Surge in Americans skipping medical care due to cost

From Digital Culture & Society

CBS Interactive. (2021, December 14). Surge in Americans skipping medical care due to cost, Gallup says. CBS News. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/health-care-costs-rising-americans/

Contents 1 Article 2 Context: 3 Overview: 4 Strengths and Weaknesses: 5 Assessment:

[edit] Article

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/health-care-costs-rising-americans/

[edit] Context:

This article focuses on trying to answer why more and more Americans are skipping medical care due to the high prices, with the article focusing on reasons like how the rising costs of healthcare have gotten to the point where even higher-income families making six-digit figures are starting to skip getting medical care, how the American healthcare system is flawed at giving Americans the care they need, and how healthcare is expensive yet subpar in quality.

[edit] Overview:

As stated under Context, the main goal of this article is to figure out why cost is the driving factor for Americans to skip getting medical care. The article starts with a brief overview saying how a third of Americans have claimed that they skip seeking medical help because of how expensive it is, and how it’s gotten to the point where even Americans with higher incomes have started skipping medical care.

The next area briefly talks about the state of the American healthcare system and how it is broken because of the prices and the delays in receiving help. This section goes into the story of Angie Korol, a participant in the Gallup-West Health study who claims that her family struggles with budgeting due to having to pay $2,200 in insurance fees for her and her child. Because of this, she had to delay seeking medical help for an autoimmune disease she had for over a year and when she got the diagnosis, she was told that she would have to wait two months to see a doctor about the issue.

The article ends with a section talking about how Americans choose to skip getting medical help because the service provided is lackluster and not worth the absurdly high price. According to statistics, over half of adult Americans were unsatisfied with the service they got the last time they went to seek medical help and don’t think that it was worth the cost.

[edit] Strengths and Weaknesses:

In terms of strengths, the article is easy to understand and read, which makes it good for readers who want a quick read on the topic.

In terms of weaknesses, the article is too short and the author could’ve expanded on their points a lot more as the article doesn’t really go into enough detail about why the system is “broken” or how having a six-figure salary isn’t enough to cover the bill. While this article is a news article and not a scientific study, there isn’t a lot of factual evidence shown and the statistics that the article offers aren’t backed up with a source The “broken medical system” isn’t very clear on why the healthcare system is broken as it largely focuses on one unfortunate story and is more of an opinion piece rather than a statement proving that the system is broken.

[edit] Assessment:

Overall, the article does make some good points about its topic and does answer why more and more Americans are skipping out on health care, with its discovered causes being the increasing prices that even higher end incomes may struggle to afford, a system that is seen as “broken” because it has Americans concerned about being able to afford healthcare, and because the current healthcare system provides a service that Americans don’t think is worth the absurd pricing. However, it lacks the substance and evidence to back up its claims and only informs the reader on a basic level about the issues with the system and why people are backing out of it.

Sr20fj 21:18, 1 December 2023 (EST)