Helping the Elderly - Essay Example

Case Study Scenario: Helping the Elderly Sarah and Robert, a retired couple in their seventies, have an annual income of about $21,000 a year. Sarah is being treated with drugs for heart disease (Adalat, Altrace, Atenolol, Nitrostat, and Zocor), and diabetes (Glyburide), Robert for gout (Allopurinol, Colchicine), blood pressure (Atenolol), anxiety (Alprazolam), and heartburn (Prilosec). Together they spend about $6,500 a year on their drugs, or almost a third of their annual income. Chella, VLBJCAS 24th march 2007 Briefly describe the basic problem addressed in the case study. The Basic problems in this case study are The prescription drug prices are high. This becomes a moral issue when elders are considered as a business source instead of showing them compassion. Most elder people are not covered by insurance companies as they become a liability to them. More, the Insurance companies charge a high premium on the elders as the basic concept in premium calculation is "Greater the age, larger the premium". List and briefly define in your own words the major concepts presented in the textbook that relate to the case study. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Going by this theory, elders are in the stage of self actualization and in this stage, they are not attracted by desires etc. All they need is peace and they will be in a position where they know about themselves clearly. At this stage most of the needs are fulfilled. Relating the theory with the case clearly shows one of the major needs of elders - health. Most of the elders are in need of drugs and medicines to relieve them from their diseases. So medicine also becomes the basic need (food, clothing and shelter) for elders. Most of the drug/medicine businesses are targeted at this basic need of elders. Learned Dependency The elders are in a stage of dependency due to their physical and mental weakness. In this case, both the government and Insurance companies must come to the aid of elders as the elders depend directly on medicine for their survival. Moral Values and Spirituality According to Kohlberg, the stage 6 of moral value relies on government decision to judge a process as right or wrong. Elders probably will be coming in this stage. Explain how you approached the case study, and what assumptions and decisions did you make I approached the case study considering the important people in the case. i.e. Doctors Health care Industry (Drugs) Insurance Companies Government Elders The role of Doctors, Health care Industry (Drugs), Insurance Companies and Government have a direct impact on the life of elders. These key persons must change their attitude and mindset from looking at elders as a revenue source and start helping them in their own ways. The decisions to be taken by doctors are to charge less to elders. The decisions to be taken by health care industry personnel are to provide drugs at a cheap cost to elders. The decisions to be taken by Insurance companies are to charge low premium from elders and compensate them quickly on their medical expenses. The decisions to be taken by Government are to provide tax cut and provisions on high priced medicines to elders. If possible, the Government must distribute them free of cost to elders. Why are prescription drug prices so high The drug prices are tremendously huge. It's no secret that average costs of prescription drugs have raised dramatically in the past decade. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, average retail prices for brand name drugs in the United States more than doubled between 1990 and 2000, from $27 in 1990 to $65 in 2000. The obvious question is: Why One of the major reasons is the advertising cost spent by health care companies. The amount of money that has been spent promoting drugs since the new FDA regulations went into effect is staggering. In 1996, the drug industry spent $791 million on mass media advertising. Four years later, that number more than tripled to $2.5 billion. All told, the U.S. drug industry spent $15.7 billion on advertising in 2000, from running ads in trade journals, to airing commercials on the radio and television, to handing out free samples of new products to doctors. Another reason is there are no scientific standards to analyze the cost effectiveness of drugs. The drug companies through their intermediaries earn huge profits. Also the general notion is by taking drugs, hospitalization costs can be cut down. Is this a moral issue, given the fact that many elderly patients cannot easily afford to pay for their drug therapy Yes, this is a moral issue. To save a life, price of drugs can be brought down drastically. The tradeoff between life and money (Drug price) is huge and most of the elders as given in the case are not affordable to these huge prices of drugs and end up not taking medicine and eventually die in this process. Most elder people are not covered by insurance companies as they become a liability to them. More, the Insurance companies charge a high premium on the elders. Here also money and life comes into picture. So, as a result, elders feel left alone and have a feeling they live because of the medicine and lose their hope as no one is there to help them and die even faster. Should insurance companies and/or government programs, such as Medicare, assume more responsibility in paying for expensive drugs for senior citizens Yes, this is a serious moral issue where government and insurance companies must be more responsible. The Government must enact laws favoring the elder people and make their medical expenses very low when they publish their budgets. The insurance Companies must come out with a low cost plan to cover up the medical expenses of the elder people and the premiums charged must be low. References: Schaie, K.W., & Willis, S. L (2002). Adult Development and Aging, (5th ed.). New Jersey: Prentice Hall. www.findarticles.com Read More