SOC 490 Blog Week 4

In every health care system around the globe, there are flaws. The trick is to find which flaws work best within a specific nation. Another idea is for leaders of each country to learn from other mistakes and make sure that those issues do not come upon their respective nations. So for the United States to look at the Roman approach of healthcare, the question is what is better about the Italian health care system? First, what are the main differences between the American health care system and the Italian health care system? Universal health care. Italy has it; America does not. This specific reasoning will vary among whom the question is asked. Somebody else may think that this is the worst part about the Italian health care system, but I truly believe that universal health care is what is missing in the United States. 

Karin Robinson writes in her essay, The Universal Health Care Systems of Other Countries Provide Better Care for Less Money, that European countries' health care systems involve a form of universal health care and they are cheaper than the US system, they cover everyone, and deliver a better quality of care.  She goes on to compare the Britains health care system to ours in the United States; keeping in mind that the Britains system is similar to Italy's. I thought a good point made besides the other three points I already pointed out is that Britain spends 8% of their annual GDP on their healthcare system while the United States spends 15%. Imagine if we could create a healthcare system similar to Britains, and use the annual GDP that should be left over to fill in the flaws with the new system. Sounds like a plan to me!

There are certain parts of our health that are in our control. For example, one has a choice to be in shape and workout rather than sit on the couch and eat unhealthy food. This can lead to obesity, which is not good.  Also, if one chooses to smoke they are not doing good to their body and could cause heart problems or lung cancer. Those are some of the ideas of health that we have control over.  Getting certain terminal issues, such as cancer, are sometimes out of our control. We also can't control our heredity of health.  If my ancestors have had a history of colon cancer, the odds of me being diagnosed with colon cancer are greater. These are some examples that are out of control. It is easy to control our "basic" health such as exercising and eating right, but there is nothing you can do about your heredity. 

Two of our most recent tours have related to some form of health care. First I would like to start with the museum of medical arts.  I literally have no idea how anybody could enjoy this! Well, I guess I do understand why some people enjoy it because it is their profession, or soon will be, but I was ready to pass out at any point. We observed wax models of how some babies say incorrectly in the uterus. We also got to see babies that were preserved after dying following birth. Yes, this was enough to make me vomit, and it was the first room we visited! The final rooms contained old tools doctors used to perform their procedures. All I have to say is thank god we are much more advanced than we used to be! 

The museum of the mind did a lot of explaining about how the nuns took care of the "crazy" people. These patients were all scitsifrenic. We went through a few illusions to the eye, which I found pretty interesting. The technology used in this museum to present tourists with information was like magic! All we had to do was touch a specific part of a table and a video would be shown.