1. Chapter 2 Problems of Health and Healthcare

2. © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Health Care as a Global Social Problem What problems do developed nations face as opposed to developing nations? –Access vs. Disease and life expectancy –Life expectancy is related to the quality of health care in a society –Infant mortality is associated with : Health-care professionals in a society Nutritional intake, sanitation, health facilities and health

3. © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Table 2-1: Health Indicators for Selected Nations

4. © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. The Scope of Health-Care Problems in America Micro-level: how we experience health care on a personal level –Terminating the life-support of someone we know and love –Placing an elderly parent in a nursing home Macro-level: the social forces that affect how health care is distributed in society

5. © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Unequal Access to Health Care How do race, ethnicity, social class, and gender affect access to health care in the United States. About 18% of Americans under age 65 do not currently have any health insurance –Factors related to a lack of insurance –Inequalities of race and ethnicity Racial and ethnic minorities are likely to receive less or inferior care –Inequalities of social class & gender Heart disease, asthma, breast cancer (pg 33) Why do these inequalities persist?

6. © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Women and Health Care Abortion rights Increase the awareness of medical personnel to the health needs of women Less intervention in the birth process Medicalization of women Women & their needs underrepresented in the health care industry

7. © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. What does Inadequate Protection mean? Prevention v. Treatment Pay as you go Health Insurance Over 45 million Americans lack insurance Problems with Medicaid and Medicare Costs due to administrative waste and abuse Who will be hurt the most?

8. © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Figure 2-6 & 7: Health Insurance Coverage & % of Firms Offering Health Benefit

9. © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. AIDS - A Modern Plague HIV & AIDS - a global epidemic –Exchange of bodily fluids from infected person’s blood, semen, vaginal fluid Sexual activity Blood transfusion Hypodermic needles An infected mother to her unborn or newborn infant

10. © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. AIDS Orphans Over 15 million AIDS orphans in the world of which 80% are from sub-Saharan Africa Psychological impact on families Economic impact Lack of affordable drugs in poor nations

11. © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Figure 2-12: Number of Children Who Lost Their Mother or Both Parents to HIV/AIDS

12. © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Figure 2-11: Routes of AIDS Transmission Among Males and Females, United States

13. © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Should health care be treated as a commodity, or as a basic right (as is public education)?