My response to "Unnatural Causes"

        As I stated in my previous post, I am coming into a great deal of enlightenment regarding the political "ins and outs" of our country's healthcare system. The statistics given on the health status of Americans regarding their income is very drastic and mind boggling. The documentary "Unnatural Causes" gave a great amount of detail on this subject matter.

Out of the entire documentary (which was pretty extensive), there was a  phrase that registered with me heavily, "Economic policy is Health policy" ,said by a scholar who gave commentary throughout the entire viewing. What he meant by this is that our economic status in this country makes a heavy contribution to our health. The film gave scientific evidence that a lower class citizen's health is much poorer than counterparts in higher tax brackets. The reason for this is stress. Stress over extended periods of time can cause serious health problems for a person. What causes this stress? Naturally if a caretaker or guardian is not able to provide proficiently enough for their family, it can induce a great deal of stress and worsen their health. What is even more mind boggling to me is how our country's wealth is distributed.

         "Wealth = Health." is another quote that stuck out to me in this documentary. Another one of the scholars in the movie stated that "Countries where wealth is more evenly distributed are wealthier." This particular idea of healthcare reform would also be known as Universal Healthcare, a topic that has brewed a great deal of controversy in recent years. But does this man have a point? Could the reason why our country is so indebted be because of how our wealth is distributed on top of our spending habits? The film gave shocking statistics that showed that American citizens that are of a poorer economic status are actually paying MORE for healthcare that higher class citizens. To me this equation makes no logical sense. Why would our country charge someone with less money more for something that they need? 1. Statistics have shown that these people with lower incomes are more stressed out and have bad health and 2. They are not able to work their way into financial freedom because of the unfair percentages placed on their taxes and healthcare. It's a trap that many are not able to crawl out of.

Overall I think this was an excellent documentary that gave great perspective on how our country's healthcare system is being operated. I will now undoubtedly say that reform is needed.