Archive for the College Category
The high cost of health care.
Robert Atkinson
Communication 120
Professor Woods
November 23, 2008
Healthcare is obviously a vital expenditure for any country and most important to the people that obtain the care. In contrast to the rest of the world, the United States spends more than any other but does not boast a higher life expectancy than other countries, like Japan. The major factors in the cost of the healthcare inflation are drugs, staffing and more than any other, administration costs. Reports say that the United States spends over $400 billion more than other countries on healthcare but yet there is no significant disease behind the rise, which should be the reasoning for the much higher cost of care (Angrisano, Farrell, Kocher, Parker, & Laboissiere, 2007). What is driving the higher cost of care which appears to not benefit the public in the United States as much as other nations?
If there is a higher health care cost, then the appropriate thought is that there should be a better quality of life, which should lead to a longer life. However, high health care costs drive the public away from the doors of a hospital to seek treatment, even for problems that the patient deems serious (National Coalition on Health Care). The reasoning not to seek treatment is clear to many of the 1.4 million debtors that filed for bankruptcy in 2001. A study suggests that as many as half of the bankruptcy cases were due to just health care expenses (Himmelstein, Warren, Thorne, & Woolhandler, 2005).
Is bankruptcy by the public the reason that health care costs are so grossly inflated? Reporting by the group McKinsey gives no mention to bankruptcy being the problem, or even attributed bad debt to the rise. However, in Anchorage, hospitals are drawing a line from charity cases to higher costs. Charity cases are simply bad debt written off by the hospital, which by one estimate from Alaska in 1999 was $14 million. In contrast, another hospital in Alaska lost nearly half of the profits in just three years from $40 million for the year 2000 to $13 million in 2003, but climbed back two years later to recover “somewhat” to $27.5 million in profits (Dobbyn, 2005). For an institution that is dedicated to the care of the sick, profits of over $20 million seem hardly the problem for a higher cost to those that do have health care.
If the cost of bankruptcy is causing the higher cost of health care, then the solution for lowering the cost appears to the common layperson is to simply get healthcare. Unfortunately, this is still not the answer as the higher cost to the public that is insured still drives them to bankruptcy, as the average medical cost was over $12,000 even with coverage. In a study from 2001 of nearly 1,700 bankruptcy filings, a staggering 75% of those asked had health coverage at the onset of the filing. To make matters worse, since the debtors that had private insurance were out of work due to the illness, they could no longer afford the insurance and the costs rose higher (Himmelstein, Warren, Thorne, & Woolhandler, 2005).
From the Harvard study of 1,700 bankruptcy filings, a statistic stands out that can possibly explain the reasons behind lowered quality of care and the higher health care cost. The costs of the health care is divided up at around 45% to the hospital, doctors charged 20% and finally the prescription drugs needed to maintain health attributed to 21% of the cost. The debtors are given a charity case by the hospital that is making the lion’s share of the profits, a life preserver that should help stop a bankruptcy. However, the debtor can still be faced with bankruptcy due to the cost of the ongoing doctor and prescription care that combined is the cost that was forgiven by the institution (Himmelstein, Warren, Thorne, & Woolhandler, 2005).
From all this information, it seems likely to conclude that the cost of drugs and the doctor care is what drives bankruptcy. This makes more sense when the average cost of drugs in the United States is over 60% more than in other nations that have better life expectancy (National Coalition on Health Care).
References
Angrisano, C., Farrell, D., Kocher, B., Parker, S., & Laboissiere, M. (2007). Accounting for the Cost of Health Care in the United States. McKinsey & Company.
Dobbyn, P. (2005, July 21). Hospital bad debt driving costs up. Retrieved November 23, 2008, from Anchorage Daiily News: http://dwb.adn.com/front/story/6730104p-6617727c.html
Himmelstein, D. U., Warren, E., Thorne, D., & Woolhandler, S. (2005). MarketWatch: Illness and Injury as contributors to Bankruptcy. Health Affairs .
National Coalition on Health Care. (n.d.). Health Insurance Costs. Retrieved November 23, 2008, from National Coalition on Health Care: http://www.nchc.org/facts/cost.shtml
Those links you might see about University of Phoenix, UoP or Axia was my college last year. I do indeed get paid when they show up or people click on them, please do not click on them unless you want to know more about it. Google is very clear on this and I am in good standing with them! Google ads is a way for me to make a little money on topics like stopping smoking and I do not get to choose who advertises, but rather who cannot.
It is ironic that I am saying the University of Phoenix is lackluster when compared to Franklin and I get paid. I do not actually know what ad people click on when I get paid, but rather how many times it got clicked or was viewed (some advertisers pay just for a showing of the ad). If they want to advertise on my site, I will let them… they certainly do not get a regarded review.
Franklin.edu has a distinction of having two pages of information about preferred lenders. Franklin University takes lengthy time to explain the difference in types of loans and the reasons some charges happen when you take money.
Axia has no such page when you are rushing through the pages, just an enrollment officer trying to push you to sign today. They also refuse to defer your tuition unless you choose one of their preferred lenders. Franklin claims no such distinction, instead just promotes it is faster.
So, I have a career in IT that has spanned over 15 years. Recently as some that read my blog may know, I started the path to having a college degree. I chose the University of Phoenix just because it seemed to be the best way to get in right away.
The UoP and the Axia branch are really fast at getting you enrolled. There is no proficiency exams and the pressure to sign a MPN is intense. The enrollment counselor was relentless in getting me enrolled. This does not mean the college is bad alone, just merely that they wish to have as many students possible.
I had a ‘facilitator’ that I could call during classes but only during certain hours of the day. There is an email address for personal and also internal communication. I will note that my last facilitator, Crystal McFall would take vacations during the class and not be able to respond to emails or phone calls. That was the straw on my so called educational back that broke it.
One thing bothered me in my last classes: proof that the facilitators are real. Just words about their lives and a phone number that was at times even posted wrong. I for one did not let that bother me, I learned a great deal and made a good grade at most of what I did. After I had done several assignments, I had a past teacher read the syllabus and the grading sheet. I was assured it checked out to her academic standards.
I am a Franklin University student now due to the problems that Axia will simply not address. Counselors and even facilitators are not punished publicly since you are not told what the result of any investigation is. Yes, you will not even be told that the employee was punished. Even the local school systems have public meetings to discuss this type of problem and there is no hiding.
In closing, my first Franklin class has already impressed me. I logged in since the classes are available a week before they start and much to my surprise…. a PICTURE of (get this) my Professor! I was already impressed with the CD material that arrived in which I was getting offline guidance for that class… the University of Phoenix does not do that.
I was happy at Axia until I started to realize that if the problem occurred again, I had no recourse. Switching to Franklin just might be the best thing yet. Axia is more expensive and a whole lot of problems that just are not addressed. Call Franklin if you are considering a degree and then call Phoenix. All my credits should transfer, which is good. What is bad? I do have to attend a couple audio chat or video sessions with my Professor.
Axia facilitators discouraged the use of voice chat in any way due to “overwhelming” students. Franklin does it right off the bat. You decide which one is better.
Feel free to post your comments with how you feel. I do not wish to discuss how you lost money at Phoenix as there is many ways a student can fail and slip through the cracks due to being helped so much to get enrolled.
I was once a supporter in the Axia branch that is the online classes for UoP. The curriculum appears sound from real people I’ve spoken to that should know what it takes to get into college. The issue from what I can tell is the administration of the college in general.
In the next few months I will blog a little more about what drove me from attending for a second year. For now, I can say that it is lack of accountability inherent in what they do, the teachers that is. So a word of warning, your teacher can ignore emails requesting information and you will never know one way or the other what happened.
“I told you so” or “Did you read rip off report?” comments will be denied. I learned a lot in a year but the learning is not the issue here and if you want to wait there is a valuable lesson to learn.
Some people know I’m in college now, and just are thrilled for me.
I didn’t think I’d change much as a person, but here it is the end of my first semester (nearly), and I am changing. I can list all the various things that have changed, but there is one thing that I never realized meant so much even though I had such a natural knack at doing it.
Communication. Business communication. From a customer writing a letter to customer service, to a customer service agent writing a letter. I’ve learned so much, even more from using Purdue’s OWL , that I can say I see the business world from a different view now.
I’m only in college for an IT degree, but it seems from the course schedules that almost every student that gets an Associates or a Bachelor’s degree must take at least one Business Communication class. I did very well in school at English, and was good at getting my ideas across.
So imagine my surprise when I find out there is a way to write persuasive letters? Imagine my utter disbelief that there was a concrete and time taught way to write a negative letter!
I’m thinking back to all the ill fated emails I’ve sent over the years that were just plain wrong. I didn’t follow simple rules that would have made my message more effective. I never once thought about audience when I was writing, nor did I even try to build rapport with a person. I always assumed there was rapport there automatically, never remembering that rapport must be rebuilt in most cases. If I didn’t have rapport, the person isn’t going to get your message.
So today, I saw my first mistake due to my first class: I forgot to write the goal setting third part to my business letter back to a client. I was not able to speak to this client and apologize, taking complete responsibly for her feeling like she wasn’t being helped. Someone else handled it that I feel still didn’t realize the well organized (and thought out in college courses) play that was ensuing.
I also learned something else highly important: the customer had made a major mistake as well. While the client might have made more errors than me in the written communication, it was the best feeling in the world. In the past, I would have been upset at the client, possibly angered.
Why was I not angered? How could a client cancel my personal services and I beat myself up? The customer had written a slightly angry email, and from what I’ve learned, had shot them self in the foot. If she had taken the time to consider how to write an email, a business email, the entire situation could have been more easily handled.
So take heed as I’ve learned well: that paper you get is worth every cent.
It doesn’t take much past the first semester for most college students to realize why college exists. I suppose those that don’t…. they just didn’t learn or have way too much ego to realize they truly, really need help.
In the end, I know I could’ve kept the client by simply apologizing, that I hadn’t noted in my last email that if she needed anything further to contact me. No free service to the customer was available, the manager had made it clear his family needed to eat. (Have any of you first years learned that emotional persuasion is a big no no?)