I very much enjoyed this presentation. The data presented were very interesting and it was quite shocking to see so clearly the disparity between different life expectancies around the globe. Interestingly, of course, the US has quite a depressed life expectancy given how much we spend on health care provision. You also drew attention to the wider social and cultural conditions which impact on health care. It would be of some interest had you discussed this in more detail. Certainly the data you cited inferred the connection but I would be interested in how you interpret these data.
While the above clip showcases poverty in the US and its relation to health care, I'd love to hear your thoughts on how different identities both within and outside the US are impacted by stratification and how this specifically affects health care provisions and outcomes.
This was implied through your presentation but it would be of some interest (and would help with clarification),
8 comments:
First off allow me to post my comments on the general presentation since I did not hand anything in last class. As a person who also studied globalization and health care I would have to say that our counterparts did an excellent job with their presentation. It was very well done and all members seemed to have contributed equally. I think we seemed to touch upon the same themes, and it was evident that we pointed out some of the weaknesses of health care in first world countries, particularly America. While we covered the procedural malfunctions such as disposal of unused prescription medications this group seemed to cover the effects of health care coverage in a capitalist system, which leads to in evidently a poverty level that America is trying to hide. The southeast I have always known (particularly Mississippi and Alabama)has always had high amounts of poverty but I never knew is could be this bad, as seen by the video. This is perhaps one reason why programs such as universal coverage could be beneficial to America. This is because it simply comes down to money and how it is distributed through the social classes. In America this is indefinitely exponential with the rich being really rich and the poor really poor. Therefore, those with low amounts of money do not have access to health care or cannot get it and vice versa. Hopefully this somewhat addresses the idea of global stratification without getting into too much detail. Otherwise this group did a great job!
I feel that this presentation did a great job of showing the issues surrounding global health care particulary giving examples of good healthcare versus poor health care. This said I believe the issue with American health care should be looked at in greater detail. I know my family is fortunate enough to have good health care but I also know this is not the case for many Americans. One out of seven children in the US does not have proper health insurance coverage. This figure may seem shocking but so many Americans as seen in the video clip live under the poverty level. I feel like many people do not know this (or do not understand the gravitude) because of the stratification in this country. The powerful coorporations tend to have control over much of the media, bringing attention to a problem that they are not helping to fix can be bad for business. Also many people do not like to believe in bad things, one of the first things people will do when confronted with something traumatic is to deny its exhistance. I believe this as well as lack of media and stratification causes many people to be ingnorant of what is happening in this country.
Samantha Johnson
I just wanted to comment on the video because it seems crazy how a lot people really don't realize how many people are suffering in the US. We focus so much on other nations and that is the kind of stuff shown on the media. It is true that people living below the poverty line in the US are often hidden because if we acknowledge they are there then it means we definitely need to do something about it. This is probably a direct result from stratification. The division between the rich and the poor just keeps getting larger and the poor are getting ignored. This creates certain identities. The poor eventually believe this is where they stand in life and will never be able to make more money and be in a higher social standing.
This group did a very nice job!
-Lauren
I just wanted to address the comments about our presentation. I appreciate the positive feedback, and do undestand that we didnt delve into the theories and concepts behind the data as much as we could have. I tried to outline a general idea about how globalization can affect a urbanized population center and what that does to a community. In response to your comments, Alex, I think it is quite clear in our global society that those who are deemed more important will recieve the better treatment. Not only in America, but all around the world. In America though, the controversey of healthcare is evident within the presidential debates that have been on telelvision recently. Clinton is provisioning universal healthcare, while Obama is mandating more affordable programs. Both are a step up from where we are now. And I think the fact that this is such a critical issue in this election, shows how much more Americans are starting to care about how people from other economic backgrounds are getting treated. But i think it is important to mention that people simply only seem to care about similar people; people who they can relate to and understand. So it takes alot of courage and compassion for someone to step outside the constrictions of the modern stratification system and take a stand. Because even though many of us would like to change things, few have the inclination to actually do it.
Brittany McIntosh
Overall, I thought this group did a great job. I really liked the case studies of the different first and third world countries. It gave us a much better look at the health care issue than if you had simply just addressed generalized first and third world countries. The group seemed to have done a lot of work on the presentation and it was done very well!
I think this presentation was great and very informative. The comparisons of facts about different health cares were good evidences to indicate the diffrent health access around the world.
About the video clip and posted questions, I think the identity that impacts health outsomes is about money. Obiously, the money influence identities in many ways.
And, especially in America, capitalism and free market contibute to developing gap between rich and poor, I think.
And, I think the human inborn nature of character that humans seek own greed and benefits contibutes this problem. Even, a person from outside this country, like me, knows a number of peope are suffering from porvetry. I don't think people don't realize the poorness. There may not be many people realize the reality of poorness well. But, most of peope at least recognize the problems, I think. They should know what is going on. But, I think that people just think that it is not their business. Their own life of richness, their food, clothes, games, computers, educations, drink,trip, entertainments, even useless stuffs sometimes, are much more important and their health to care. These identity can expand the gap between rich and poor, more.
Susumu Ikeda
It seems like only the rich can afford access to reliable health care. Agreeing with Shamus, a gap is enforced by "hiding" the poor. Adding on to Susumu's comment, people/companies thinking for themselves leads to greed & waste. Maybe if they created a drug recycling program...
Another issue is addressing the health care workers, who are worried about a "job lock". They have health overage through their employer, and fear losing that, so they don't have a choice where they're placed. A good example is with some supermarkets. If an employee works full-time, they get benefits (health coverage), but the employer can transfer an employee anywhere. If a person wants to switch jobs, they would have to cover health expenses themselves, and some can't realistically afford the option.
-Fallon
For our presentation I think the we tried to approach this topic from the effect point of view rather then the cause. We chose the countries that we did because they either had extremely sufficient health care (ie France)or extremely poor healthcare (ie Uganda). We wanted to analyze the effects that the levels of healthcare had on the people that live there through the stats on literacy levels, infant mortality rates, and life expectancy. By looking at this problem from the opposite direction as normal, it allows you to understand better what the problem is when you know what the people are facing.
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