Module 5 Lecture

Module 5 Lecture

Introduction

Health care in the United States remains different as compared to other developed nations. The United States takes a different direction by making a medical welfare system for the poor and the elderly and leaving the rest of the Health care system to supporting themselves. It spends approximately 35 billion per annum to provide medical care with uninsured residents. Another important fact is that around 41 million residents of United States, who lack health insurance, cost 130 billion per annum in lost productivity. This is causing a huge problem in the United States and changes can be made but it is up to the Government to make these changes. Health care economics and the service delivery system present many challenges for the consumer and practitioner alike, despite the availability of exceptional medical care. It has an inefficient and expensive health care system, compared with other developed countries, with poor outcomes and many citizens who are denied access. Inefficiency is increased by the lack of an integrated system that could promote an optimal mix of personal medical care and population health measures.

There are several reasons that make traditional medicine is the most common type of medicine in most of the countries of the third world. Historically, traditional medicine has accompanied the evolution of nations and is presented not only as a product of centuries of experience, empiricism, magic and superstition, but also as a structure of knowledge. Traditional medicine is influenced by cultural, religious and social, which makes it specific to each community and inherent to the identity of the individuals who compose it (Kirkland, 1992). However, it is likely that the primary cause of over 80% of the world population keep going to a health problem for this type of care is due to the lack of access to services.

Discussion

At the beginning of the twentieth century in the United States, different forms of medical care were widely patronized. In 1910, Abraham Flexner published an influential report that advocated for the use of medical practices based on scientific evidence; he anticipated that folk medicine, which was presumably not evidence-based, would die out in time. A century later, however, alternative medicine is very much alive and thriving. With the advent of the Internet and the Web and with the growing scope of immigration and travel, alternative medical practices from a wide range of cultures have been introduced in the United States. Furthermore, the number of rigorous clinical studies comparing the efficacy of alternative medical practices with conventional medicine continues to increase. There are many types of folk medicine, but all can be roughly classified into several categories. The first category involves natural products, which are ingested, inhaled, or applied to parts of the body. Over centuries and even millennia of empirical testing, many cultures have derived combinations of natural substances such as plant and animal materials for treating disease. Plant material includes leaves, fruits, seeds, bark, stems, and roots (Spector, 2004).

Manipulative and body-based practices work by applying force on ...