Category: lifeissublime

Research- LifeisSublime

Broken Promises

Once when I was a little girl I witnessed a car accident. My family was driving home from a weekend spent with my grandparents sometime in the late fall. We were singing along to the radio when the music suddenly faded out into the distance and sounds of metal on metal echoed through the air. We were stopped at a red light with a front row seat of this horrific accident; a car, out of control, barreling through the red light and colliding with another car right into the driver’s car door. The two cars both spun out and hit a nearby guardrail. My father flung his seatbelt off and ran towards the wreck. When he opened the door of the driver that was hit the door fell off it’s hinges and into the road. The woman in the driver’s seat had cuts all along her arms and face. What I remember the most about that day though was what the woman was saying. From the backseat of my parent’s car I can still hear the woman ,who was hanging on to her life, screaming at my father over and over, “Please do not take me to the hospital, I can not afford health insurance…”.

The healthcare system in this country was put in place to help it’s nation’s people afford medicine, doctor visits, treatment plans, and overall health care. The government funds certain programs that it’s people can access if they qualify depending on how much salary they make in a year. Throughout the years the organizations and institutions that the government has funded has changed. These changes are set in place to better the system and to make healthcare more affordable and efficient, but that hasn’t really been the case in the last couple of years. As the people of the nation we were given a promise by our government that they would serve the people for the better. Looking at what is happening in our nation currently, and what it might be in a couple of years, that promise they made to serve us better has been shattered. Of course it’s not the first time our government has broken this promise, but hopefully something can be done about the corruption hitting our healthcare system.

Recently the progress of the healthcare system has decreased. This could be just an opinion but looking at what our current president wants to put in place it’s clear to see that these changes will only hurt the system. When Obama was president he put ObamaCare into place. This gave thousands of people the chance to afford everything they needed to live a healthy life, but that might all change because of the new president Donald Trump. Trump wants to change ObamaCare to TrumpCare and change a lot of the policies and fundings that ObamaCare promised. The changes are detrimental to people living under the poverty line and for senior citizens. For citizens living under the poverty line, Trump is going to block granting Medicaid to the states, which would permit rightwing states to restrict Medicaid coverage for the poor. This would leave so many people without the ability to seek help/treatment. For those who decide not to get health insurance because of the high costs, there is a 30 percent surcharge if there happens to be an emergency. These are people who can’t afford insurance that will now be getting charged more because of unpredicted medical emergencies. TrumpCare will also increase premiums for senior citizens which doesn’t even make any sense because getting/being older is inevitable. TrumpCare would be defunding Planned Parenthood making it harder and more expensive to obtain birth control and get an abortion. All of this wrapped into a big bow is TrumpCare and if passed the country will be in high debts because it all costs to much and no one has the money to afford it. A vicious cycle for good health, which again makes me question if the government is really holding up their promise on serving their people. If they were serving their people they won’t let this pass. A governor from Utah, Jason Chaffetz, said, “Americans have choices. And they’ve got to make a choice. And so maybe, rather than getting that new iPhone that they just love, and they want to go spend hundreds of dollars on that, maybe they should invest in their own health care.” The lack of respect that this governor has is unethical. There are people in this country that don’t have iPhones or health insurance and the governor have a representative seat to change that for the people of the state they govern. Things need to change fast because their are consequences to all this.

Most people wouldn’t associate the healthcare system with the word corruption but if corruption is defined as using power for a personal gain then corruption goes hand in hand with the healthcare system. The healthcare system in America is designed for one thing, and you would think that one thing would be to save and better lives, but it’s actually making money. With an appetite for profit the system allows many people to feed off the funding and make money while hurting the patients it’s suppose to be helping. Pharmaceutical companies, device manufacturers, hospitals, insurance companies, and doctors are the ones that benefit by putting money in their pockets. This happens by doctors scheduling unneeded tests and surgeries, pharmacies giving less pills and more refills needed, and hospitals by admitting people in when some cases are unnecessary. All of these things are a reality and the patients are the one suffering. More bills and fees that have to be paid, draining the pockets of some that are struggling to even pay monthly bills. It’s unfair, immoral, and harming patients in the process. Patients are suffering higher rates of chronic illnesses correlated with lower life expectancies in this century because of the cost of living. The cost to stay alive and well is to much and that is unacceptable.

The reality of care is that people’s health are decreasing but more money keeps getting made. How does that make sense? Shouldn’t the health be increasing because more money is being spent? That’s how it should work, but in America we have different ways of things working. The quality of health for patients is assumpted to be placed in the hands of our doctors, but in reality it’s in the hands of the insurance companies and hospitals that the doctors work for. The bond of trust with doctors and patients is being broken and it’s because doctors have become puppets on strings to the people they work for; this ultimately is harming patients. Hospitals and insurers have a reward and punishment system for doctors. Specific metrics are set for amount of tests given and the treatments they practice. In a contract it’s called “pay for performance”. Physicians who meet the metrics for the hospital are rewarded with bonuses and higher ratings on insurer websites. Those who don’t abide by the rules get lower pay and lower ratings on insurer websites. Think about it, who wants to go to a doctor who has bad reviews? So it’s true that doctors are ordering unnecessary tests, adding on more refills, and scheduling more follow ups all to meet a certain quota. This increases risk and sometimes the risks outway the benefits of extra testing. Hospitals also have a “quota of admissions” for their emergency rooms. This causes more people to be hospitalized even when they might not need to be. This is like dangling money in front of doctors faces and telling them they can have it if they follow the rules. It takes out morals and individualism from health care completely.

From the distrust that people have accumulated from excessive tests and follow up appointments, the amount of people going to the doctors in America is lower than any other country with a healthcare system. Over the past year twenty five percent of American’s claim to not have seeked medical attention when sick because of the high costs. Twenty three percent skipped scheduled tests, treatments, and follow up appointments recommended by doctors. Another twenty three percent didn’t refill prescribed prescriptions. That is being compared to both Canada and the United Kingdom. Canada didn’t exceed five percent on any of those categories, and the United Kingdom didn’t exceed three percent for any of those categories. As a result to people not seeking treatment, there has been a significant spike in chronic illness in the United States over the past five years. More and more people are being diagnosed with life long illnesses that require lots of maintenance. Coordination of care is important with these type of illnesses. The problem is, these chronic illnesses aren’t getting treated properly because people can’t afford to get those treatments. As stated above, people are not going to the doctors, or their treatments/tests/follow ups, or refilling their medication. This is all due to the fact that no one can afford it. Comparing the amount of money an individual spends on health care in the United States to an individual in Canada is sickening. It’s over a four thousand dollar different for the same ending goal, to get better and be healthy. Numbers don’t lie, but politicians do. Not that this is a new fact, but it is shocking to see that the structure of our healthcare system is not built on the wellbeing of the people it’s there to serve, but on the profit that will be made after the bills are passed out. People are dying. Life expectancy has gone down and chronic illness has gone up. It’s time to pay attention to what is happening to the people.

The cold fact is that people are dying. Actual lives are being lost because they can not afford to pay for things like medication and doctor visits. Alec Raeshawn Smith, a twenty six year old man, was found dead in his apartment on June 27, 2017. He had died from trying to ration out his insulin after aging out of his parents health insurance. He couldn’t afford insulin and payed the price of his life instead, and he’s not the only one. Shane Patrick Boyle died March 18, 2017 after being fifty dollars short on a GoFundMe page for his insulin. Boyle couldn’t afford insulin, a drug that people with diabetes need to survive, and died from lack of it. The stories of people not being able to afford the luxury of live don’t stop with Smith and Boyle. It’s sicken to think that this is a system put in place to prevent things like this from happening, but because the government is money hungry they place money over lives. The real question here is where is the morality? Morality is how we determine what is right and what is wrong. At some point these people in government positions have to stop and ask themselves if what they are passing is moral, and I hope they all come to the conclusion that it is not. If they really did that though maybe this wouldn’t be an issue, but instead of basing decisions on the morals and ethics they base it off of the dollar signs. We live in a world where people are more concerned with the amount of money they can make over the well being of thousands of lives. To stress this one more time, people are dying. Lives are being robbed because people can’t afford basic needs to stay alive in this day of age.

In a recent article by Ian Johnston, he explains the choices that people have to face when rationing out their money. In today’s society it’s hard to live happy lifestyle when the money brought home from a long days of work is taken by endless bills and fees. There is mortgage/rent, car payment, gas, electric, water, food…the list goes on. When deciding where to put the money health doesn’t come high on the list for some people. Another medical tragedy stories involves a young man by the name of Conan Soranno who died sometime in early August of this year. He passed away because he couldn’t afford to go to the hospital after throwing up buckets of blood. Soranno made a Facebook post about his experience a couple days and minutes before his death. He posted that he was forced to sell his car for rent and that he had to cancel his health insurance policy in order to buy groceries. Soranno knew his health was declining and that he needed medical attention but didn’t seek help. In a Facebook post he mentions making the decision to be hospitalized or homeless because he couldn’t afford the price of health care and treatment. Minutes before his death, around three-o-clock in the morning, Soranno asked friends and family to be with him in his final hours. Haunting that someone was looking death in the eye because of his financial standing and knew it. He died that night and never received medical attention.

So what can be done to help get this nation back on track? It might seem like a far stretch to ask the government to change it’s ways, but there is no other way around this problem. The government has become money hungry and is metaphorically feeding on the lives of the people that are dying at their hands (or decisions that will only hinder the over wellness of the population). What needs to change is the attitude that the government has towards its people. Once again, the government is only put in place to serve and protect the people. It was designed to help those live better and come to an overall agreement on how to better the quality of life for the whole. The promise that was made was that we the people would be that whole. As the years went on, somewhere down the line or politics, that promise was broken and forgotten about. Instead of bettering the whole the government is only bettering the people within itself. That isn’t wholistic, but individualistic. It doesn’t serve the people, but a select portion of those who call the shots. The people need to be heard; they need to be listened to. In order to better the quality of life for the people the government needs to understand how to do that. What better why than to ask the people themselves? The thing is, we have been screaming at the top of our lungs for equality in a lot of topics involving our government, but when it comes to the overall health of the nation they seem to tune us out. That needs to change.

The list for changes goes on and on, from letting doctors practice ethically rather than trying to meet and quota, to making sure all people who need help can afford to do so. As a nation we have the power to come together and stand up for what we believe isn’t right. Ever since I was a little girl I always went back to the thought of that woman trying to tell the paramedics not to take her to the hospital. This woman was in a state of life or death and all she was concerned about was how she wouldn’t be able to afford the bills that come with her life being saved. I understand that money is important, but I would have never thought it would be so important that it determined life or death for some people. As time goes on the problem is getting worse. Protests, petitions, rallies, and simply raising awareness for the corruption hitting our healthcare system is the only chance we have to see a better tomorrow. For all those people about to reach retirement, all those couples being new lives into this world, and for those that suffer quietly under the poverty line, things need to change.

When looking at the government deception and corruption should be common words to associate with them now. After looking over all that has been done about the system that is placed to help people and to end illness is causing more deaths and losing the trust of it’s nation. Morality and ethics are being forgotten by the illusions of the dollar bill. People are dying at the expense of money. All these broken promises.  

 

Work Cited

Bandler, Aaron. “9 Biggest Problems With Trumpcare.” Daily Wire, The Daily Wire, 8 Mar.2017,http://www.dailywire.com/news/14226/9-biggest-problems-trumpcare-aaron-b

Brownlee, Shannon, and Vikas Saini. “Corrupt Health Care Practices Drive Up Costs And Fail Patients.” The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 26 May 2017, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/corrupt-health-care-practices-drive-up-costs-and-fail-patients_us_59286dd9e4b053f2d2ac51f0.

The New York Times, The New York Times, 18 Nov. 2014, .

Himmelstein, David U. and Steffie Woolhandler. “Trumpcare or Transformation.”
American Journal of Public Health, vol. 107, no. 5, May 2017, pp. 660-661. EBSCOhost, doi:10.2105/AJPH.2017.303729.

Hoffman, Daniel R. “How today’s corrupt health care system is about to get worse.” Philly.com, 5 Dec. 2016, .

Johnston, Ian. “Dying man who couldn’t afford to go to hospital after vomiting blood left moving final message on Facebook.” The Independent, Independent Digital News and Media, 28,Aug.2017, www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/conan-soranno-couldnt-affor

D-private-healthcare-los-angeles-photographer-vomited-blood-a7916191.html.

Partanen, Anu. “The Fake Freedom of American Health Care.” The New York Times The New York Times, 18 Mar. 2017,

 

Pieterse, Pieternella and Tom Lodge. “When Free Healthcare Is Not Free. Corruption

and Mistrust in Sierra Leone’s Primary Healthcare System Immediately Prior to

the Ebola Outbreak.” International Health (1876-3413), vol. 7, no. 6, Nov. 2015,

  1. 400-404. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1093/inthealth/ihv024.

 

Ross, Millar, et al. “It’s All about the Money? A Qualitative Study of Healthcare Worker

Motivation in Urban China.” International Journal for Equity in Health, vol. 16,

07 July 2017, pp. 1-9. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1186/S12939-017-0616-9.

 

“Ten Reasons Why American Health Care Is so Bad.” The American Prospect,

prospect.org/article/ten-reasons-why-american-health-care-so-bad

 

“This is how American health care kills people.” The Week – All you need to know about

everything that matters, 19 Jan. 2017, theweek.com/articles/666799/how-american-health-care-kills-people.

Work Cited

 

Bandler, Aaron. “9 Biggest Problems With Trumpcare.” Daily Wire, The Daily Wire, 8

 

Mar.2017,

 

http://www.dailywire.com/news/14226/9-biggest-problems-trumpcare-aaron-b

 

andler#.

 

 

 

Brownlee, Shannon, and Vikas Saini. “Corrupt Health Care Practices Drive Up Costs

 

And Fail Patients.” The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 26 May 2017,

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/corrupt-health-care-practices-drive-up-costs-and-fail-patients_us_59286dd9e4b053f2d2ac51f0.

 

 

 

Groopman, Pamela Hartzband And Jerome. “How Medical Care Is Being Corrupted.”

 

The New York Times, The New York Times, 18 Nov. 2014, http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/19/opinion/how-medical-care-is-being-corrupted.html.

 

 

 

Himmelstein, David U. and Steffie Woolhandler. “Trumpcare or Transformation.”

 

American Journal of Public Health, vol. 107, no. 5, May 2017, pp. 660-661. EBSCOhost, doi:10.2105/AJPH.2017.303729.

 

 

 

Hoffman, Daniel R. “How today’s corrupt health care system is about to get worse.”

 

Philly.com, 5 Dec. 2016, http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/healthcare/How-todays-corrupt-health-care-system-is-about-to-get-worse.html.

 

 

 

Johnston, Ian. “Dying man who couldn’t afford to go to hospital after vomiting blood left moving

 

final message on Facebook.” The Independent, Independent Digital News and Media,

 

28,Aug.2017, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/conan-soranno-couldnt-affor

 

D-private-healthcare-los-angeles-photographer-vomited-blood-a7916191.html.

 

 

 

Partanen, Anu. “The Fake Freedom of American Health Care.” The New York Times

 

The New York Times, 18 Mar. 2017, http://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/18/opinion/the-fake-freedom-of-american-health-care.html

 

 

 

Pieterse, Pieternella and Tom Lodge. “When Free Healthcare Is Not Free. Corruption

 

and Mistrust in Sierra Leone’s Primary Healthcare System Immediately Prior to

 

the Ebola Outbreak.” International Health (1876-3413), vol. 7, no. 6, Nov. 2015,

 

400-404. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1093/inthealth/ihv024.

 

 

Ross, Millar, et al. “It’s All about the Money? A Qualitative Study of Healthcare Worker

 

Motivation in Urban China.” International Journal for Equity in Health, vol. 16,

 

07 July 2017, pp. 1-9. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1186/S12939-017-0616-9.

 

 

 

“Ten Reasons Why American Health Care Is so Bad.” The American Prospect,

 

prospect.org/article/ten-reasons-why-american-health-care-so-bad

 

 

 

“This is how American health care kills people.” The Week – All you need to know about

 

everything that matters, 19 Jan. 2017, theweek.com/articles/666799/how-american-health-care-kills-people.

Self Reflective Statement- LifeisSublime

Core Value I. My work demonstrates that I used a variety of social and interactive practices that involve recursive stages of exploration, discovery, conceptualization, and development.

Social and interactive practices are important in the writing process, and I didn’t realize that until this course. The way that the class is set up, in a blog, makes interacting with people easy. It allows others to see your work and give feedback, same as myself reading and commenting on my classmates work.  Having the class set up as a blog really helped to be to understand and leave what this core value was and the importance behind it. Throughout all the assignments, I think the one where social interaction helped me the most was the Critical Reading assignment. That assignment was different for each student since we all had to take a section of an article. See what my classmates had posted helped me fully understand my own section because it was able to read their summaries on their section (which some were before mine). I have reached this goal.

Core Value II. My work demonstrates that I placed texts into conversation with one another to create meaning by synthesizing ideas from various discourse communities. 

To fully understand the point being made in a writing assignment, it’s important to create meaning through other texts. This allows the reader to make up their own mind on certain arguments and gives the writer the advantage of using those texts to help support their claims. At first this was a hard thing for me to get down. Adding other writing in your own writing isn’t always easy, but it sure does help when making points/arguments. The assignment that I feel as though I fully understood the meaning of this core value was with the rebuttal assignment. The rebuttal assignment pushed me to show other opinions in order to help support my own. I used other articles to support my argument and successfully got my point across.

Core Value III. My work demonstrates that I rhetorically analyzed the purpose, audience, and contexts of my own writing and other texts and visual arguments.

Before starting a writing assignment it is very important to analyze the purpose that one might be writing this topic for.  The purpose of the writing assignment is very important because it causes the writer to make a decision on how to best go about this writing piece while taking into consideration the audience and the content of the argument. For me personally, before I write anything I like to make an outline. An outline is my own way of analyzing everything before I start the writing process. It allows me to think of my audience and decide which best way to present my argument. I think the assignment that best demonstrates this is the research paper because it was a lot of thoughts coming together for one writing piece.

Core Value IV: My work demonstrates that I have met the expectations of academic writing by locating, evaluating, and incorporating illustrations and evidence to support my own ideas and interpretations.

As a writer you want your work to demonstrate a certain level of professionalism while also getting the points you want to come across to the audience. This can be done efficiently by adding in evidence to support your claims, and also incorporate some of your own personal ideas. In this class I feel I have successfully accomplished those feats. The assignment that best supports that is the causal argument I have written along with my research argument. In that assignment I used other sources to back up my arguments on my own personal opinions. The sources needed to be connected to the point I was making, but once they were my argument was a lot more stronger.

Core Value V. My work demonstrates that I respect my ethical responsibility to represent complex ideas fairly and to the sources of my information with appropriate citation. 

Throughout my time as a writer I have also been taught the importance of ethical responsibility when it comes to citations and giving credit where it is due. At first, I struggled with this. I thought that unless you quote that person word for word you didn’t have to cite them or the source. I learned that it is not the content of the material that needs to be cited, but the idea. If the idea isn’t yours, you must give credit to where and who you got it from. Throughout this semester I have worked harder on getting into s habit of doing that. The research paper is a very good assignment to reference because it has many sources used to help support my ideas.

Annotated Bibliography-LifeisSublime

1.Pieterse, Pieternella and Tom Lodge. “When Free Healthcare Is Not Free. Corruption and Mistrust in Sierra Leone’s Primary Healthcare System Immediately Prior to the Ebola Outbreak.” International Health (1876-3413), vol. 7, no. 6, Nov. 2015, pp. 400-404. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1093/inthealth/ihv024.

Backgroud:  This article explains the distrust that people have towards the government, specially after the Ebola breakout.

How I Used It: I used this to show the reader that the people have already started distrusting the healthcare system ran by our government.

2. Ross, Millar, et al. “It’s All about the Money? A Qualitative Study of Healthcare Worker Motivation in Urban China.” International Journal for Equity in Health, vol. 16, 07 July 2017, pp. 1-9. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1186/S12939-017-0616-9.
Background: This study shed light on the doctors perspective when it comes to helping patients.

How I Used It: I used this to explain to the reader that the doctors are not the ones corrupting the healthcare system; it’s not them that decided the insurance rates.

3. Himmelstein, David U. and Steffie Woolhandler. “Trumpcare or Transformation.” American Journal of Public Health, vol. 107, no. 5, May 2017, pp. 660-661. EBSCOhost, doi:10.2105/AJPH.2017.303729

Background: This article talked about the changes that Donald Trump wants to make to healthcare.

How I Used It: I used it to explain all the changes that our current president would like to make on healthcare, and the outcome that will come of it.

4. Bandler, Aaron. “9 Biggest Problems With Trumpcare.” Daily Wire, The Daily Wire, 8 Mar. 2017, http://www.dailywire.com/news/14226/9-biggest-problems-trumpcare-aaron-bandler#.

Background: Article is about 9 big problems with the new healthcare President Trump is trying to pass called Trumpcare.

How I Used It: This information was used to make the argument that Trumpcare would not be good for the people of this nation. Taxes would go up, insurance rates would skyrocket, and there will be families without healthcare.

5. Partanen, Anu. “The Fake Freedom of American Health Care.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 18 Mar. 2017, http://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/18/opinion/the-fake-freedom-of-american-health-care.html

Background: This article is exploding healthcare for being a money making profit not rather than a system to help the people as promised by our government. It gives a list of why the “freedom” isn’t real.

How I Used It: I used this to help back up my point on the promise that the government has broke with our people. I used it to help give a definition of the word freedom and how that word doesn’t describe our healthcare.

6. Brownlee, Shannon, and Vikas Saini. “Corrupt Health Care Practices Drive Up Costs And Fail Patients.” The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 26 May 2017, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/corrupt-health-care-practices-drive-up-costs-and-fail-patients_us_59286dd9e4b053f2d2ac51f0.

Background: This article is about the prices of health insurance rising and the effect it has on patients.

How I Used It: I used this article to explain the morals the government has when it comes to it’s people and money. Proving the point that the government rather have more money in their pockets even if it’s at the expense of people’s health/life.

7. “This is how American health care kills people.” The Week – All you need to know about everything that matters, 19 Jan. 2017, theweek.com/articles/666799/how-american-health-care-kills-people.

Background: This article is also about how the healthcare system is harming the people of the public. It explains that the end result of not being able to afford health insurance could be death.

How I Used It: I used this article to back up my statement on the government having no morality when it comes to the people they are here to serve. Money is more important because people are dying as a result.

8. Hoffman, Daniel R. “How today’s corrupt health care system is about to get worse.” Philly.com, 5 Dec. 2016, http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/healthcare/How-todays-corrupt-health-care-system-is-about-to-get-worse.html.

Background: This article explains the decline of the American Health care system. It compares it to other countries and how it was in previous years to show it’s decline.

How I Used It: I used this article to show the reader that the health care system isn’t improving even though politicians want to say that it is. This article helps with factual evidence that even though we claim to be the best, we aren’t.

9. Groopman, Pamela Hartzband And Jerome. “How Medical Care Is Being Corrupted.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 18 Nov. 2014, http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/19/opinion/how-medical-care-is-being-corrupted.html.

Background: This article talks about the corruption of the healthcare system and how it is effecting the care that people receive due to it.

How I Used It: I used this article to futher prove my point that this isn’t just money corruption but corruption of the people. People are getting hurt, more sick, and losing their lives over the health care system wanting to make more money.

10. “Ten Reasons Why American Health Care Is so Bad.” The American Prospect, prospect.org/article/ten-reasons-why-american-health-care-so-bad

Background: This article talks gives 10 reasons on why the American health care system is not a good one to be in place. It explains the outcomes of the healthcare system and why it needs to be changed.

How I Used It: I used this article to show my readers that the health care system needs to change to something better for the people that will be more efficient and less costly.

Rebuttal Argument-LifeisSublime

Our government doesn’t care to help the people it was built to serve.  Looking over the healthcare system in progress makes that statement more true because it become proves the point that everything the government sets out to do it for money. The other side of this argument would be that the government does help it’s people, and the healthcare system is there to help us; that side is wrongly mistaken on morals though if that’s the case.

The healthcare system currently being used by American’s all around the country is relatively new. It was put in place by Trump shortly after taking office; he changed the policies, prices, and name to what was initially ObamaCare. Newly name, TrumpCare doesn’t provide healthcare for all, but only for people who could afford it. Along with all the other bills people need to pay, healthcare insurance premiums have skyrocketed making it almost impossible for families to make enough to have it.  For people who then decide not get health insurance, maybe to cut out that monthly bill, and then happen to admitted into the hospital will have a surcharge of more than 30%. What the point is is that most of this is all for those dollar bills to multiply and grow, and at what expense? The expense of the people that the government has vowed to serve, their people getting sick and dying because they don’t make enough to live a stable life. Money over morals, and if you ask me that’s pretty messed me, because people should never be compared to money.

 

Work Cited

http://www.dailywire.com/news/14226/9-biggest-problems-trumpcare-aaron-bandler#

 

Robust Verbs-LifeisSublime

There is a huge problem in Vancouver with heroin addicts committing crimes to support their habits. The “free heroin for addicts” program is doing everything they can to stop the addicts. The problem is that there is a large crime rate due to the addicts. It is obvious that addicts have a hard time getting through their day to day lives. Daily activities such as jobs, interactions, and relationships are hard to maintain because of the fact that they are using. By heroin users being addicted, they will do whatever they have to do to get their hands on the drug. The types of crimes committed are those of breaking and entering as well as stealing. There are no limits to where they will go to retrieve this drug so that they can feed their addiction. The problem with this program is that it won’t help to ween these addicts off using heroin. It is only trying to save the city from rising crime rates that they’re up to. By providing the drug, these addicts will be off the streets, which in turn will prevent them from committing minor street crimes. This will also keep the heroin users out of the hospital. It is pointless that the hospitals have to deal with people that want to use bad drugs or unsanitary needles and find themselves being unable to afford hospital bills and hard to cope without the drug. This program gives people free heroin in the cleanest way possible. This will in turn fix the city  but not the addiction that these people face.

 

Revised

Vancouver has a huge problem with heroin addicts committing crimes to support their habits. The “free heroin for addicts” program is doing everything they can to stop the addicts. The crime rate has increased due to theses addictions, which is a problem for the people of Vancouver. Addicts have a hard time getting through the day. Dailey activities such as jobs, interactions, and relationships are harder to maintain as an addict of heroin. Addictions cause people to act out in order to obtain the drug they crave. In order to get the drugs, addicts have resorted to breaking and entering and stealing to fund their addiction. The limits are endless as to what addicts would do to get their hands on their drug of choice. The issues facing this program involved not actually helping people ween off of a harmful drug, instead it controls the rate of crimes being committed by people suffering with addiction. The program insures taking these people off the streets, avoiding minor street crimes, and out of the hospital. Hospitals don’t have time to deal with people who’s only intention is to use a bad drug, especially when the hospital bills aren’t getting paid. “Free heroin for addicts” gives people free heroin in the cleanest and safest way possible. The program will fix the city and clean up the street crime, but will not help the people suffering from addiction.

Enough About You-LifeisSublime

“Money seems to have a big role in our society; you can’t do much or get far if you don’t have any. Money is valuable in different ways, even when you don’t see it physically. In today’s society you must have faith in the government and in the banking system that your money is being handled in the proper manner; if not, then you would have to hide all of your money under your mattress or around your house. I have no clue what happens in the banks, or how they take care of your money. I always thought money was simple; you either have some or you don’t—that’s it. However, being introduced to this assignment, the Yap Fei, US gold, French francs, Brazilian cruzeros, and debit accounts now seem similar. You don’t actually see your money being transferred. When you get paid, you aren’t handed cash, you don’t receive a physical check, the money’s all directly transferred to your bank account, and you just have to trust that you got more money.”

 

Revised

Money seems to have a big role in our society, not much can be done without it. Money is valuable in different ways, even when it’s not seen physically. In today’s society, it’s expected to have faith in the government and in the banking system to handle everyone’s money in a proper manner; if the faith isn’t there we would have to resort to hiding money in mattresses and in the home. I don’t know what the bank does with the money, or how it’s handled. I always had a simple image on money, it’s either there to use or it’s not–that’s it. However being introduced to this assignment, the Yap Fei, US Gold, French Francs, Brazilian Cruzeros, and debit accounts now seem similar. The money isn’t actually seen being transferred. When a paycheck is administered the individual doesn’t receive cash, not even a physical check anymore. The money is transferred right to the bank account; the process just has to be trusted.

White Paper- LifeisSublime

Content Description:

  • The problems with our healthcare system
  • Current political standings on healthcare
  • Definition of morality and how it shouldn’t contain money
  • The notion that freedom is in fact not free
  1. Working Hypothesis 

a. Working Hypothesis 1

The problem with the American healthcare system is the lack of morality when it comes to human lives over money.

b. Working Hypothesis 2

There is a false definition to the word freedom when it comes to the American healthcare system.

2. Topics for Smaller Papers

a. Definition/Classification Argument

Freedom is the word most people think of when it comes to America. We built this country on the sole bases of freedom and all that it represents. It’s not clear when all that seemed to changed, but the country we live in today is, by definition, not free. When it comes to the American healthcare the foundation of our country is shaken; the system doesn’t care about the people of this country but the money in their pockets, exploding the sick for profit. That isn’t what freedom means or represents.

b. Cause/Effect Argument

Everyday people suppress the need to go to the doctors. That could be because of white-coat syndrome, but most of the time it’s because they can’t afford to. After Trump took office Obamacare was changed to Trumpcare and people lost the ability to freely visit their local physicians because of the new regulations and prices. With less people getting help, more people are sick. That leaves room for more people getting sick, and even worse, more people dying. Money will be the ultimate killer, but it will be the lack of it that kills most Americans because they can’t afford healthcare.

c.  Rebuttal Argument

America’s healthcare is said to be the best in the country. We have the highest level of advanced technology, the smartest doctors, and a pill for practically anything. With that being said, it might be understandable why the cost of healthcare is high. What can not be understood is the expectation of the American people to have that money to afford the best of the best.

3. Current State of My Research Paper

My research paper is going well. I have come up with new angles of argument for my topic which I feel helps make a better argument. I have many sources to back up my points that allow me to fully explain why my position is the right one to be in. The next step for me would be to start putting word on paper (..or in the blog post). I have organized the way I want to approach this paper and now all that’s left to do it write it out and start revising.

 

Links/Sources:

  1. The Fake Freedom of American Health Care https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/18/opinion/the-fake-freedom-of-american-health-care.html

2. Corrupt Healthcare Practices Drive Up Costs and Fail Patients https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/corrupt-health-care-practices-drive-up-costs-and-fail-patients_us_59286dd9e4b053f2d2ac51f0

3. This is How American Healthcare Kills People   http://theweek.com/articles/666799/how-american-health-care-kills-people

4. How Today’s Corrupt Healthcare System is About to Get Worse   http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/healthcare/How-todays-corrupt-health-care-system-is-about-to-get-worse.html

5. How Medical Care is Being Corrupted    https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/19/opinion/how-medical-care-is-being-corrupted.html

6. Ten Reason Why American Health Care is so Bad                     http://prospect.org/article/ten-reasons-why-american-health-care-so-bad

 

Definition Argument- LifeisSublime

“Home of the brave, land of the free.” That’s the motto our country acquired when we broke lose from he British and set up our own society with new laws and morals. The land of the free was a message that spread all over the world, upsetting some countries, but changed the mind of young explores and immigrants to pack everything they owned to come over and share the freedom America advertised. As the story typical goes though, what is advertised isn’t always what you get, and that was a the case of the land of the free. Nothing here is free, not even help.

As a country with a government and people to serve, a healthcare system was put in place to help people obtain medication, doctor visits, and anything else they needed to live a health lifestyle. America installed a healthcare system that they claim is the best, with the most advance technology and the best treatment for clients. The catch with that is, it’s not free. Nothing is really free, but when you can’t afford basic medication to help the cold you have subside just so you can go to work, there tends to be an issue. The healthcare system in America as a logo of helping the people, but the reality of it is the need for wealth. Looking behind the curtain, you can clearly see the corruptness that comes from money, but even worse, exploiting the people that can’t go anywhere else but the bottom of their pockets for the help they desperately need.

When I was about 12 years old I was driving home with my parents and siblings from staying the weekend at my grandparents. We were on the parkway stopped at a red light listening to music, singing along to the lyrics. Right and the light was about to change, a red car sped directly across the intersection T-boning another car. Both of them spinning out of control, went up a curb, and didn’t stop until they hit the trees on the other side. I saw the whole thing, but what I remember from that day is far more chilling then just the sound of metal on metal. My father jumped out of the car and ran over to the lady in the red car. He yanked her car door off, making sure she was okay as a man did the same for the lady in the other car. When he opened the door the woman was crying and repeating the words, “I can’t go to the hospital, please don’t take me to the hospital, I can’t afford health insurance.” Those words stuck with me as the lady cried them out over and over again, making them more meaningful when the ambulance arrived on scene. This woman who was just in a car accident wasn’t concern with her well-being, but more about the fact that she couldn’t afford medical attention, hospitalization, and all the money that gets dished out to recover.

The bottom line is that our freedom isn’t free if that means that everyday people can’t afford to go to the doctor, to get that medication, to get that procedure done. People can’t afford to live because our government thrives on the profit rather than the fact of saving lives. Healthcare shouldn’t be an option but an olive branch the government should be extending to their people that they promised to serve. Make the motto of America not just a motto but a fact, because right now people are dying because of dollar signs and that alone is sickening.

 

 

 

 

Proposal+5- LifeisSublime

For my research paper I have decided to change the topic. My original argument was going to be on whether or not Sigmund Freud deserves to be the father of psychology, but after some deliberation I have come to the conclusion that an argument like that isn’t worth the ammunition. So after pulling my hair out of my head all weekend long I have finally chosen a new topic to discuss. My topic will now be the heartlessness that comes with the American Healthcare system . My argument will be that healthcare in the United States isn’t about helping people, and extend/bettering people’s lives, it’s about the money. There are numerous occasions of people dying or suffering because they don’t have the money to pay for treatment or medication. Families that are left with the burden, and we are the only country that does this. Corruption with the one system people should feel safe in, and no one is talking about it, until now.

  1. The Fake Freedom of American Health Care https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/18/opinion/the-fake-freedom-of-american-health-care.html

Essential Content of the Article: This article is about the healthcare system in America currently. It talks about the ups and the downs the healthcare system has faced in the last few years dealing with Obamacare and Trumps view on things. It sheds some light on the standing that the Republican and Democratic parties have on the issues within the system. In a nutshell, this article is comparing the American healthcare system to other countries and give a better understanding within the political parties.

What it proves: This article proves that politicians and the government really don’t care about the people that these systems are trying to help. It proves that the main focus is the money that will come out of it and, maybe more important, the money going into it. The article provides a quote from republican representative for Utah and gives a clear direction on his takes about the issues of American’s not being able to afford healthcare.

2. Corrupt Healthcare Practices Drive Up Costs and Fail Patients https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/corrupt-health-care-practices-drive-up-costs-and-fail-patients_us_59286dd9e4b053f2d2ac51f0

Essential Content of the Article: This article is specifically talking about the rising cost of healthcare and the inner workings of the budget cut that Trump is making. It discusses how the spending cost hasn’t dropped and that healthcare isn’t worried about the patients anymore but more on the money that flows in. This article is very informative on today’s view of the healthcare system and gives some insight on the issues at hand.

What it proves: This articles proves the idea and argument that the healthcare system in America isn’t for the patients anymore, but for the money that each business profits out of this. It breaks down where the money is going and how it’s divided between the pharmacies, hospitals, and insurance company. The patient gets lost in the exchange of money and all they become is new client to make a profit off of.

3. This is How American Healthcare Kills People   http://theweek.com/articles/666799/how-american-health-care-kills-people

Essential Content of the Article: This article is about an actual person and his experience with the American Healthcare system. It tells his story as a man pursuing his doctoral in history and becoming devastatingly ill with autoimmune hepatitis. His story doesn’t stop with his diagnosis, but starts because of the torment the healthcare system has put him through. All for a sick man’s health, something we should all have the right to, and he can’t afford it. The article goes into detail about the issues he faced and how the issues of the American healthcare system are killing people.

What it proves: I personally think that this will be a very important piece in my research paper. It proves the corruption of the healthcare system from a patients point of view. It’s a personal story of the healthcare system not doing it’s job helping, but killing people based on the pursue of profit. This man is dying, and needs help, but without the funds to get it he is on his own. This article proves that in a personal sense and this is important for my argument.

4. How Today’s Corrupt Healthcare System is About to Get Worse   http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/healthcare/How-todays-corrupt-health-care-system-is-about-to-get-worse.html

Essential Content of the Article: This article is about how our healthcare system isn’t even at it’s worse, but it’s about to be. This article explains the current situation that America is facing with healthcare and with Trump as our new leader. Trump has plans to change somethings within the healthcare system, but the question is whether or not it’s going to help or hinder us as the people. The article claims that it will hurt us and gives reasons and examples as to why.

What it proves: The article proves the next moves that the Trump administration are about to make regarding the American healthcare. It goes into detail about where the money will be heading and how each state will now have a changed budget with can go either way when it comes to being beneficial or not. The article proves what will be happening to the healthcare system in the years to come with Trump as our president. It proves that it is getting worse.

5. How Medical Care is Being Corrupted    https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/19/opinion/how-medical-care-is-being-corrupted.html

Essential Content of the Article: This article is about the position and roles the doctors have in the corruption that is happening within our healthcare system. It talks about the relationships between doctors and their patients and how the public feels they can’t trust their physicians. The insurance companies and hospitals have put together contracts that wrongfully have “pay for performance” incorporated into it. This is breaking the bridge between the patients and the physicians because it’s affecting the treatment and overall interaction with the patients.

What it proves: This article proves two things. The doctors involvement with the corruption, and the patient outcome. Doctors are not doing all that they can to help because they get a cap on money and get money for the way they handle treatment. It’s hurting the people that they have taken an oath to help and it’s wrong. It’s almost as if the physicians are getting bullied into this because of the paycheck they will receive for it, but at what cost?

A04: Stone Money Rewrite- LifeisSublime

Money is a Concept

Money is a concept. It’s a concept created by human beings in order to simplify trade and distribute power. Whether is be with paper, plastic, stones or some made up currency, the thought of money was utilized to make it easier to buy things and to produce a name for someone in a town where they are know for their financial standing. With all that being said it’s time that people look at money, not as how much they personally have in the bank, but as something that exists but doesn’t, something that’s important but isn’t, and something that was made on the grounds of trade, nothing more, nothing less.

In order to understand that money is nothing more than an organizational tactic for trade, you must understand what money is for the people of the Yap islands. The island of Yap is a very small island located in the Pacific Ocean. This tiny island wouldn’t even be something to talk about if it wasn’t for their currency and how they perceive the values of it. On this island people use huge stoned carved into circles to represent money. The family with the biggest and nicest stone was to be consider the most wealthy. These stones where carved on a certain island within this island chain and brought to the island of Yaps once they were finished. One family ordered a stone so beautiful and big that it would hold their financial standing up among everyone else. On the boat ride back, with the giant stone aboard, the working men claimed that the stone fell out of the boat and sank to the bottom of the ocean floor. Coming back to shore empty handed would have made most people extremely upset that their prize possession now a wonderful addition to the coral reef, but not for the people on this island. The family didn’t fret at all because they still, in a way, owned the stone and everyone also knew that. The philosophy that these people have regarding their currency is that if the town knows you have it, then it’s yours. So no matter whether or not the stone is present for trade or becoming a wonderful home for the fishes, the value of the stone still stands and it stands for the family that is know for having it. That is a very interesting take on money. These people use stone circles, compared to the dollar bills in our wallets, but don’t even need to have it on them to be considered “good for it”. Their currency is based upon trust and community, the actual thing that “holds value” doesn’t even need to be present to stand the value. That’s pretty incredible and proves that money is a concept, especially to these people.

Over in Brazil, in the 1980’s, their economy was facing a major downfall. This problem had been brewing since the 1950’s and it stemmed from overproduction of money. Brazil was looking at an 80% inflation rate per month. Meaning that if something cause $1 this month, it would cost $2 the next month. In order to fix this problem the president pulled in a couple of guys straight out of college and put their plan to save the economy in place. They needed to slow the production of money while installing the people’s faith back into the currency since everyone bought in bulk out of fear of the inflation. They created URV’s, Unit of Real Value, which, despite the name, wasn’t real at all; it was virtual. The URV’s were given to the people and instructed them to use it just like money. The catch was the value that they held; the inflation was still climbing but instead of paying $1 you payed 1 URV, and next month instead of paying that $2 you payed 1 URV. URV’s held value for everything purchasable in Brazil but the prices never changed. Eventual the currency balanced out and Brazil actually started using the URV’s as their permanent use of money. So for Brazil the people were using money that wasn’t real, and like the people of the Yap islands, the value wasn’t there. The people didn’t know how much each URV was valued at, but it didn’t stop them from spending and circulation the wealth which fixed their problem in the end. Money is a concept in Brazil because the value isn’t always there and it doesn’t matter.

To make this more relatable I looked up the economy that America has been facing for the past decade and tried to compare it to both Yap and Brazil. In America we pass around paper bills that supposably are worth, or were worth gold (gold being the most valuable thing on the Earth at one point). Paper versus gold. Then it occurred to me that not everyone gets paper dollars, physical, but paper checks that claim that money is known as yours, non-physical. That is the same as having a URV that is claiming to be something when you never actually see the physical worth of it, it’s just numbers on a piece of paper, or more recently, digits that change when you check your bank accounts. Having money “known as yours” sounds very similar to having that rock in the water but still knowing that the worth of it is yours. Comparing what I know from the island of Yap and Brazil, this isn’t an uncommon thing. Even in todays day in age and in America is money still concept. Its a circulation of paper that isn’t even present at the time of exchange. Money is a concept here as well.

Money, or should I say currency,  has lots of power on a lot of things, but when you boil it all down does it really hold value to it? After analyzing Yap, Brazil, and America on their currencies and how they use them I have come to the conclusion that although currency and money is a very useful system of trade, it has become more of a concept than a physical action. Money is a concept, and the proof is in your wallet.

 

Works Cited

Friedman, Milton. “The Island of Stone Money.” n.d. Diss. Hoover Institution, Stanford     University, 1991.

“The Invention of Money.” This American Life. N.p., n.d. Web

Thomas, M. (2014, October 13). What a stronger dollar means for the economy. Retrieved September 10, 2017, from https://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-will-a-strengthening-dollar-affect-the-us-economy/