Healthcare Cartoons

Howdy,
Today I am going to analyze a couple of political cartoons regarding healthcare; one for and one against. Hopefully by analyzing these cartoons, people will gain a better understanding on others' stances on the issue.

First of all, lets analyze the pro-reform cartoon

http://www.blackcommentator.com/index_334.html

In this cartoon, a reporter and the image of death are represented. In doing this, the artist creates the sense that we are watching a broadcast where the guest commentator is an authority figure on the issue. The fact that death is the guest commentator leads the viewer to believe that death is advocating to reject the healthcare reform, possibly in the attempt to increase his clients (i.e, a higher death toll from not receiving treatment). By analyzing this image it becomes clear that the author is pro healthcare reform, and he believes that if the healthcare reform  is not enforced, the end result would be more deaths due to untreated ailments.

Now to analyze an anti-reform cartoon.


In this cartoon President Obama, a Doctor, and a patient are depicted. In the image, the President peers over the shoulder of the doctor saying "Don't mind me." The Doctor has an abvious look of annoyance about her face, possibly showing her dislike of government's scrutiny at her workplace. Fundamentally, the artist is trying to depict that a government run healthcare system would be overbearing on doctors and affect their work, and maybe even the quality of care.

By analyzing these two cartoons, we have seen both sides of the story; one artist believes that striking down the reform will lead to more deaths, while another artist believes that passing the reform will lead to an overbearing government presence.

Thanks for Reading

Liberal vs Conservative View on Healthcare

Howdy,
Today I would like to compare the typical conservative view on healthcare reform against the typical liberal view on healthcare in the hopes of getting a better understanding of why people are so against/for it.
For starters, I will begin by analyzing the conservative view.
Conservatives, for the most part, do agree that the current healthcare system in America is inadequate, just as liberals do. The point they are in disagreement about, however, is what exactly is wrong with the system, and how they wish to fix it. Liberals, it seems, wish to hand over the healthcare system to the governemnt, the conservatives, however, wish to rectify the problem by increasing competition between health insurance and pharmaceutical companies.
Liberals on the other hand, believe that healthcare is a right to all people and should be guaranteed by the government. Also, liberals point out that the US signed the Universal Declaration of Human Right, which guarantees the right to healthcare for everyone.
In summary, liberals believe that fixing the healthcare system requires government intervention to ensure every citizen receives proper care, whereas conservatives believe that there should be an increase in competition between healthcare companies.
I would like to cap off this post by puttign forth some statistics. In 2003, 72 percent of US adults supported a government run healthcare system even it meant repealing some of the Bush tax cuts (though this statistic has most likely changed since the recession).
Thanks for Reading.

Sources:
http://usconservatives.about.com/od/conservativepolitics101/i/HealthCareReform.htm
http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/24/6/1426.full

My experience with Healthcare

Hello again,
For this post I would like to recount a conversation I had with my mother, a breast cancer survivor, about the healthcare reforms. The reason I would like to retell this story is because I believe it offers some excellent perspective on healthcare and may help people understand some of the objections surrounding the reform.
To begin, I think it might do well to note that my mother is a member of the Republican party, as well as being a supporter of the Tea Party (when it was just emerging, anyway), and does not support the healthcare reform.
This greatly puzzled me, for reasons I will explain.
My mother, a breast cancer survivor, was unable to get affordable health insurance due to her pre-existing condition. So why then would she be opposed to a reform that would provide her with healthcare?
To get the answer I simply asked, and her response was along the lines of "because with the new reforms mammograms will not be available to women until a few years later than they are now, and the government will not provide sufficient services for those with breast cancer."
I nodded and thanked her for the conversation.
I mulled it over and basically came to the conclusion that, on the whole, she believes that the healthcare reform will not provide adequate services for those that are ill, and thus she prefers the way our healthcare is now.
Though I am not sure of the verity of what my mother said, I atleast thought it was a bit revealing about how some people feel about the proposed healthcare reform.
That sums up todays thoughts.
Until Next Time,
Goodbye