Chapter 2
When members of a society have unequal access to healthcare institutions and the
standard of service is subpar in comparison to the expense, healthcare is viewed as a social
problem. The American healthcare system is highly unequally allocated. Race and
socioeconomic level have a direct impact on the accessibility and usage of medical treatment.
People in the lower classes typically have greater rates of untreated illnesses and disabilities, as
well as higher mortality rates for most diseases, than do people in the middle and upper classes.
The expense of receiving healthcare is a factor in the disparity in access to it. Between
1980 and 2007, the expense of healthcare multiplied by seven. The high cost of healthcare in the
US is largely due to the price of prescription medications. Aspects of lifestyle, such as heavy
drinking and tobacco use, poor food, and lack of exercise, are cultural variables that drive up the
expense of healthcare in the United States. In the US and other wealthy countries, obesity is a
serious health issue.
Many Americans do not have proper health coverage. There are still a significant number
of people without access to health insurance, either public or private, despite the fact that public
insurance programs (Medicaid and Medicare) have assisted the poor and aged in getting better
access to healthcare. The likelihood of not having health insurance rises with one's ethnicity.
Women have fought for the legal right to end undesired pregnancies through safe, non-
exploitative abortions as well as for increased control over their own medical treatment,
particularly in the fields of obstetrics and gynecology. These include initiatives to improve
midwives' acceptance, lessen medical involvement during childbirth, and boost research on
women's health issues. People who are handicapped face unique issues because of their
condition. They have high rates of unemployment, and the majority are low-income.
A number of ethical questions, including how to define when death occurs and whether
people have a right to die, have been raised by improved medical technologies and life-
prolonging procedures. Due to the AIDS epidemic, social issues around healthcare have gotten
much worse. However, the risk of infection is rising among the heterosexual population. The
illness is most common among homosexuals and intravenous drug users. There is currently no
treatment for it, and the sole barrier to the virus's ability to spread is behavioral modification.
Social class, in the opinion of conflict theorists, greatly influences the illnesses that
members of a home experience and the kind of healthcare they receive. Functionalist
explanations of medical issues concentrate on characteristics of medical institutions themselves.
According to the interactionist view of healthcare issues, lifestyle factors like smoking, passive
smoking, and eating poorly and not exercising all play a part.
Congress passed significant healthcare reform legislation in March 2010. The following
are some of the most important elements of the bill. The first being, adults and kids who had
previously been denied coverage because of preexisting conditions became eligible for access to
healthcare. Secondly, insurance companies won't be able to exclude people from coverage when
they become ill, nor will they be permitted to impose lifetime maximums on healthcare
expenditures to the covered. Also prohibited are annual limits. Third, children can continue to
use their parents' health insurance up until the age of 26. Fourth, small enterprises who provide
