Research for project/ Interviews:
http://vimeo.com/9307752 (Patty)
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/livingold/interviews/strongin.html#5 (Estelle)
Main Question:
Does the occurrence of an illness effect your outlook on life?
Major claim/ Argument:
We all know that when we acknowledge our mortality is when we appreciate life the most; and for people who have dealt with illnesses and injuries, the thought letting them know they could die at any moment is very prominent. What this project dares to ask is how the time of diagnoses or injury effects the outlook on life. I personally believed that younger people will have an eagerness to live and experience as much as they can before they die, while older people focus on regrets and the experiences they could have had.
Conclusion:
Both Patty and Estelle share appreciation for their lives but I did notice some key differences between the two. Patty was glad with the experience heart disease has given her at such a young age because it shaped her perspective and made her a stronger person. She was willing to take the experience gained from that part of her life to influence her choices in the future. Estelle, on the other hand, was very happy to be alive and still working at 94, but she seemed to be working against her illnesses rather than embracing it. Even when the technical aspect of her sicknesses were brought up in the interview, she didn't want to go into specifics because she wanted to avoid the topic.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Monday, January 3, 2011
HW 28 - Coments 2
- For Sam, I really enjoyed how you related his illnesses relate to his psychological state. You can tell it affects the way he lives and it seems like he likes to take control of his life and environment( his home) but he doesn't let his environment( the world) influence him because he is more content with the routine hes set up for himself. The best part was when you started to reflect on his lifestyle and how you would feel in the same situation. Being so young, we tend to forget about the negative things we do to that impact our body because we heal so quickly. But if we reach the age of 88, all of the damage done to our bodies will be accumulated and its effects will change how we live our lives at that point. Asking these questions of yourself now is good because it makes you think about what choices you want to make with your life before it is too late. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team member/ peer Sam J.: Amhara I think that you had a good start here. You really caught me off guard when you said that the ER visit happened on christmas eve and it really demonstrated maturity to be able to say that you don't always understand how the medical aspect of it works, but you did know that money can buy better care and in turn, healthiness. It sucks that his friend took longer to recover, but i am curious as to where that came into the story and the story behind it. Elaborate on it?
- Younger Blog Reader Bianca:
- I think that your idea "that money has a crucial effect on your medical coverage in America" is surprisigly true. It seems to be one of the sad true facts of our worls. I really like that you pionted it out even though it was your uncle who was on the reciving end of the situation. I think that you should elaborate on the story of his friend to make the idea clearer. Older Blog Reader Marcus: I agree with your point that money can buy you better health care in this country. although America is supposed to be such a rich country, many poorer countries have a better health care system. however, it seems as if your uncles friend is in bad health in general. I'm not an expert but, if he is obese, wouldn't it take longer for him to get well from any injury or illness?
Saturday, January 1, 2011
HW 27 - Visiting an unwell person
Over the break, my uncle had an emergency room doctors visit. He had blood clots due to a previous surgery he had recently. We visited the first day he went into the hospital and the doctor estimated that he would have to stay in the hospital for about four days. This sounded reasonable because one of my uncles friends had gotten blood clots recently as well and stayed in the hospital for a few days; though his was due to his obesity. My uncle seemed fine in his state and he mainly talked with my aunt who was the most concerned and worried about him.
Because my uncle had a worse previous injury, his approach to this accurance wasn't as concerned as my aunts. He tore his ligaments in his calf and ankle, and after the surgery he had to use a wheelchair, crutches, or his scooter to move around. The surgery was also linked to his blood clots so he was still dealing with the outcome of that first injury instead of a completely new problem.
The ER visit happened on Christmas eve. I remember feeling bad when I thought that he would miss Christmas, especially because it was hosted in his house. But the next morning, my aunt made an announcement that he would be back for Christmas evening which was "the greatest gift of all" she included. I was happy that he became healthy so soon, but I was curious why when I remembered the time-frame his doctor gave. I don't know much about blood-clots maybe they are easy to fix, but it still made no sense that his friend had less of a speedy recovery. Then the obvious hit me. My uncle plays for the NBA and gets paid very well, and as for his friend, his only employer is my uncle. I'm sure that he has the best health insurance because he can afford it and after the insights learned in this unit, money has a crucial effect on your medical coverage in America.
Because my uncle had a worse previous injury, his approach to this accurance wasn't as concerned as my aunts. He tore his ligaments in his calf and ankle, and after the surgery he had to use a wheelchair, crutches, or his scooter to move around. The surgery was also linked to his blood clots so he was still dealing with the outcome of that first injury instead of a completely new problem.
The ER visit happened on Christmas eve. I remember feeling bad when I thought that he would miss Christmas, especially because it was hosted in his house. But the next morning, my aunt made an announcement that he would be back for Christmas evening which was "the greatest gift of all" she included. I was happy that he became healthy so soon, but I was curious why when I remembered the time-frame his doctor gave. I don't know much about blood-clots maybe they are easy to fix, but it still made no sense that his friend had less of a speedy recovery. Then the obvious hit me. My uncle plays for the NBA and gets paid very well, and as for his friend, his only employer is my uncle. I'm sure that he has the best health insurance because he can afford it and after the insights learned in this unit, money has a crucial effect on your medical coverage in America.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Friday, December 24, 2010
Damnnn
http://www.insubuy.com/guide/faq/pre-existing-conditions-visitor-medical-insurance.jsp
this is ridiculous. every single person who asked about getting treatment for their loved ones were denied before even getting the insurance. Looking at this makes me ask what the point of getting insurance is? I completely agree with the 6th anonymous person who asked:
" What is the point of buying insurance if it does not cover pre-existing medical conditions? These are the one we need to get covered. Probability of other illness is very low."
this is ridiculous. every single person who asked about getting treatment for their loved ones were denied before even getting the insurance. Looking at this makes me ask what the point of getting insurance is? I completely agree with the 6th anonymous person who asked:
" What is the point of buying insurance if it does not cover pre-existing medical conditions? These are the one we need to get covered. Probability of other illness is very low."
Monday, December 20, 2010
HW 25 - Response to Sicko
Precis-
My intention was to expose HMOs for what they really are; profit oriented scams. Americans buy health insurance for coverage and security yet it is in the HMOs best interest not to help them. HMOs get around securing the costumers by researching their pre-existing conditions so when they need operations, the health insurance companies can deny them coverage. The system is as messed up as it sounds, but the reason it hasn't been changed is because HMOs offer the government money for them not to change the health care policy. The government keeps us from questioning the system by assuring us that if we had universal health care, we might not be treated on time. I decided to see if this were true by visiting the many countries with universal health care such as Canada, the U.K., and France. From what I saw, their health care system ran more than smoothly seeing how every sick person was treated efficiently and equally. On top of that, their doctors were still well payed without having to break their oath to try their hardest to cure all patients. Most of all, their citizens were on average significantly healthier than Americans. Hopefully viewers will realize that universal health care is the best option for America and represents the unity of humanity.
Evidence-
A) i. Dr. Linda Pino testimony in front of US Congress May 30, 1996/ interview with Pino:
" I was told when I started that I had to keep a 10% denial. Then they were giving us reports weekly that would have all the cases we reviewed, the percent approved and the percent denied. And our actual percentage denial rate. Then there would be another report that compared me to all the other reviewers. The doctor with the highest percent of denials was gonna get a bonus."
"That was how they set it up. Any payment for a claim is referred to as a medical loss. That's the terminology the industry uses. I mean, when you don't spend money on somebody, you deny their care, or you make a decision that brings money in and you don't have to spend it, it's a savings to the company."
ii.
Tarsha Harris- example of how HMOs refuse to cover their costumers because of their pre-existing conditions- she had an operation to remove her tumor and it was once payed for by her insurance, but once the insurance company found a yeast infection in her record, they took their money back and made Tarsha cover the expense herself.
B) Both of these pieces of evidence provide real life examples, which is crucial for making a point.
The first example was from the perspective of a doctor, showing how the HMOs has effected her. It caused her to break the oath all doctors have to make and neglect her patients for her own personal gain( based on incentives given by HMOs). Her testimony proved that it is in HMOs best interest to pay for less services and they create bribes for doctors so that they too benefit disregard patients who actually need medical assistance.
Tarsha's example came from the other end of the spectrum; the perspective of the patients. It showed how HMOs had effected her which was negatively as well. The "pre-existing condition" she had was very common and unrelated to her operation so it exhibited how easily this could happen to many other Americans. What made this situation worse was that the insurance company had approved her operation, but they later found this flaw in her record and made her pay. This displays how health insurance companies go the extra mile to find insignificant information about a patients previous health conditions to avoid paying for treatments themselves. Not covering these expenses are the goal of these companies.
D) I thought the refference to Nixons tapes was a very good source of evidence. Unfortunately the recording was somewhat unclear, and although there sub-titles, I wanted to see how percise they really were. I researched the recording and found that there were slight differences between that one and the one used in the documentary. Differences you could hear in the tape as well; but even with the alterations made by Moore the tape still portrayed the same thing so I counted his evidence as accurate.
Film version:
My response-
My intention was to expose HMOs for what they really are; profit oriented scams. Americans buy health insurance for coverage and security yet it is in the HMOs best interest not to help them. HMOs get around securing the costumers by researching their pre-existing conditions so when they need operations, the health insurance companies can deny them coverage. The system is as messed up as it sounds, but the reason it hasn't been changed is because HMOs offer the government money for them not to change the health care policy. The government keeps us from questioning the system by assuring us that if we had universal health care, we might not be treated on time. I decided to see if this were true by visiting the many countries with universal health care such as Canada, the U.K., and France. From what I saw, their health care system ran more than smoothly seeing how every sick person was treated efficiently and equally. On top of that, their doctors were still well payed without having to break their oath to try their hardest to cure all patients. Most of all, their citizens were on average significantly healthier than Americans. Hopefully viewers will realize that universal health care is the best option for America and represents the unity of humanity.
Evidence-
A) i. Dr. Linda Pino testimony in front of US Congress May 30, 1996/ interview with Pino:
" I was told when I started that I had to keep a 10% denial. Then they were giving us reports weekly that would have all the cases we reviewed, the percent approved and the percent denied. And our actual percentage denial rate. Then there would be another report that compared me to all the other reviewers. The doctor with the highest percent of denials was gonna get a bonus."
"That was how they set it up. Any payment for a claim is referred to as a medical loss. That's the terminology the industry uses. I mean, when you don't spend money on somebody, you deny their care, or you make a decision that brings money in and you don't have to spend it, it's a savings to the company."
ii.
B) Both of these pieces of evidence provide real life examples, which is crucial for making a point.
The first example was from the perspective of a doctor, showing how the HMOs has effected her. It caused her to break the oath all doctors have to make and neglect her patients for her own personal gain( based on incentives given by HMOs). Her testimony proved that it is in HMOs best interest to pay for less services and they create bribes for doctors so that they too benefit disregard patients who actually need medical assistance.
Tarsha's example came from the other end of the spectrum; the perspective of the patients. It showed how HMOs had effected her which was negatively as well. The "pre-existing condition" she had was very common and unrelated to her operation so it exhibited how easily this could happen to many other Americans. What made this situation worse was that the insurance company had approved her operation, but they later found this flaw in her record and made her pay. This displays how health insurance companies go the extra mile to find insignificant information about a patients previous health conditions to avoid paying for treatments themselves. Not covering these expenses are the goal of these companies.
D) I thought the refference to Nixons tapes was a very good source of evidence. Unfortunately the recording was somewhat unclear, and although there sub-titles, I wanted to see how percise they really were. I researched the recording and found that there were slight differences between that one and the one used in the documentary. Differences you could hear in the tape as well; but even with the alterations made by Moore the tape still portrayed the same thing so I counted his evidence as accurate.
Film version:
February 17, 1971, 5:23 p.m.
[John Ehrlichman] We have now narrowed down the Vice President's problems on this thing to one issue, and that is whether we should include these Health Maintenance Organizations, like Edgar Kaiser's Permanente thing.
[President Richard Nixon] Now let me ask you, you know I'm not too keen on any of these damn medical programs.
[John Ehrlichman] This is a private enterprise one.
[President Richard Nixon] Well, that appeals to me.
[John Ehrlichman] Edgar Kaiser is running his Permanente deal for profit. And the reason he can do it, I had Edgar Kaiser come in and talk to me about this. And I went into it in some depth. All the incentives are toward less medical care, because the less care they give them, the more money they make.
[President Richard Nixon] Fine.
[John Ehrlichman] And the incentives run the right way.
[President Richard Nixon] Not bad.
My research:
My response-
This documentary brought up a lot of points that struck me and made me understand a lot more about American society in general. Although this was briefly discussed, Moore went over how the education system in America sets us up to need our jobs to pay off debt, and how health care and other benefits may keep us working until they day we die.
"By the time we graduate, our ass is so in hock, we're in debt before our first job.What employer wouldn't employ someone thousands of dollars in debt, because they won't cause any trouble? In addition to paying off your college debt, you need a job with health insurance. It would be horrible to lose that job, wouldn't it? If that one job doesn't pay all the bills, don't worry. You can get another one, and another one, and another one.If you're not sleeping, take pharmaceuticals. Yes, ask your doctor, and ask him for more drugs. That should keep you doped up until it's time to retire. Did I say retire? (laughs)If you make it to 80, your pension will still be there, unlike the new employees for these companies, who'll never see a pension."- (Michael Moore, Sicko 2007)
This exert really put things in perspective for me as it quickly summed up the American mentality; live to serve capitalist.
When he discussed how easily HMOs bribed the government, I had a flash back. It seemed that the government was very malleable seeing as the food corporations have done the same thing. We trust our government to keep us secure and think of what can benefit all of us, but it looks like they are just chasing dollar bills. In both these cases, large corporate bodies are providing the dollars. So it makes me wonder, who's really running our country? The government or the capitalist?
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