This week will focus on one article from the Bakersfield Californian on Health Care reform: Latinos have the biggest stake. I'm not writing to focus on the specifics of The Affordable Health Care Act (aka the HC reform bill) but the article points out staggering statistics. Approximately 2.1 million of the 3.9 million uninsured in California are Latino according to a study by the California Pan-Ethnic Health Network in Nov 2010.--this does not include undocumented immigrants. WOW!! Currently many Latinos do not qualify for Medi-Cal because they exceed the poverty level income requirement. Based on those stats alone--here's what's going on: this population has no insurance, so if there is a chronic or acute illness, there is often no medical attention. Then when necessary the Emergency Department is used as the primary source of health care. This results in no continuity of care for the chronic illnesses. Other issues that may arise-- can they afford the medications? will they follow up as needed? how does this affect their life expectancy? their family earnings?
Think about the impact (potential and real) on public health: think about what this means for you as a health care provider and as a consumer. Does this affect your health care? your insurance? your access?
This was only one point of the article but you should read the entire story and THINK ABOUT IT.
To read the entire article go to http://www.bakersfield.com/, search Health care Reform.The article date is Feb 4, 2011.
Other useful links http://www.healthcare.gov/ and http://www.whitehouse.gov/healthreform
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I believe this is completely unfair to any person. This is taking away human rights. everyone needs health care regardless of race or legal status.
ReplyDeleteI found this of interest "Latinos also confront complex health issues — with experts finding that their susceptibility to chronic disease increases with the amount of time they have lived in the United States." This is something CA medical staff will have to become better acquainted with since Latinos will be the medical fields leading patients. This is also going to drive up the cost of the care these individuals need because a lot of them have worse health conditions then the general population. Their illnesses will have progressed a lot farther than most of the patients being seen today, which will require more care and a deeper understanding of how to deal with severe medical situations.
ReplyDeleteI don't agree with this law, it is unfair to all other individuals that are in dear need of medical services to not be able to get the medical attention they need. Especially if they are infants or elderly individuals. We all need some kind of medical attention, regardless of who, what race and where you are from. We are all equal in God's eyes; therefore we shall all get the same medical services.
ReplyDeleteThis topic is very interesting. I believe that this is something very serious especially because Latinos are the biggest population here in California.It is unfair that people who do not make enough money are now being considered as making enough to pay for their health and therefore do not qualify for health insurance. People cannot be denied health help, because if they are, then we may all have to pay the consequences at the end. It is going to affect everyone, starting from health care givers and ill people.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the aforesaid articlethat talks about lationos and their disproportion to health care this shows that while "We The People" as the Constitution states certain ethnicities still face major inequalities. For instance, the fact that 2.1 out of 3.9 million uninsured in California are latinos just is another of the facts that demonstrate that although they may not be at the poverty level they cannot still afford to get an insurance and have to pay the consequences for it. Furthermore, the fact that this does not include undocumented immigrants is extremely mindboggling because this shows that if those who are citizens cannot afford it then how bad are those who cannnot in any way use federal help to attain basic health care needs such as a visit to a doctor when they do not have Medi-Cal or other basic needs because a staggering amount of undocumented immigrants are below the poverty line. As a result, those undocumented immigrants who would otherwise qualify for health care do not base on their status and those with citizenship cannot get it because they barely exceed the poverty line. The result a lot of uninsured lationos who will only go to the doctor when a catastrophe happens?
ReplyDeleteI think the healthcare reform plan has advantages along with disadvantages. The ability of having health insurance can be a benefit but would it cut down on the emergency room visits? I'm not really sure it would because many people with medi-cal often wait and go to the emergency room anyways. Depending on how the insurance applies copays or deductibles, would be the difference in preventive care or ER visits. In reading the article it mentioned a couple that would be hesistant to sign up because the paperwork would be to complicated. I agree with this, many people would feel the paperwork is to complicated. I have seen some of the paperwork for Social Security benefits and that is sometimes difficult to understand.
ReplyDeleteThis is really interesting, I had no idea the numbers were so high.
ReplyDeleteI feel the uninsured will negatively affect public health jobs in numerous ways:
ReplyDelete1. People who are uninsured are at greater risk of disease as well as increased spread of disease. Therefore diseases that were once eradicated will surface once again causing dangerous diseases for hospital staff to treat.
2. There is an Influx in emergency room visits due to desperation, there are no options, and therefore the community ultimately pays for the uninsured.
3. This affects public health care professionals negatively, if treatment is being administered without payment, how is medical staff including the doctors getting paid. This cannot continue. I don’t know the politics on how the hospital gets paid but I feel like if this keeps occurring we could lose the hospitals; therefore losing the staff and my future job.
There is a need for concern.... All that are uninsured are a reason to worry. Who knows if there will be a follow up appointment for the people who are sick. Will they be cured from their infection? There is a great possibility that resistant bacteria will come from that individual not only for him or herself but also for the medical staff that is tending to the patient. There is a great need for concern!!!
ReplyDeleteI think the health care reform is unlike anything we have ever had to deal with before. There are so many aspects that people are not aware of, and if we do not educate ourselves we could be in a lot of trouble. I did not know the situation was so bad for the latino community. However the thing is that there are quite a lot of other people who suffer through the same thing. Being a college student I have been there myself. It is what is causing so much stress on our local ER's because they are acting as doctors offices to those who do not have one or do not have insurance. I will be interested to see where this all goes in the following months as the health care reform comes into play more, and more is said about the new plan!
ReplyDeleteJessica V said.....
ReplyDeleteEven if this plan is passed, you will still have the problem in getting these people educated on the program. I have been aware of situations were people would rather be with aid because of all the paper work involved or because they do not understand the paper work. Educating the people about the program will be hard.
It's an unfortunate truth considering many Hispanics run a high risk of developing diabetes later in life among other diseases because of either genetics or poor diets. I wonder if to prevent many deaths due to no health coverage the system could at least develop free programs that would serve to educate the Hispanic community on how to reduce the risks of developing such diseases. These programs wouldn't, however,fix the entire problem. Genetics are sometimes unavoidable which brings us back to square one. Annual physicals are done for the purpose of catching developing diseases or health concerns early on in order to treat them by keeping them under control, but if one can't afford the treatment,why bother with the expense of the annual examination. The system should try to invest more money in programs that focus more in helping people to maintain a healthy life
ReplyDeleteThe stats on this issue are shocking. It is crazy to think that things like this are happening to our population.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea the the stats were this high for the latino population. Latinos, as well as other people in this same situation, are uneducated. It will be hard to educate everyone.
ReplyDeleteI think many people are under the impression that this health care reform will make everything better but i do not think that is the case. I'm sure some aspects of it will have a positive effect but it cannot be the cure-all to insurance and health problems. People that are uninsured and need medical attention definitely need to be helped but I'm not sure the government should be the one to decide how to fix that problem.
ReplyDeleteWhen people use the Emergency room as a doctor’s office, because lack of insurance, they are taking away from the people who really have an emergency. They are utilizing this facility at an accelerated cost and convenience when a doctor’s office will accept cash payment at a lesser rate, for the uninsured, in order to be seen and treated. People who remain or become uninsured still will require costly treatments in emergency rooms, clinics, and other health care services with much of the cost ensured to the state and local governments and then eventually by taxpayers and health care providers/consumers.
ReplyDelete