Brasfield 6-end

This section begins by stating a major problem with American Health Care: coverage for the aging population.  Brasfield states that nursing homes are an expensive and relatively recent institution, beginning in the mid twentieth century.  Care for the elderly has evolved from what once was a family responsibility to what is now a complex, socially regulated institution, as seen in its effects on the Hill-burton hospital construction act, the MAA, and other acts specifically created to pay for our aging population.  With the government providing payment in most of these legislative additions, it questions the validity of switching what was once a familial matter to a financial burden on the public.  A particularly interesting statistic that Brasfield mentioned on this matter was the fact that private insurance pays for less than 10% of all long term care services. In my opinion, this really brought home both the biases of private health insurance for making it difficult for the elderly to obtain coverage and the magnitude of financial burden the elderly and disabled have on the national economy.
In the next chapters, Brasfield describes the ACA and speculates about its future along with citing some examples of health care systems of other countries.  He list ways which the law would be repealed if Republicans were to take the majority, stating that the most viable path would be through the legal action of questioning the reforms constitutionality.  Brasfield also offers some inconclusive speculation on the bill's effect on the national deficit.  With the current state of the US economy I feel the financial side of this bill is the most important, and with our aging population it seems unpromising that the ACA can lower the national deficit.  Through this course, I have decided that my opinion as a whole on health reform would be to provide only the essentials to those who don't contribute to the tax base while leaving the maximum choice to those who do.  I feel that money should buy people convenience and comfort and those that don't have it should be left with something to gain; otherwise what would be the incentive for earning it?  Through the readings, I have decided that the ACA has a noble purpose but its financial issues are too unclear for it to be a completely agreeable bill, especially given the current economic climate.