Current Health Care System

My initial thoughts to this presentation by Rebecca Onie was that our current health system needs major help. Our health care system was designed to help us maintain our health, yet currently all it is really doing is treating it. I found it really interesting that during 1965, a doctor from Mississippi began prescribing food to malnourished patients and the grocery stores charged it to his pharmacy's budget. Currently, in the United States over 50 years later people patients waiting in clinic's are still malnourished, homeless or lack the basic care. This relates back to my definition of health as stated in my previous discussion post, health is being able to support yourself and the basic tasks of life. If people are unclothed, have poor housing or no food it is difficult for them to be healthy. After watching this presentation, I believe that in order to be healthy we must provide resources and steps to help guide Americans into a healthier lifestyle, this would help …show more content…
If we are able to educate Americans about the life choices they make, we could reduce illness associated with poor diet and exercise, as well as smoking or sexually transmitted diseases as listed in the textbook. Some people are genetically predisposed to a medical condition, which is considered the third detriment. However, if we are able to educate those individuals on a healthy lifestyle we may prevent or at least lessen the severity of the illness. The fourth detriment is Medical Care, currently our health care system focuses more on treating medical conditions rather than preventing them. This causes increased insurance costs and more training for medical staff which also costs a lot. Disease prevention initiatives like the Healthy People 2020, were designed to help provide resources, educate individuals, and prevent illnesses. This all relates to the video we watched in class about the Health Lead