Sicko

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Watch the documentary film Sicko by Michael Moore (2007). If you did not see it in class, you can see it on “vimeo” if you create a free account.Write an essay, about 5 pages long, in which you respond clearly and thoroughly to prompts. Here is a link that you can go watch the documentary.

Ethics, Business, and American Medical Care

Write an essay, about 5 pages long, in which you respond clearly and thoroughly to prompts (I) — (III).  This essay is your Final Exam and is due no later than the end of the Final Exam on Thursday, May 12 at 12:15 p.m.   (I will be in class from 11:15 a.m. — 12:15 p.m. to collect them.)  No essay will be accepted after 12:15 p.m.  If you send the essay as an attachment to my email hpressman@csun.edu, it must be on my screen, I must be able to open and print it, by the deadline in real time, or it receives a 0.  Once I print it, I will send you a confirmation. Essays are worth 100 points:  90 for content and 10 for grammar. Use 1.5 spacing between lines, 12-point font, and standard margins.  Watch the documentary film Sicko by Michael Moore (2007).  If you did not see it in class, you can see it on vimeo if you create a free account.   Youtube shows it for $2.99.

(I)    Describe the following 4 American cases:  (a) The case of Rick and his table saw.  (b) The case of Tracy Pierce in Kansas City.  (c) The case of Dr. Linda Peano, medical reviewer for Humana.  (d) The case of little Mychelle in Los Angeles.  For each, what happened?  Then explain why each incident was unethical.  How would an ethical system have handled each case?
(II)    Choose any 3 incidents from:  Canada, England, or France (pick one).  What happened in each case?  Describe each of the 3 scenes you chose and explain how each case was handled ethically.
(III)    Do online research.  Compare the U.S. government’s annual federal expenditures on education, military, Medicare, Social Security, etc. — broken down into categories and percentages — to the corresponding federal expenditures of the country you selected (Canada, England, or France).  Try to find a pie graph or chart that shows each country’s government’s annual expenditures.  After giving the data showing the two countries’ total outlay, speculate:  Can the U.S. government afford to offer universal healthcare?  Do the two countries’ spend the same percentages on medical?  Perhaps you think enough money is already going to Medicare (everyone in the U.S. over 65 has free medical) but the system is being abused by the insurance companies and hospitals. Perhaps you think too many tax dollars are going to the military.  Perhaps you think taxes should be raised 1%.  Make your case about whether or not the U.S. could afford to do what Canada, England, and France do (remember the U.S. provides free K-12 education from taxes).  Treat this as a business question about taxes, finance, and management.  Explain your view.  Provide the websites you use so I can access them.

Dr. John Geyman:  “The problem with the for-profit healthcare system in the U.S. is the private insurance industry.  Unlike a publicly financed system, it fragments risk pools, skimming off the healthier part of the population and leaving the rest uninsured or underinsured.  Its administrative and overhead costs are five to eight times higher than public financing of healthcare.  Healthcare insurance cares more about its shareholders than its enrollees or patients.”