Discussion Questions
Prepare for class discussions by answering the discussion questions.
1. What are the major challenges facing our health care system moving forward? Is the Affordable Care Act bound to be modified? Repealed? Kept as it is? What do you think should happen?
2. Should patients who are suffering from an incurable terminal illness, are mentally of sound mind, and are in pain be allowed to choose to end their life in a medically monitored way (e.g., a lethal dose of painkilling medication), or should this not be permitted? Why or why not?
3. What can be done about the tendency of the poor to wait until they are in grave need before they seek out medical treatment? This results both in higher costs for care and less chance of a successful outcome. Is there a potential solution to this problem? What groundwork would need to be done to make such a change?
4. Most countries see health care from the service orientation (believing it is a right of all humans regardless of financial status), while the United States continues to see healthcare from the profit orientation (much like any other business, that people should only be able to buy what they can afford). What are the impacts of seeing health care from a profit orientation? Should health care be a right or a privilege?
