ipl-logo

The Jungle Summary

1695 Words7 Pages

In the early twentieth century, when hospitals had just begun sprouting and organized health care had just developed, doctors and treatment were limited and shoddy. After the installation of non-profit healthcare programs in the early 1930’s, workers were reassured, knowing that a mishap at work would not erase their bank savings. Seeking profit, private businesses scrambled into the healthcare marketplace. The sudden influx of private insurers left the original non-profit insurances in the dust, and left the cost of insurance steadily on the rise. Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle captures the challenges proposed to Americans in the early 1900s when health coverage for the poor was minimal, and the dilemmas today’s health care system deals with. …show more content…

Medicals costs were spiraling out of control, twenty-five years later after the launch of Medicaid and Medicare under President Lyndon Johnson in 1965. Statistics revealed that in 1991, Americans spent $733 billion dollars on medical care alone (SOURCE 1). With medical costs soaring, statistic further revealed that millions of Americans were unable to afford basic health care. Only forty percent of low income families received Medicaid, while thirty-seven million Americans were left with no insurance at all (SOURCE 1). Faced with a crumbling health care system, President Obama was forced in 2010 to reform Medicaid with an extension act formally known as the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” (ACA). The “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, widely known as “Obamacare”, ensures that health care is more affordable and accessible, while promoting a stable economy and a more competitive health insurance marketplace. Under the plan, out-of-pocket expenses are reduced for tens of millions of families and small business owners, helping overt thirty-two million Americans afford health care that had no access to it before (SOUCE G). Along with Obamacare’s reformation of health care, Obamacare works to stabilize the budget and economy. By cutting government overspending, waste, fraud, and abuse, the plan will reduce the deficit by more than $100 billion, putting the economy on a more secure

Show More
Related
142 Words | 1 Pages

The Jungle Book Review In 1906, Upton Sinclair published The Jungle to expose how rough the life of immigrants coming to the United States was. This book also exposed unsanitary conditions in meatpacking industry. Upton Sinclair’s main focus in this book was to show how tough life was for immigrants coming to America, but instead he disgusted Americans by the conditions of the meat factories. The book begins with the main character, Jurgis Rudkus, and his wife Ona, having their marriage reception in Chicago. This gives the reader background information about the characters, where they are from, and why they have come to American.

Read More
1655 Words | 7 Pages

One of the author’s reasoning for how taking away ACA would affect Medicaid is back in 2016 legislation tried to step away from it, but former President Barack Obama repealed it because could eventually affect the lives of millions of people. The authors also cover how ACA changed Medicaid for the better, for example creating a program for just children’s coverage, inventing a new method to determine eligibility, and even creating new benefit options for families and small businesses. The author describes how the new Presidential administration can repeal or alter Medicaid through Section 1115. The authors main argument is that by repealing ACA would eliminate the Medicaid system which in turn will allow millions of people to be

Read More
588 Words | 3 Pages

“Healthcare Reform 101,” written by Rick Panning (2014), is a wonderful article that describes, in an easy-to-understand language, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, signed into law March 23, 2010. The main goal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was to provide affordable, quality healthcare to Americans while simultaneously reducing some of the country’s economic problems. Two areas will be covered throughout this paper. The first section will include a summary of the major points and highlights of Panning’s (2014) article, including an introduction to the ACA, goals of the signed legislation, provided coverage, and downfalls of the current healthcare system. The second part will be comprised of a professional

Read More
844 Words | 4 Pages

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, is set in Chicago in the early 1900’s, during the height of social reform known as the Progressive era. The population of Chicago had grown substantially, from 29,000 in 1850 to 1.7million in 1900, due to the influx of immigrants in search of the “American dream”. America was the destination of all in search of freedom, equality and higher wages. The dream promised success in exchange for hard work, determination and morality. The reality was that the “American dream” was just an illusion.

Read More
1860 Words | 8 Pages

While he sought to change the system of labor in the United States with his novel, The Jungle, he instead impacted the food industry, which saw changes in the food and production process. Fortunately for Sinclair, I have discovered why he failed. Unfortunately for Sinclair, I am forty-nine years too late. Sinclair fails to make labor changes through his novel because

Read More
1315 Words | 6 Pages

In 1906, Upton Sinclair released a novel relating the frantic race of hopeless survival of European immigrants in America. The Jungle vents the often overlooked trials and baffling tribulations of Lithuanian newcomers. Upton Sinclair, a well known political activist for the Socialistic party writes this story as a glance into the events happening during his life-span. At the time of The Jungle's publication, Sinclair was twenty-eight years old, and he used the profits from his book to run for Congress. During this time of his life, many things were happening in America: the Industrial Age was at its peak, child labor was running rampant, Immigration through Ellis Island boomed, and the Communistic Witch-Hunt began.

Read More
1205 Words | 5 Pages

There was a kind of labors in the U.S. food industry stood on the floor with half an inch deep blood, and put up with the stench. But not only that, they worked faster, but earned less. In fact, they were immigrant labors, and this horrible treatment of them truly happened in the beginning of twenty centuries. The Jungle which was written by Upton Sinclair documented this inhuman treatment. However, a hundred years later, immigrants still suffer the harsh treatment in the modern food industry.

Read More
1569 Words | 7 Pages

SIGNIFICANT ROADBLOCKS FOR THE UNITED STATES IN THE VIETNAM WAR In Philip Caputo’s book he describes the difficulties that faced the United States Marine Corps in fighting a foreign war in the jungles of Vietnam. The most significant roadblock to success was a fighting force unprepared for Guerilla warfare in the jungles of Vietnam. The other major roadblock was a mental one, which was the mental toll the war took on a military trying to overcome an unfamiliar type of warfare where the enemy was difficult to locate and identify. The lack of a clearly defined path to victory was another psychological impediment for the Americans.

Read More
1741 Words | 7 Pages

Upton Sinclair wrote The Jungle to portray the lives of wage workers in industrialized areas of the United States. His goal in publishing this story was to promote the Socialist movement, but many readers were most concerned with his exposure of health violations and unsanitary production practices in the meatpacking industry. The novel depicts working class poverty, – or “wage slavery” – the absence of social programs, harsh and unpleasant living and working conditions, and the hopelessness that wage workers experienced. He compares these components with the presence of deeply rooted corruption in people with power. During the Gilded Age, corruption was the biggest obstacle preventing workers from achieving prosperity, as well as the most

Read More
1196 Words | 5 Pages

Introduction: Affordable health care, which is what everyone wants. In the documentary “Sick around the World” the host T.R. Reid travels to several countries to learn about their unique healthcare systems and how they work. Now in the United States we have the Affordable Health Care Act or what some people call the Obamacare which was passed into law on March 23, 2010 by President Barack Obama. (HHS). Since then it has been shrouded in controversy and debate among the American public and within members of our government system.

Read More
955 Words | 4 Pages

A Second Look at the Affordable Care Act David E. Mann, ABA American Military University POLS210 Abstract Since the passing of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), twenty-eight states have either filed joint or individual lawsuits to strike down the PPACA. This document will examine a few key elements that the President of the United States must take into consideration when reviewing the act and moving forward to either ratify the act, replace the act, or leave the act as it is. Topics that will be presented will include; the current issues being debated, two competing thoughts on how to fix the ACA, an evaluation of the preferred solution, and finally the responsibility of each level of government. Patient

Read More
741 Words | 3 Pages

The real debate is how can we accomplish the goal of universal healthcare in the most affordable and sustainable way. The United States is evaluated as a wealthy country, yet there are more penurious countries who provide health maintenance, paid through higher taxes. “In the United Kingdom and other European countries, payroll taxes average 37% - much higher than the 15.3% payroll taxes paid by the average US worker” (Gregory). With this data, the only reform would be to end the private health insurance companies of dominant health services, and incorporate a single payer system. Conversely, it is factual that taxes will rise, but the implementation of universal healthcare will better the health of American citizens.

Read More
727 Words | 3 Pages

Health care should not be considered a political argument in America; it is a matter of basic human rights. Something that many people seem to forget is that the US is the only industrialized western nation that lacks a universal health care system. The National Health Care Disparities Report, as well as author and health care worker Nicholas Conley and Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP), strongly suggest that the US needs a universal health care system. The most secure solution for many problems in America, such as wasted spending on a flawed non-universal health care system and 46.8 million Americans being uninsured, is to organize a national health care program in the US that covers all citizens for medical necessities.

Read More
1202 Words | 5 Pages

During the time period of the 1900’s, the meat packaging industry in Chicago, as Sinclair mentions in his novel, The Jungle, was a very unsanitary and extremely dangerous workplace that lacked much more than just a few safety precautions. Simple things, such as enforcing hand washing or workers’ rights were unheard of in the working environment. It is clear that Upton Sinclair was trying to expose the worker’s horrendous labor conditions in order to improve their situation, along with the introduction of socialism. Upton Sinclair, in his novel, talks about how a Lithuanian immigrant by the name of Jurgis Rudkus, and his family, travel to Chicago trying to make ends meet. However, they soon realize Chicago was not the place for that.

Read More
1872 Words | 8 Pages

Rudyard Kipling Imperialist Messages within “The Jungle Book” Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English author, journalist and poet that supported the British Imperialism. He was born in the British India, Bombay. His father Lockwood Kipling, was a sculptor that worked as the head of department of the architectural sculpture at the Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy School of Art and Industry. His mother was Alice Kipling; both parents were English citizens that moved to India. According to Dylan J. Sirois the Kipling family had some connections that made them able to furnish their home and have several servants.

Read More

More about The Jungle Summary

Related Topics

Open Document