The article I read about went straight to the heart of the Health, Medical Care, and Economic Crisis we are currently experiencing. The worldwide economic quandary has had an extraordinary impact on national economies and household finances worldwide.
What is the force of such large distress on individuals and their behavior, especially on their willingness to seek routine medical care? With the great impact numerous Americans decreased their use of usual medical care, which is in direct association with the economic distress brought on by the universal financial catastrophe as measured by wealth loss and unemployment.
The reduction in medical care usage by Americans addresses behavioral changes that reflect the national awareness broadly: The economic crisis in the United States has affected the population at large, perhaps through negative prospect about the future. The main issues that have to be addressed are that people not going to the doctor end up getting sicker and sicker and eventually die from a treatable illness.
The reduction in health-care use by people losing their job; suggests seeking care requires not only out-of-pocket expenses, but also costs of time away from work or job hunting. Reductions in routine care today can lead to unobserved illness tomorrow and reduced individual health and well-being in the distant future. In my readings I found the direct parallel in the cost of healthcare and people seeking care. The more money that a consumer has to spend to go to the doctor keeps them from getting the care they need or the medication that will keep them healthy.
The economic times have caused many families to lose members to treatable illnesses. Additionally, more and more people are ending up in emergency rooms due to the rising costs associated with prescriptions. The preventative care that well-care, routine checkups, and prescriptions provide are becoming less accessible with the rising costs associated to tem. If consumers’ have access to the care needed to stay healthy in these tough economic times there would be less unpaid emergency room visits.
A company needs to find ways to help decrease the employee’s share or find equitable and accessible health care options for their employee’s. In order for a company to be successful and weather the tough economic times they have to ensure that their employees are happy and content. The biggest issue facing employee’s is the rising cost of health care and the tough economic times. This also affects employer’s bottom line and what they are able to offer its employees.
In order to balance out the cost I would advise a company to assess what is important and try to address the following question: Whether medical care increases or decreases in the face of the economic crisis ultimately how can we deal with it successfully? Economic distress’ impact on medical care use is arbitrated by the impact on Employee’s health and their resources to pay for care an employer plays a very important role in how an employee takes care of themselves.
Works Cited
- Ralph Catalano, P. (2010, April 14). Health, Medical Care, and Economic Crisis. The New England Journal of Medicine , Volume 360:749-751.
