in the United States have health insurance and enjoy the luxury of convenient, easy to access health care services, with annual checkups, preventative care, and their own personal doctor ready to diagnose and provide treatment for even the most trivial of symptoms. Many of these people could not imagine living a day without the assurance that, when needed, medical care would not be available to themselves and their loved ones. However, millions of American citizens currently live under these unimaginable conditions, going day to day without the security of frequent checkups, prescription medicine, or preventative medicines that could prevent future complications in their health. Now with the rising unemployment rates due to the current global recession, even more Americans are becoming uninsured, and the flaws in the United States’ current healthcare system are being exposed. In order to amend these flaws, some are looking to make small changes to fix the current healthcare system, while others look to make sweeping changes and remodel the system completely, favoring a more socialized, universal type of healthcare system. Although it is certain that change is needed, universal healthcare is not the miracle cure that will solve the systems current ailments. Universal healthcare should not be allowed to take form in America as it is a menace to the capitalist principle of a free market, threatens to put a stranglehold on for-...
Some skeptics, such as Candida Moss, claim that Christians view Christian martyrdom as “special” or “unique.” She argues that if Christian martyrdom is support for the truth of Christianity then other religions martyrdom should also be evidence for the truth of those religions. She writes, “why would early Christians have been martyred if Christianity weren 't true? Today, we are pointedly aware that martyrdom is not an exclusively Christian practice; virtually every religious group holds the deaths of their heroes in high esteem, and many people have died for religions that no longer exist. Yet many still declare that there is something special about the character and nature of Christian martyrs.”2 However, Moss doesn 't seem to completely understand the
With the creation of Medicare in 1966 in order to expand access for the elderly to the American healthcare system, the ways in which medicine and its corresponding industries were conducted were irrevocably changed. Prior to its inception, only 65% of people over 65 actually had proper health insurance, as the elderly paid three times as much for healthcare as young people (Stevens, 1998). The private medical sector had much more control over who they would treat, how much they would charge, and more; the passing of Medicare freed up the elderly to have reasonable access to healthcare as a consequence of a lifetime of paying into the system.
Since the 60s, government budgets have been influenced by the need to finance healthcare especially the cost of Medicare and Medicaid benefits. According to CMS’ National Health Expenditure Projections , total health care expenditures have grown by an average of 2.5 percentage points faster per year than the nation‘s Gross Domestic Product. For about 60 percent of workers who receive some form of health care coverage from their employers, the cost of their health insurance premiums and out-of-pocket expenses have increased significantly faster than their own wages; and between 1999 and 2008, both average health insurance premiums and out-of-pocket costs for deductibles, co-payments for medications, and co-insura...
American people look at their insurance bills, co-pays and drug costs, and can't understand why they continue to increase. The insured should consider all of these reasons before getting upset. In 2004, employee health care premiums increased over 11 percent, four times more than the rate of inflation. In 2003, premiums rose 10.1 percent and in 2002 they rose 15 percent. Employee spending for coverage increased 126 percent between 2000 and 2004. Those increases were lower than expected. (National Coalition on Health Care, 2005, Facts on health care costs). Premiums have risen five times faster than workers wages, on average. If medical spending continues to rise by just two percent more than personal income, by 2040 Medicare and Medicaid would hit 18.5 percent of the gross domestic product, leading the federal deficit to be 20.7 of the gross domestic product. (Melcer, R., 2004, St Louis Post-Dispatch, Rising Costs of healthcare pose huge challenges).
Health care in our nation should be provided directly by the federal government under what is known as a “single-payer” health care system. It is a program that would cover Americans from “the cradle to the grave”. In our current system, hundreds of billions of dollars go to insurance company overheads, unnecessary administrati...
In order to make ones’ health care coverage more affordable, the nation needs to address the continually increasing medical care costs. Approximately more than one-sixth of the United States economy is devoted to health care spending, such as: soaring prices for medical services, costly prescription drugs, newly advanced medical technology, and even unhealthy lifestyles. Our system is spending approximately $2.7 trillion annually on health care. According to experts, it is estimated that approximately 20%-30% of that spending (approx. $800 billion a year) appears to go towards wasteful, redundant, or even inefficient care.
The future of healthcare will largely be affected by the changing demographics in the United States. Halaweish & Alam (2015), suggest by 2050 1 in 5 Americans will be 65 years or older, an increase from the current 1 in 9 Americans. In addition to the increase in aging adults, the oldest Americans, those 85 and older will also demonstrate a significant
As more and more Americans are living well into their 70’s, the children of these ageing parents are left with the responsibility of taking care of them. "By 2030 approximately 80 million Americans, or 20 percent of the population, are projected to be sixty-five or older, and 2.3 percent of the population will be eighty-five and older" (Bookman & Kimbrel, 2011 pp. 118). Several variables will determine what service and type of care the elderly can reasonably expect. These include health services such as Medicare, Medicaid, social security, government's involvement in regulating health care, and society in general.
As the population of the United States ages and lifespan increases, the U.S. is being faced with challenges that could either hurt the country or benefit it if plans are executed correctly. By the year 2050, more than thirty-two million Americans will be over the age eighty and the share of the 80-plus generation will have doubled to 7.4 percent. Health care and aging population has become a great deal considering the impact it is having on the U.S. The United States is heading into another century with an outstanding percentage of people within the aging population. Today’s challenges involving health care and the aging populations are the employees of health professions being a major percentage of the aging population, the drive into debt, and prevention and postponement of disease and disability.
Clearly, the Medicaid program is ripe for a major overhaul, a task that the federal government has thus far been unwilling to undertake. I chose this topic because I believe that the Medicaid program can be rescued and revitalized by leadership; otherwise, it is likely to be eroded. Medicaid is a government-sponsored program whose objective is to provide patients with health assistance upon meeting specific criteria. Medicaid is an insurance program that is available for disadvantaged persons, including the elderly, who cannot afford health benefits because of low incomes or other factors. This program is subsidized by government funds and in many instances, will cover the costs of basic medical care as well as specialized testing and supplies. What are the problems with Medicaid and what should be done about them? This paper will look at 6 articles about the economics of Medicaid and analyze what should be done about this problem.
Today, world’s population is aging at a very fast pace and United States is no exception to this demographic change. According to the U.S Census Bureau, senior citizens will be accounted for 21% of the American population in 2050 (Older Americans, 2012). Although living longer lives may not seem like a negative sign, living longer does not necessarily mean living healthier. Older adults of today are in need of long-term and health care services more than any generation before them (Older Americans, 2012). Because of the growing need for senior care, millions of families are facing critical decisions on how to provide care for their parents. In addition, declining birthrates may cause people to have less familial care and support as they age. To be able to provide the necessary care for senior citizens government funded long term care insurance program is needed.
The liberals unlike conservatives think that the government should assist the elderly because many older people never had the opportunities to earn the money needed to carry them through old age. They also state that many families now need both spouses’ earnings to achieve their own needs. And lastly the radical-left view states that due to the capitalist U.S economy the elderly are viewed as a costly burden to society (Macionis). To help explain this social problem even more we can use the social-conflict theory: aging and economic inequality. This theory focuses on age stratification and points to ways that the U.S. society limits the opportunities and resources available to elders. Even though there are laws that ban age discrimination in the workplace company still prefer to hire younger workers as well as wanting older people to retire so they can be replaced with the younger crowd. In conclusion, company while in pursuit of profit treat older people as second-class citizens (Macionis). Given these points, there are many solutions offered up. With the conservative view point they believe that a culture of self-reliance will motivate people to provide for their own old