Health Care and Urban Poverty

The current patchwork system does not sufficiently stress the need for good preventive care. Every effort must be made to detect and treat health problems at the earliest possible stage of illness. Currently, age-old communicable diseases such as tubercolosis, sexually transmitted diseases, and childhood measles still plague Chicago's poor in disproportionate numbers (Abraham 18). In many cases these diseases may not be life-threatening, but they can lead to more expensive treatments if not caught early enough. The cycle must be broken at some point if the system is ever to be run in an

. . .
ndation grant for that purpose in 1984 but was rejected. Thus, though Medicare covers both rich and poor, poor people such as Mrs. Jackson are much more vulnerable to its shortcomings (Abraham 49). For example, Medicare reimbursement pays a set fee for each patient according to diagnosis, regardless of the length of the hospital stay (Abraham 79). Officials at the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA), which administers Medicare, charge that many centers compromise patients' care by reducing staff and shortening treatment times to increase their profit (Abraham 35). In addition, more affluent elderly people often retire with supplementary health insurance from their employers or buy "Medigap" policies that cover the care Medicare does not. Mrs. Jackson could not afford Medigap insurance and she would be barred from coverage by her "pre-existing" medical conditions anyway (Abraham 49). Abraham notes that Medicaid also suffers from a host of problems. Generally, Medicaid's pay rates to health care providers are so low few doctors practice in poor neighborhoods (Abraham 172). Consequently, mothers often cannot find doctors for their children. In addition, the lack of doctors usually means Medicaid patients are concen
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
Dr Marino, Medicaid Medicare, Medicare Jackson, Instead American, Public Aid, Jackson Abraham, Administration HCFA, Medicaid Abraham, , health care, United States', abraham notes, intended provide, abraham 49, provide services, care abraham, abraham 51, health care services, basic level, level health, elderly people, level health care, intended provide health, intended provide services, basic level health,
Approximate Word count = 1314
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)

More Essays on Health Care and Urban Poverty