Summary
According to the Kaiser Health News, many health care leaders realized that their dream of “improving health and lowering costs for the sickest and most expensive patients in America” is harder than they imagined (Gorenstein & Walker, 2020). Some researchers have attempted to pair hospitalized patients with nurses and social workers in order to “stop the costly cycle of readmission” (Gorenstein & Walker, 2020). Despite their attempt, the study provided no effect, which upsets Dr. Brenner, but he is aware that science doesn’t always work the way we want it to. Brenner’s hope was to “pair these [patients] with front-line care workers who would shepherd them to the social and medical services they needed” (Gorenstein & Walker, 2020). Early evidence of this study was promising, as it was leaning towards better care and lower costs. After looking into it, the reason why this study wasn’t successful was because resources were often short of supply. Despite the unsuccessful study, there was one patient in which benefited from the help. This patient’s story led to a trend where “hospitals and many state Medicaid agencies have begun spending millions to meet patients’ social needs” (Gorenstein & Walker, 2020). Overall, lowering costs and improving health is possible, but it will require conducting lots of research and studies.
Sociological Reflection
As mentioned in the article, reducing costs of health care and providing better services has always been the goal. According to class lecture, “expenditures for health care, health research, and other health items and services have risen sharply in recent decades…and now costs the nation more than $2.6 trillion annually” (Galta, Chapter 13 Lecture, 2020). Many Americans are familiar with the highly expensive costs from receiving medical care, which tends to be a problem when they either can’t afford or decide that their issue isn’t worth going to the hospital for. In addition, “the lack of health insurance has deadly consequences because they are less likely to receive preventative health care and care for various conditions and illnesses” (Galta, Chapter 13 Lecture, 2020). When individuals don’t receive preventative health care, this results in worsening their condition and may lead to many consequences, such as missing too many days of work, a less effective immune system, and conditions that may be life threatening. Many choose that some health problems might be serious than others, which is a concern because people shouldn’t feel like they have to decide on what is more worthy to take care of when it comes to their health. Overall, the expensive cost of health care concerns many individuals when they seek medical attention. Figuring out a way to reduce the cost may lead to a healthier society.
Word count: 446
https://khn.org/news/lower-health-care-costs-by-helping-the-sickest-a-much-touted-idea-disappoints/
Kristina's Blog 