Brasfeild Ch.6-9

The last chapters of Brasfield, which includes chapter six through chapter nine, wrapped up what we have discussed throughout this semester pretty well. Chapter six's main topic of discussion was log-term care. The themes that Brasfield covered in chapter six included how care has changed, the policies that implement such care, the different diseases that elderly people are at risk of getting, insurance coverage for the elderly, and mental health. All of the previous topics interested me but one story stuck out. Brasfield had a student in a health policy class that was from Nigeria and at the end of a discussion during class he stood up and gave his view on nursing homes. The student made the argument that our parents raised us and taught us most of everything that we know about life, so why should we, as their children, desert them and not care for them when they are older and in need of our love and care. In Nigeria the children keep their parents and cared for them in the comfort of the home. This story stuck out to me because in todays society nursing homes are something that Generation Y assumes is a necessity for their parents in the future and I personally think part of the reason for that view is because of the health care institutions that the United States has today. Throughout chapter seven the health care reform was discussed. I didn't find chapter seven very interesting because it was a lot of repeated information about the policies and legislation that the health reform has required. Chapter eight was about how other countries implement health care and what kind of systems they have. One quote from chapter eight I found really intriguing was as follows, "The practice of medicine is the same but the financial and administrative systems differ". the different countries that were mentioned throughout chapter eight included the United Kingdom, Canada, and Germany. The United Kingdom has a system called NHS and every citizen has single health care. Canada has a system which says that the thirteen different provinces and territories operates under their own system which are formed under national guidelines. Also what I found interesting was that Germany's insurance system which includes the health system is the oldest in the world. Lastly in chapter nine Brasfield discusses what health care will look like in the year 2021. Basically, Brasfield predicts that the recovery from the recession will still be in the process of fixing, the federal budget will be high, and health care expenditures will have risen. All in all I enjoyed this book because it was partly politically focused and it discussed major issues in health care in the past, present, and future.