Medicine and Health Discussion
Overview:
Health involves both physical and social processes.
Health care is more than treating the body. Culture and structure affect medical treatments. Culture shapes beliefs about health.
What does it mean to be healthy? What diseases are stigmatized, and considered embarrassing or shameful? How is health care financially organized? How is it accessed? What cost is associated with health care? Who pays for it? What happens to those who can’t afford treatment?
These questions exemplify how sociologists examine health and aging, beyond looking at the body as only a biological entity that needs treatment.
For this discussion answer all questions,
Based on the chapter reading:
– Define and describe the stigmatization of illness and contested illness (Section 19.1).
– Illustrate your description with an original example of an illness that carries stigma.
– How do race, gender and socioeconomic status influence health (Section 19.3)?
– How does health and wellness differ between high and low income nations (Section 19.2)?
– Give at least 3 examples.
– Compare Healthcare in the U.S. with healthcare “elsewhere in the world” (Section 19.4)
– What is socialized medicine (Section 19.4)? Describe 2 benefits and 2 drawbacks.
– Based on the NYT article: The Best Healthcare System in the World? (https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/09/18/upshot/best-health-care-system-country-bracket.html (Links to an external site.))
6. Best healthcare system in the world:
– Based on the NYT article, which healthcare system ranks highest? – Why is ranked higher than other systems?
– What does this tell us about the benefits of privatized medicine? socialized medicine?
– Of all the different ways a society could structure a healthcare system, which components from the different systems examined in the article would you integrate into the U.S. healthcare system? Why?
