Chapter 13 - Health, Illness and Medical Care Flashcards
Biographical disruption
Disturbing a person’s usual activities and social life
The sick role
Structural Functionalists approach
Talcott Parsons Theory
Believed that being a healthy, productive member of society is functional and too many sick people would harm society.
Sick people must behave in certain ways and carry out a “sick role” to have their lack of predictivity excused.
Requires people who say that they are sick to go to a doctor and adhere to recommendations.
Focuses on the impact of illness on society.
Medicalization
The process by which conditions become seen as medical conditions also shapes how people experience illness
Pros and Cons of Medicalization
medicalization. For those who suffer from a problem that has been medicalized, they likely experience more understanding from friends, family, and the public when their problem is seen as a medical one instead of a moral one.
Access to medical treatment
once a problem becomes medicalized, treatment tends to be restricted to medical professionals, with an emphasis on medical techniques such as prescribing drugs and performing surgery, rather than on counseling or other treatments.
Fundamental cause theory
Argues that socioeconomic status is the most important factor that explains disparities in health
Income contains or expands access to resources that promote health
Variables social scientists use to asses the health of a county’s citizens
Life expectance and infant mortality
Life expectancy
the average number of years a person is expected to live
infant mortality
the number of deaths of children under thirteen months of age for every 1,000 live births
Morbidity
Rates of illness, injury, disease or other unhealthy states
Mental Illnesses
Health conditions involving changes in emotion, thinking or behavior (or a combination of these) . . . associated with distress and/or problems functioning in social, work or family activities
Universal Coverage
the government guarantees that all citizens can receive health care
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA)
2010 also known as Obamacare
Created to remedy some problems in the U.S health care system
It requires insurance companies to cover individuals, no matter the cost of their health care needs. In the past, insurance companies could drop people from coverage if they met a maximum year or lifetime expense for health care services. It allows young adults to be covered by their parents’ insurance plans until they are twenty-six years old (in the past, young adults were dropped at nineteen years of age). It prohibits insurance companies from turning people down for coverage because their health needs are extensive and/or expensive.
It requires that preventive health services be free of charge (e.g., screenings for cancer, vaccinations, testing for diabetes).
The underinsured
Today, medical debt is the number one cause of personal bankruptcy filings in the US
When a person has health insurance but even with the insurance, health services are not affordable
