Reflection of My Thoughts, Article Review Example

Introduction

This paper provides a critique of the article ‘ Number of people without health insurance climbs’ by Les Christie of CNN (Money). (Christie, L. 2012).

Summary

The article supports, with the use of statistical evidence, the dramatic rise of people who have inadequate or no health insurance coverage in the USA today. [1] A large degree of the decline has been attributed to Employers cutting back on benefits which include health coverage for its employees. As such employees can no longer rely upon their employers to provide them with adequate health coverage. This has been compounded by the poor job market, unemployment and an increase in poverty amongst working American families. The health coverage for the average family having doubled in cost over the past ten years.

It is cited that 1 in 4 of working Americans have inadequate health insurance coverage and that benefits will not start to be realised until 2014 when the Obama health care reforms start to take shape. Mitt Romney has indicated that he would scrap Obama Care health reform in favour of a similar insurance plan that he introduced in Massachusetts in 2006 which resulted in the lowest rate of uninsured in all of the US States.

Analysis

The Obama Administration has stated that the reforms being made are already starting to work but agree they require time to gain full impact. The lack of adequate insurance coverage imposes a strain on systems like Medicare and Medicaid and creates an underfunding situation for the costs of health coverage. In 2010 it was stated that 31% of people relied upon the Government for health insurance. It is really the increase in poverty and unemployment that have caused the high cost of medical insurance premiums to be unaffordable by many working American families. In addition those adults without dependent children do not become eligible for receipt of Medicaid over most states in the USA. The situation in 2010 was seen to be deteriorating as the recession bites deeper into the US economy creating higher levels of poverty and unemployment.

Relevance

The article has a high degree of relevance today and will undoubtedly be one of the main political topics in the forthcoming US Presidential elections. This has been compounded by the large number of US Veterans requiring health care and the fact that much of this financial demand was not adequately planned or budgeted for. There is an argument that supports closer investigation into the development of a National Health System (NHS) in the USA; this being along the lines of that in the UK, Canada and Australia.

References

Christie, L. (2012, 6 8). Number of people without health insurance climbs. Retrieved from CNN Money: http://money.cnn.com/2011/09/13/news/economy/census_bureau_health_insurance/index.htm

[1] Based upon 2009 Census Bureau statistics.