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[apete-blogs]

How Insurance Companies and the Health Care System Is Failing Individuals in the United States

For centuries, the health care system has taken the responsibility of understanding and treating individuals' health. The United States has the most expensive health care system in the world, and the cost of treatments, procedures, and medication has left many people financially unstable. X-rays, MRIs, chemotherapy for cancer patients, various types of surgery, and anesthesia are all just a few examples of medical procedures and medications that are extremely costly and common within the United States. One of the most common issues within the healthcare system is their approach to treating patients. Most of the time, if not all the time, when patients go to the doctor with concerns about their health, they are given a short-term fix that only treats their symptoms, rather than the root cause of the problem. This leads people into an endless cycle of making doctors' appointments and revisiting medical facilities for the same problem repeatedly. In order to combat the significant rise in cost of medical treatment in the United States over the last several decades, and to help aid individuals when they face medical bills, insurance companies became the middleman to provide people with a type of financial support when they are charged with their medical bills. The role of insurance companies is to cover a partial amount of the costs of medical expenses when people go to the doctor for various reasons. One of the most common ways that people receive health insurance is through their employers. However, not all companies offer health insurance to their employees for various reasons. A few examples of various insurance providers in the United States are Blue Cross Blue Shield, Kaiser Permanente, United Healthcare, and many other companies. When having medical insurance, people are required to pay a monthly premium rate in order to maintain their health insurance. On top of paying a monthly premium rate, individuals are still required to pay a certain amount of money when visiting the doctors. If patients’ medical expenses do not meet their deductible, then they must pay out of their own pockets without any help from their insurance provider. This is an overwhelmingly common issue amongst insurance providers and their deductible rates, because oftentimes an individual's deductible can be around five thousand dollars. For example, if someone were to undergo a medical procedure, or they were faced with an unexpected accident that required emergency attention and their medical bill came out to be four thousand, seven hundred and fifty dollars, their insurance provider would deny them of coverage for their medical expenses leaving patients to pay out of pocket. Another common issue with insurance providers is that they persuade people to buy their medical insurance, but often deny any aid in payment depending on what the expenses are for, no matter if your bills meet your deductible or not. These are only a few examples of the issues that are embedded within the health care system and the various insurance providers in the United States. The United States’ health care system is broken, and it needs to be changed. Over the last several years, there has been a push for the United States to provide universal health care coverage for people across the country. Yet, this issue has still not been solved as more and more people continue to go without any medical insurance at all, are falling into debt, and financially struggling because of their medical bills. The United States is the only country that has these many issues within its health care system and such high prices for their services. Everyone deserves to have healthcare and have ease in knowing that receiving care for their health will not cause them to struggle financially.

[apete-blogs]

The Battle Between Elon Musk and Twitter

In late-March of 2022, Elon Musk was in the beginning stages of joining the official board for Twitter. Musk had publicly announced on social media in the past his opinions about Twitter and addressed certain policies and guidelines that the company had set in place. There was a lot of discussion amongst the board members about whether Musk should be allowed to fill a seat on the Twitter board. After a lot of discussion and consideration, Twitter offered Musk a spot on the board. However, this spot came with a few rules; Musk would be limited to what he can and cannot discuss publicly about the company, and he would also be required to discuss any offers to buy the company with the official board of Twitter. One day after the board gave this response to Elon Musk, he refused to adhere to their ‘limited speech’ rule and stated that he agreed to not own any more than fifteen percent of Twitter’s stocks. The following day, April 5th, Twitter announced that Elon Musk was an official board member of Twitter. However, a few days later Musk ended up declining the Twitter board’s offer. In response to this decision, Elon offered to buy the entire company of Twitter for $54.20 per share, which equates to a total of forty-four billion US dollars. For several days, the Twitter board discussed how they should respond to this offer, all the while Elon Musk was pushing board members to accept his offer. On April 25th, 2022, Twitter advisors accepted Elon’s offer, making him the new official owner of Twitter. However, a few weeks later, Musk posted on Twitter falsely stating that his purchasing deal with Twitter was on hold. Come to find out, Elon had offered to purchase the company at a price that was higher than he could afford to pay. For Elon Musk to be able to purchase all of Twitter’s stocks for $54.20 per share, he would have to sell a substantial portion of his stocks that he owns from his own company, Tesla. Since the board of Twitter announced that Elon Musk’s offer to purchase Twitter was accepted, he has been attempting to pull his offer. Musk’s lawyer officially announced that Elon Musk is cancelling his deal with Twitter, due to the company not releasing requested company information to Musk. One piece of information that Elon was attempting to have access to, is the percentage of active daily users on Twitter that are considered bots and/or spam accounts. This is just one of the few reasons that Elon Musk is pulling out of his purchasing deal. However, the chairman of Twitter has announced that the Twitter board is dedicated on finalizing the deal that was agreed upon between them and Elon Musk. If Musk continues this battle with Twitter, and continues to insist on terminating his deal, he may end up having to go to court with Twitter. What some may not realize is that even if Musk is able to get out of his forty-four-billion-dollar deal, he still faces a high chance of having to pay Twitter one billion dollars. Because Elon is backing out of a major purchasing deal, Twitter has the right to give him a penalty for backing out, which would result in a one billion dollar fine. The fate of Twitter, and who will have ownership over the highly popular social media platform is unclear. But one thing that is very clear is that Twitter is going to make Elon Musk pay. Whether it is forty-four billion dollars, or one billion dollars, the Twitter board wants Elon Musk to pay for all the commotion.

[apete-blogs]

Free to Fly Again... But at What Cost?

Planes are one of the most common, popular, and fastest ways to travel. So, when the airports shut down in 2020 due to the spread of the Corona virus, almost all flights were cancelled and put on halt. For months, airports were not flying any planes. People could not travel to different countries due to the border being closed, and they were also restricted from flying to other states within the United States as well. Due to this, people became restless and eager to hop on the first flight that they could once the airports opened again. Apart from the restless citizens, the airports being closed affected people who worked inside the airports the most. Airline pilots were now unable to work and unable to make money during this time. This led to the Airline industry having a major decline in their marginal profits. Some people may not care if major industries, such as airports, make their profits or not, but this had an even greater effect on the airplane pilots themselves. They were now stuck at home and out of work for the time being. The airports were nearly empty for about a year, and then they slowly started to reopen and allow small numbers of people back inside for flights. Two years after their initial shut down in March of 2020, they began their final stages of completely reopening the airports and increasing passenger numbers. Once this was done, people fled to the airport gates, buying airplane tickets and traveling everywhere. Resuming as if nothing had happened, but something did happen during the two years the airports were closed. Many pilots chose to retire early, accepting the offers from their airlines to receive limited pay on their permanent leave. Thousands of pilots that worked for Delta Airlines, American Airlines, and Southwest Airlines were now retired and no longer flying. This left the remainder of the working pilots to fly the numerous eager passengers around the country. With fewer employees and numerous flights, the rest of the pilots were left to pick up the slack. Pilots from all airlines were overwhelmed with flights and had nobody left to help. After several months of being overworked and underpaid for the hours they were putting in, pilots all over began to protest. They decided that enough was enough, and that they could not continue to work in the current conditions. Pilots refused to fly any planes without a change in working conditions. Something needs to be done in order to better the work conditions for pilots that are dealing with these Issues. Most would assume that people would not want to get on a plane when the pilot is overworked and fatigued, however most are only worried about getting to their destination. There are a lot of dangers that come into play when a pilot is flying a plane, but they are too exhausted from their previous flights. Just like any other job, it is highly necessary for workers to receive a break, if not crucial when it comes to airplane pilots. Another issue that the pilots were protesting for is not receiving the appropriate amount of payment for their work efforts. However, as of June 24th, United Airlines recognized the issues at hand and granted their workers with solutions. They were met with a temporary increase of payment of 14.5 percent for all pilots. United Airlines will also be offering new incentives in the hopes of finding more pilots to employ. As for their current employees, United is working towards giving their pilots a smaller workload. Although this is a step in the right direction, other major airlines have yet to make any progress towards finding a solution to this problem. More awareness needs to be brought to these issues so that all airlines can improve the intense working conditions that pilots everywhere are currently facing.

[apete-blogs]

Why Roe v. Wade Matters

There has always been a very fine line between pro-choice and pro-life. The topic has been sensitive in the past but has recently become more relevant due to the possibility of Roe v. Wade being overturned. Roe v. Wade is a law that should be protected, and here is why. January 22, 1973, Roe v. Wade was passed in a court of law, giving women the legal right to receive an abortion without any legal consequences. Ever since that day, there has been a split between people who choose either the pro-choice side, or the pro-life side. This abortion law has been a heavy topic in politics to this day and is now at the point of a possible overturn in the Supreme Court. Religion has been slowly seeping its way into the Supreme Court, which has influenced how society views particular laws, specifically Roe v. Wade. A specific religion that has stated that they believe abortions are wrong is Christianity. Although it is important to respect all religions and understand that not everyone will always unite on various topics, it is also important to remember that people should not be forced to abide by religious beliefs if they do not agree or follow said religion. Especially when those religious beliefs are now potentially becoming a part of the law. Before Roe v. Wade was passed in a court of law, women everywhere were dying due to receiving illegal and unsafe abortions. Without Roe v. Wade existing as a law in America, there is an extremely high risk of an increased death rate amongst women in the United States. This is one of the many reasons as to why Roe v. Wade matters. If the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, women across America are also losing their right to privacy. Now is the time for people to stand together and protect Roe v. Wade so that women can continue to have a choice when it comes to their bodies. It is important for women to have a choice because not every woman becomes pregnant under the right circumstances. Women in America are sexually assaulted, sexually abused, and far worse, raped, more often than some would prefer to acknowledge. So why force a woman to go through nine months of pregnancy and hours of labor, when her pregnancy was created in malice? Other women contemplate going through with their pregnancy because they are not financially stable enough to take care of a child. Although some people argue that women should go through with childbirth and then put the child up for adoption, the foster care system is incredibly full and over-looked by social services. While there are a great number of children who get adopted into loving homes, this is not the case for most. An even greater number of children who are put up for adoption are placed into foster care or group homes. Most of the foster care and group homes are over packed with children, and the adults who are the care givers in the home only open their homes for the pay checks that come with the children. In order to prevent women being arrested for murder due to receiving an abortion, an increased mortality rate in women across the states, and even more children being sent into a broken system, Roe v. Wade needs to be protected. No matter your religious standpoint, women’s rights need to be protected, for the sake of all women and children who have yet to come into this world. Children deserve to be born into a world where everyone, including women, have a say over their bodies.

[apete-blogs]

Mental health is something that every person should prioritize in their lives. It can affect everyone differently, and can have a major impact on your daily life. People should not ignore their mental health, because it can end up making life seem incredibly hard and discouraging at times. It is important for everyone to take a step back every once in a while and check up on themselves. Take some time to sit in your own presence, and think about how you are feeling and what you can do to fix any major issues that are having a negative impact on your life. Life goes by at such a fast pace, and it is easy to continue on as if everything is fine. But in reality, that is not the best way to take care of yourself. By taking time to check in on yourself, your emotions, and your mental health, you are allowing yourself time to process what you are feeling and how you can better yourself and your current situation. It is also very important to pay attention to the people around you, especially the people that you care about. Even though your friends and family may seem okay, this does not mean that they are in a good mental state. It can be hard to reach out to others to talk about something that you are struggling with, so it is important to check up on the people around you. COVID-19 had a major effect on a lot of people and their mental state. Being stuck inside and not being around people is easy for someone to become depressed, develop anxiety and social anxiety, and a lot of other issues that someone may have never had before in the past. So remember to not only take the time to check in on yourself, but also the people around you. #loveyouself #mentalhealth #mentalhealthmatters