Health Care Saving America

The first chapter begins, appropriately enough, by attempting to thoroughly define what a social problem is in general. However, before the chapter even began, I was struck by its earnest title page. There’s something simple, yet powerful, about the picture they selected of a young boy, who can’t be more than 7 years old, holding up a sign that states forthright “Save America.” It’s an image and statement that effectively communicates a philosophy which I believe holds a lot of truth; that the choices we make today as citizens and members of society will impact and therefore hold more importance for the next generation, the children being born today. The decisions today’s leaders make will vastly change the future for the next generation; the

The second chapter covers physical and mental health, as well as the controversial issue of health care coverage. I found it interesting when the author connected the definitions of health and social problems since “each social problem affects the physical, mental, and social well-being of humans and the social group of which they are a part” (p. 28). Personally, I found the life expectancy portion of the chapter the most interesting. In a morbidly curious sense, it’s interesting to predict when you’re going to die. The life expectancy range between developed and least developed countries was alarming to say the least. For example, Japan having one of the world’s highest life expectancy rates at 84 and Sierra Leone having one of the world’s lowest low expectancies rates dropping to 46 which is nearly half of Japan’s projected rate! It’s also incredibly telling that the leading causes of death in wealth, developed countries like the United States are non-communicable diseases often resulting from poor lifestyle choices, for instance heart disease and diabetes which are connected to America’s high rates of obesity compared to the rest of the world. In the least developed countries on the other hand, the impoverished people there die mostly from communicable diseases and infections such as respiratory infections, HIV/AIDS, and tuberculosis. Here in the United States, where although the quality of health care is debatable, very few people would die from the same illnesses because most people have relatively easy access to hospitals, medicines, and vaccines even if they need it far less than those who can’t afford it. I think that technology leading most people to live more sedentary lives is the most crucial cause in these cardiovascular non-communicable diseases which a majority of the people in western countries