Universal/US Health Care Pros and Cons

Universal Health Care

Pros:

• People with pre-existing conditions can still get health coverage
• Medical Professionals can concentrate on healing the patient rather than on insurance procedures, malpractice liability, etc.
• More people are uninsured

Cons:

• The Gov. is more likely to pass additional restrictions or increase taxes on smoking, fast food, etc. leading to less personal freedoms.
• Loss or private practice options and possible reduced pay cause less future doctors to pursue the profession.
• Gov. controlled health care would likely lead to less patient flexibility. 

US Health Care

Pros:

• Any person requesting medical attention at a hospital will get medical attention.
• The US Health Care system has one of the quickest responses to people in need of medical help (we have a short wait at hospitals compared to other countries).
• We have the ability to choose our doctors, instead of being assigned to one.

Cons:

• Doctors are paid by the quantity of their procedures, not the quality.
• Pharmaceutical companies decide the prices of their drugs, and the government can't negotiate a lower price.
• Health Care providers are for-profit, and are for the denial of claims in order to make money.



US Health Care/Universal Health Care Pros and Cons

Universal Health Care

Pros:

• People with pre-existing conditions can still get health coverage
• Medical Professionals can concentrate on healing the patient rather than on insurance procedures, malpractice liability, etc.
• More people are uninsured

Cons:

• The Gov. is more likely to pass additional restrictions or increase taxes on smoking, fast food, etc. leading to less personal freedoms.
• Loss or private practice options and possible reduced pay cause less future doctors to pursue the profession.
• Gov. controlled health care would likely lead to less patient flexibility. 

US Health Care

Pros:

• Any person requesting medical attention at a hospital will get medical attention.
• The US Health Care system has one of the quickest responses to people in need of medical help (we have a short wait at hospitals compared to other countries).
• We have the ability to choose our doctors, instead of being assigned to one.

Cons:

• Doctors are paid by the quantity of their procedures, not the quality.
• Pharmaceutical companies decide the prices of their drugs, and the government can't negotiate a lower price.
• Health Care providers are for-profit, and are for the denial of claims in order to make money.





Friday Current Event 3/22/13

China's new president, Xi Jinping, wants to ease the tensions between the two Koreas. China has been a helper in North Korea's economy for quite a while, but they also try to be close to South Korea, who happens to be a better country to trade with. Xi thinks that their friendship between each other would benefit them both.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/21/world/asia/china-leader-says-he-wants-to-ease-tensions-between-two-koreas.html?_r=0

J.A. 3/21/13 Top 5 Worst Pandemics

1. Black Death
2. Spanish Flu
3. Plague of Justinian
4. The Third Pandemic
5. The Plague of Athens

Friday Current Event 3/15/13

This political cartoon is saying that the Catholic Church wants the new pope to fix the problems that they are having. One problem is scandals. Catholic priests have, over the years, been accused of molesting children. The other problem is falling membership. There are members of the Catholic Church leaving because of these scandals. If the church can get the new pope to clear up all of these scandals then the church's members will come back, and their problems will be solved.

Cold War Topics

Berlin Blockade; This was the blockage of railway, road, and canal access in parts of Berlin under allied control.
Korean War; The Korean war was the U.S. involvement in trying to stop the spread of communism in south east asia.
Sputnik; The first artificial earth satelite to be launched into space. The launch of Sputnik sparked the Space Race, between The Soviet Union and The U.S.
Bay of Pigs; Bay of Pigs was an attempt to stop The Soviet Union from bringing nuclear missiles into Cuba. We tried to prevent this by sending "spies" into Cuba. The spies were caught and then it started a bit of a "scuffle".
Cuban Missile Crisis; The Cuban Missile Crisis was the U.S. blockading the island of Cuba. We didn't allow any Russian ships to enter the island in fear that they were bringing nuclear missiles to Cuba.
Berlin Wall; This was a wall that separated East and West Germany. It was a different form of symbolism for both sides of people on the wall.
Vietnam War; The Vietnam War was the same situation as the Korean War, except the U.S. used a different "puppet" (Vietnam).
Iranian Hostage Crisis; 52 Americans were held hostage by Iranians for 444 days.
Soviet Invansion of Afghanistan; The U.S.S.R. was invading Afghanistan, so we armed their troops and helped them fight back. They ended up winning, but then turned on us afterwords.
Star Wars; The building of a space defence system. Satelites were equiped with lazers to shoot down missiles, it never worked. The U.S. building this defence system put the Soviet Union into bankruptcey.
Fall of Berlin Wall; The German soldiers who were guarding the Berlin wall lost interest in preventing people from crossing over into East/West Germany. They lost interest, and this allowed people to detiorate the wall, resulting in it's collapse.
Soviet Union Dissolves; The Soviet rulers lost their image and lost power.

J.A. 3/11/13

The Cold War was a standoff between the U.S. and The Soviet Union. The U.S.S.R. was stationed in Cuba, and had nuclear weapons, as did the United States. Neither of us fired our weapons though, hence the name The "Cold" War.