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The family unit and the health care system The family unit has been slowly disintegrating like The Soviet Union. Uncles and aunts left for distant places and came back seldom. Sometimes only grandma and grandpa were left in the old homestead. Grandchildren came to visit in the holidays, if they were in the same country. Now even Mom and dad are splitting with single parent families being 53 % of Americas family type.
Formerly, health care was a primary concern of the family. When a person fell ill, he or she was automatically looked after by the rest of the family mostly at home. Babies were born at home. A disabled or chronically ill person always found space within the family.
The family automatically geared all activities so that the person with special needs could be included. People worked around the home so that someone was always available to the sick person. Neighbors dropped in to visit and cheer up the patient. Now when most people work outside the home for a living, a sick person becomes a great liability.
If the illness is temporary, then the other members of the family may stay home from work or school alternately to look after the patient. In the case of long hospitalization, then its a case of only visits to the patient. Health care policies have addressed the changes in the family by stepping with total care during hospitalization. If sufficiently insured, then the health care system takes care of the person with nurse, physiotherapist, social worker, dietitian etc all being provided by the system. The employer and coworkers now play a great part in a persons life, replacing community life of yesteryear's. In the U.
S. , health care providers, insurers, employers, and the government are all unofficial partners in a complicated and loosely defined health care "system. " Most Americans have some form of private health insurance sponsored by employers. A sizable share have government-sponsored insurance, with those over 65 years of age covered by a federal program (Medicare) and some poor children and their families eligible for a state-federal program (Medicaid). [ 1 ] But still, 45 million Americans lack health insurance because of high premium costs. The average cost for a family health insurance policy topped $ 10, 000 for the first time this year, although premium costs rose at their slowest rate since 2000. The Kaiser survey found three out of five employers (60 %) offered coverage, down from 69 % five years earlier, with most losses in small companies. Among employers with 200 or more workers, 98 % offer health coverage. [ 2 ] Health care costs are rising at a double-digit rate and is a national front burner policy issue.
While there have been improvements in access to publicly sponsored coverage under Medicaid and SCHIP, there has also been continual erosion in employer-sponsored coverage, the mainstay of health coverage for non-elderly Americans. With everyone being busy, its hard for people to take care of sick people. It involves a great deal of patience, time and money which people are in short supply of with increasingly stressed, busy life styles. Before, the community would step in when a family, maybe with a single parent couldnt cope. But now, families are individual units with little support from each other. Caregivers have to be hired.
A sad story when family is still our basic unit of security. And in lower income families, health care may not be something which can be afforded. [ 1 ] - Health Systems, 9 / 14 / 2005 11. 32 p. m. Kaiser Family Foundation web
[ 2 ] - By Julie Appleby, USA TODAY, Average family health policy nears $ 11, 000 web
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Research essay sample on The Family Unit And Health Care System
