The Advantage and Disadvantages of Medi-Cal Budget Cuts About five years ago, my doctor told me I am a Type 2 diabetic. As a result, I have experienced an array of other health problems due to diabetes. My vision has gotten worse and I experience frequent toothaches. Recently, I was unable to receive treatment for my serious dental problem by a dentist. I had apses on the top and bottom of my mouth. As a result, I missed numerous days of class and my instructors almost dropped me from their class. Although, I received a doctor excuse from my primary physician, it does not make up for the lessons I missed because of my non-attendance from their class. I could not afford treatment for mouth infection at any dentist office, so I suffered in pain for days. Unfortunately, Medi-Cal will only pay for dental exams and tooth abstractions, but no other treatments. Even, optometry treatments are limited to only the cost of an exam. I understand that California needs to balance the state budget, but limiting and alleviating the coverage of Medi-Cal for low-income adults such as dental and optometry in order to restore the state budget is not the solution. Furthermore, the ability to afford dental and optometry treatment for low-income adults in California may not be obtainable especially, if we consider a family size combined with the annual income of a family. Besides, Medi-Cal is a state assistant program that provides the expense of treatment to low-income families who cannot afford treatment. Now, the government has decided that the service is no longer essential to low-income adults. Instead, the cost of treatment for dental and vision is only essential to the low-income children. But, low-income adults who cannot receive tre... ... middle of paper ... ...surance in the United States and Canada. Washington: Georgetown University Press. 2008. Governors May Revision Keeps California Financially Strong and Fiscally Responsible. State of California. 14 May. 2007. 01 Nov. 2010. . Greston, Larry N., Christensen, Terry. California Politics & Gov’t. Boston: Wadesworth Cengage Learning. 2007, 2009. Harris, Nancy., Glassman, Bruce., Szumski, Bonnie., Cothran, Helen. Does the United States Need a National Health Insurance Policy?. Michigan: Thomas Gale. 2006. Huber, Walt Roy. California State and Local Government In Crisis. 3rd Ed. California: Educational Textbook Company. 1997,1995,1992. The Governor Commitment to Public Health. State of California. 2007-2008. 01 Nov. 2010 .
One of the most controversial topics in the United States in recent years has been the route which should be undertaken in overhauling the healthcare system for the millions of Americans who are currently uninsured. It is important to note that the goal of the Affordable Care Act is to make healthcare affordable; it provides low-cost, government-subsidized insurance options through the State Health Insurance Marketplace (Amadeo 1). Our current president, Barack Obama, made it one of his goals to bring healthcare to all Americans through the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010. This plan, which has been termed “Obamacare”, has come under scrutiny from many Americans, but has also received a large amount of support in turn for a variety of reasons. Some of these reasons include a decrease in insurance discrimination on the basis of health or gender and affordable healthcare coverage for the millions of uninsured. The opposition to this act has cited increased costs and debt accumulation, a reduction in employer healthcare coverage options, as well as a penalization of those already using private healthcare insurance.
Wilson, James Q., John J. DiIulio, Jr., and with Meena Bose. American Government: Institutions & Policies. 12th ed. Boston, MA.: Wadsworth Publishing, 2011.
O’Connor, Karen, Larry J. Sabato, Alexandra B Yanus. American Government: Roots and Reform. Indianapolis, indianna: Pearson, 2011.Print.
Imagine the burning shame and crippling self-consciousness you would feel if you had to walk around with one of your front teeth cracked for over a month simply because your parents couldn’t afford to get it treated promptly. Now multiply that intense feeling of embarrassment three-fold, since this happened to a very image-conscious, fourteen-year-old me three days before my first day of high school. As both a minority and as someone who comes from an economically disadvantaged background, I have had experiences that have shaped me to understand the frustration and stigma that is associated with not having the privilege of access to health care simply because of where you live and your financial situation. My experiences have also made me aware of the importance of diversity in
Edwards III, C. George, Martin P. Wattenberg, Robert L. Linberry. “Government in America: People, Politics, and Policy”. Textbook.
So what’s wrong with California now? The only problem is the tremendous amount of debt accumulated over the years. What makes people think that Arnold will be able to restore California? At one of his campaign tours around the state, people waited two hours to hear him s...
In recent years, the number of Americans who are uninsured has reached over 45 million citizens, with millions more who only have the very basic of insurance, effectively under insured. With the growing budget cuts to medicaid and the decreasing amount of employers cutting back on their health insurance options, more and more americans are put into positions with poor health care or no access to it at all. At the heart of the issue stems two roots, one concerning the morality of universal health care and the other concerning the economic effects. Many believe that health care reform at a national level is impossible or impractical, and so for too long now our citizens have stood by as our flawed health-care system has transformed into an unfixable mess. The good that universal healthcare would bring to our nation far outweighs the bad, however, so, sooner rather than later, it is important for us to strive towards a society where all people have access to healthcare.
Health Insurance is one of the nations top problems, the cost is rising for premiums, and many businesses just cannot afford it. As Americans many of us have the luxury of health insurance, but far too many of us have to go without it. This is something that always seems to brought up at congressional debates, but little is done about it. “In 2013 there were 41 million people reported with out health insurance coverage, this is too many considering those people probably were sick at some point through out the year, and they couldn’t afford treatment.” We need to find someway to make sure that every citizen of the United States is able to have affordable healthcare for themselves, and their families.
Burns, James MacGregor, J.W Peltason, Thomas E. Cronin, and David B. Magleby. Government By The People. 01-02 Edition ed. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2002
Orsi, Richard J., and John F. Burns. Taming The Elephant: Politics, Government, And Law In Pioneer California. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003. eBook (EBSCOhost). Web. 26 Mar. 2014.
Medicaid is a broken system that is largely failing to serve its beneficiary’s needs. Despite its chronic failures to deliver quality health care, Medicaid is seemingly running up a gigantic tab for tax payers (Frogue, 2003). Medicaid’s budget woes are secondary to its insignificant structure, leaving its beneficiaries with limited choices, when arranging for their own health care. Instead, regulations are set in order to drive costs down; instead of allowing Medicaid beneficiaries free rein to choose whom they will seek care from (Frogue, 2003)
Since the founding of our nation, government has constantly been changing and developing as the United States has been evolving. What started out as thirteen colonies rules by another country expanded into fifty states of an independent country each with its own ideas and people to look out for. With this expanding country it was important that the government expand but also that the American people felt like they had a voice. Their voice can be heard in the varying types of participation of the political process at the national, state, and local level. Mona Field’s California Government and Politics Today and Ann O’M. Bowman’s State and Local Government: The Essentials both discuss the topics of the importance of state government, the levels and types of political participation done by Americans, and the increasing importance of state governments.
Domhoff, G. W. (1990). The power elite and the state: How policy Is made in America. Hawthorne, NY: Aldine de Gruyter.
...Brian. Democracy in California: Politics and Government in the Golden State (IIed). San Francisco: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2007.
Healthcare for low income individuals with little to no coverage is one of the leading civil rights issues within America. As of 2011, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that 48.6 million people of the nation are uninsured not including those who are underinsured. Although this number decreased from 50 million of the previous year, many people remain deprived of health security (Fox, 2012). During the summer of 2012, I had the opportunity to observe and work with the uninsured/underinsured community at the Rockbridge Area Free clinic in Lexington, Virginia. The clinic attempts to support the community by serving the margin of people that are not receiving their basic healthcare needs. In 2012 the Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis reported