Deck 13: Are You Feeling Okay Health and Health Care

Question 1

For the first time since US opinion polls began, health care in 2020

A) is something Americans are optimistic about.
B) dropped in public concern behind most other pressing social problems.
C) has ranked in the top three categories of pressing social problems.
D) dominated the election cycle.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Arguably, the U.S. already has pockets of single payer health care as seen in

A) Medicaid.
B) Veterans' Administration.
C) Medicare.
D) all of the above.

Answer 2

D

Question 3

The research points to 3 key factors that influence the need for health care reform in this country.

A) Explosive costs, overspecialization in medicine, the aging of US population
B) Influx of immigrants and refugees, drug costs, the obesity epidemic
C) Low quality of care, overspecialization in medicine, influx of immigrants and refugees
D) Aging of US population, obesity epidemic, low quality of care

Answer 3

A

Question 4

In 2019, health care spending is growing at a faster rate than the national economy. Growth is expected to average about _____ between 2015 and 2025.

A) 2% each year
B) 6% each year
C) 13% each year
D) 24% each year

Question 5

Despite the fact that the U.S. spends _____ per capita for health care compared to other developed countries, the health outcomes are no better if not worse.

A) Only slightly less
B) Roughly the same amount
C) 1.5 times more
D) More than double

Question 6

The change in price of the life-saving allergic response injection medication EpiPen manufactured by Mylan Corporation illustrates

A) the unrestrained profit motive of the pharmaceutical industry.
B) the prescription industry's commitment to patients.
C) the power of government regulation to control health care costs.
D) the vast improvements of medical technology that require higher costs.

Question 7

What is the difference between general primary care and specialization among physicians?

A) Primary care physicians require more advanced and longer training than specialists who only learn one branch of medicine.
B) Primary care physicians accept Medicaid and Medicare insurance but specialists only accept private insurance or cash/credit.
C) Primary care physicians work in public clinics and hospitals whereas specialists work in private settings.
D) Primary care physicians generally treat all patients for all reasons whereas specialists only treat specific patients or conditions and typically require referrals from primary care doctors.

Question 8

Why is specialization in medicine problematic?

A) Physicians are shouldered with the burden of the costs and times for additional training.
B) Specialization reduces practitioners' abilities to refine their skill and knowledge base on key areas of health care.
C) Specialists earn less money than primary care physicians and provide lower quality care despite rising need among patients.
D) Referral requirements cause backlogs and long waits for needed care, more patients need comprehensive care, far higher health care costs.

Question 9

By 2025, the government will account for _____ of all US health care spending.

A) about one-quarter
B) nearly half
C) about two-thirds
D) the vast majority

Question 10

Which statistic demonstrates how even if the U.S. had affordable care for everyone, its use will remain significantly uneven?

A) 50% of the population only accounts for 3% of spending
B) 5% of the population accounts for 50% of spending
C) Both A and B
D) Neither A nor B

Question 11

The distribution of the $3.8 trillion in health care costs including (among other things) about _____ to hospitals; doctors and other providers account for another _____; prescription drugs bought through pharmacies comprise another _____

A) 10% ; 33%; 20%.
B) 33% ; 20%; 10%.
C) 20% ; 33%; 10%.
D) 20% ; 10%; 33%.

Question 12

What is the infant mortality rate?

A) The number of deaths before age 3 for all lives births.
B) The number of abortions, miscarriages, and newborn deaths during childbirth.
C) The number of deaths of newborns during childbirth.
D) The number of deaths in the first year of life for all live births.

Question 13

8 out of 10 people in the U.S. who are uninsured are

A) families that made 400% or less of the federal poverty line.
B) unemployed working age adults.
C) ineligible for benefits due to pre-existing conditions.
D) individuals who prefer to buy their own health care services and pay out of pocket.

Question 14

In 2016, 27 million Americans were uninsured despite the Obamacare policy that

A) required states to fund insurance for all residents.
B) uninsured individuals would be punishable by mandatory jail sentences.
C) required health insurance companies to offer affordable coverage for everyone.
D) mandated people to obtain health insurance coverage either through a plan at work, privately, or through a subsidized state or federal insurance exchange.

Question 15

People of color of all income levels and low-income Whites have

A) special benefits to ensure access to health insurance coverage.
B) low access to quality care and less preventive care.
C) both A and B.
D) neither A nor B.

Question 16

A 2018 CDC report found that Blacks and Hispanics report

A) better health status than Whites and Asians.
B) fewer average healthy days compared to Whites.
C) higher access to chronic disease management than Whites.
D) less need for health care compared to Whites.

Question 17

With the exception of Asian Americans, virtually every non-White racial/ethnic group in the U.S. rates their health as

A) very poor.
B) poor or fair.
C) fair or good.
D) good.

Question 18

Which US groups are noted in the chapter as being less likely to be immunized in general, demonstrating lower access to health information and care?

A) Women
B) LGBTQ people
C) African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans
D) Millennials

Question 19

How did the idea of health insurance come about?

A) The U.S. followed the European model
B) During WWII, companies could not afford to increase wages so they used health care coverage as a perk for employees
C) Doctors pooled together after the Great Depression to set prices and contract with insurance companies so that they could better protect their practices and focus on caring for patients.
D) Once the government started paying for the health care of the elderly and for low-income families in the 1960s, those companies that coordinated the care for the government began to offer coverage for private employers as well.

Question 20

By the 1950s, health insurance was equated with what it meant to have a "good" job-one that offered a high salary and benefits like health insurance. When did health care costs begin to rise such that companies began dropping coverage?

A) 1990s
B) 1980s
C) 1970s
D) 1960s

Question 21

During whose presidency was managed care created?

A) GHW Bush
B) GW Bush
C) Clinton
D) Obama

Question 22

What is private health insurance?

A) Insurance companies collect premiums that go into special savings accounts that can be drawn upon when a patient needs medical care, without taxation.
B) People contract with insurance brokers who negotiate prices across different providers and hospitals to find the best deals for their plan members.
C) Like Social Security, the government withdraws taxes from each paycheck for eligible income earners that go into public funds to support that worker's and their family's health care expenses.
D) Like car insurance, people pay premiums to 3^rd party companies to maintain coverage should something happen. The insurance company in turn pays doctors and hospitals for any treatment or service the patient may need.

Question 23

What is a Health Maintenance Organization (HMO)?

A) A private insurance company that gives members, for a fixed monthly fee, the autonomy to see whatever provider they wish to see for whatever services, as long as they adhere to doctor's orders and/or a prescribed course of treatment or therapy.
B) HMOs offer incentives to government employees to drive down health care costs; workers gain higher wages for actions such as never smoking or quitting smoking, or remaining at a health weight or losing weight.
C) A collective bargaining group established by labor unions to negotiate health care costs for its members.
D) An HMO, for a fixed monthly fee, provides total health care within a strict network of providers for patients with an emphasis on prevention in an effort to avoid costly treatments in the future.

Question 24

A managed care health care system is a business such that

A) the coordination of care is more consistent, efficient, and effective than any public endeavor to organize health care.
B) doctors have become not only medical experts, but experts in the business of health care as well.
C) controlling costs and market sensitivity drives decision making.
D) customer/patient satisfaction is the highest priority.

Question 25

This provides health care coverage for low-income families or those who are disabled. It also covers a certain segment of senior citizens in nursing homes.

A) Medicaid
B) Medicare
C) Managed Care
D) Blue Cross/Blue Shield

Question 26

This is government-run health care which provides partial medical and hospital insurance for Americans aged 65 or older and Social Security recipients.

A) Medicaid
B) Medicare
C) Managed Care
D) Blue Cross/Blue Shield

Question 27

Both Medicaid and Medicare combined accounted for what percentage of US federal spending in 2010?

A) 10%
B) 25%
C) 40%
D) 55%

Question 28

Massachusetts, Hawaii, and Vermont are examples of states where

A) managed care companies and patients are thriving.
B) Medicaid is banned.
C) they have had success creating and implementing their own health insurance plans for their citizens, especially the poor.
D) Medicare is only offered to lower-income residents as opposed to all people over age 65.

Question 29

What is the two-tiered model of health care spending in Singapore?

A) A mix of HMOs and PPOs.
B) One-quarter of the country is privately insured (through individual contracts, not through work), and three quarters are publicly insured.
C) Hospitals control their costs as well as pharmacy expenses and doctors and providers bill for their care-all through public spending.
D) Two thirds of the spending comes from insurance while the remaining third is paid for through public spending.

Question 30

Which of the following is NOT a key component of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA)?

A) All health insurance is managed and paid for by the government.
B) State insurance exchanges were created so that a wide range of health insurance plans can be offered at competitive prices.
C) Employers who have more than 50 employees who do not provide health insurance coverage pay a penalty.
D) Small businesses can buy insurance for their employees through state exchanges and receive tax credits.

Question 31

Each of the following were challenges to the success of the ACA except?

A) The web page was not operational and required extensions for people to enroll after the initial deadline.
B) The program did not end up reducing the uninsured population.
C) Many Americans had their existing coverage cancelled or faced higher costs despite promises that this would not happen.
D) Heavy Republican opposition and several legal challenges.

Question 32

What happened to the ACA after President Trump was elected?

A) It suffered legal setbacks and additional challenges, but is still in place as the Trump administration failed to implement reform.
B) It was repealed and replaced by the American Health Care Act
C) The program slowly gained bipartisan support and later, Trump's endorsement.
D) Trumpcare was implemented as an alternative with no individual mandate or employer requirements to provide insurance.

Question 33

What changes did President Biden make in 2021 to correct President Trump's handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.

A) Implemented a plan to quickly release millions of vaccines that the Trump administration had held back.
B) Mandated mask wearing on all federal property.
C) Put full trust in medical experts and the CDC
D) All of the above

Question 34

Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, there has been continued misinformation. Even the development of a vaccine has resulted in considerable skepticism, as conspiracy theories and misinformation have been presented by

A) all sides of the media, and then presidential candidate Joe Biden.
B) health care providers and vaccine companies.
C) Russian hackers and social media company executives.
D) conservative media, far-right advocates and politicians, and President Trump.

Question 35

What is the "sick role" in approaching how societies handle health care and illness?

A) The benefits to society added when people are faced with illness or injury such as providing jobs for health care workers and pharmaceutical developers.
B) The example set by patients with chronic illness or injury to convince others to avoid unhealthy or unsafe behaviors.
C) People with illnesses take on a character or part, in a sense, and they are not held to the same behavioral standards or obligations when sick.
D) The dysfunction caused when people are dishonest about being sick and are actually healthy.

Question 36

Which of the following is an expectation set for someone having the "sick role"?

A) To be able to afford treatment.
B) To want to get better and want to be healthy.
C) To try any and all potential treatments and therapies.
D) To be brave.

Question 37

Which sociological theory of health and illness would likely study the notion that health care providers are pressured to spend less time with individual patients in a managed care setting which may harm the rapport and ultimately the quality of care?

A) Functionalism
B) Conflict theory
C) Symbolic interactionism
D) Managed care theory

Question 38

Which sociological theory of health and illness would focus on how disease interferes with people's ability to perform the roles and functions necessary for society to operate smoothly and keeps society from growing in positive ways?

A) Functionalism
B) Conflict theory
C) Symbolic interactionism
D) Managed care theory

Question 39

The fact that the Covid-19 pandemic has seen a political and dangerous erosion of trust in medicine and medical experts for many patients in America would be a key topic of study for which sociological theory of health and illness?

A) Functionalism
B) Conflict theory
C) Symbolic interactionism
D) Managed care theory

Question 40

Which sociological theory of health and illness emphasizes how the US health care system provides health care as a privilege (for some), and not a right?

A) Functionalism
B) Conflict theory
C) Symbolic interactionism
D) Managed care theory

Question 41

The social construction of disease, the notion that some substances are labelled as healthy or medicinal while others are not, and what it means to show up in the world with a chronic condition for different people would all be areas of study for

A) Functionalism.
B) Conflict theory.
C) Symbolic interactionism.
D) Managed care theory.

Question 42

Drug companies set the prices and distribution of medication, particularly since they have no real competition in the market. Insurance companies also seek to profit by increasing premiums for coverage, maintaining high deductibles for policy holders, and limiting the costs of treatment. These are aspects of the health care system in the U.S. that would be explored by

A) Functionalism.
B) Conflict theory.
C) Symbolic interactionism.
D) Managed care theory.

Question 43

What typically motivates hospital innovations in services and technology?

A) Government policy
B) Profit motive
C) Patient demand
D) Scientific research and development

Question 44

Does evidence suggest that the U.S. should direct more focus on preventive care?

A) No, preventive care is far too expensive.
B) No, preventive care is another insurance industry scam.
C) Yes, preventive care is shown to reduce costs and improve health outcomes.
D) Yes, the U.S. could end all disease and illness with preventive care.

Question 45

The US model of health care is referred to by some as "sick care" because

A) the U.S. is the best at curing disease for all patients.
B) Americans are on average more "sick" than healthy.
C) the system itself is "sick."
D) proactive and preventive care that fights off future illness is not a priority.

Question 46

What is one notable drawback that evidence predicts could occur with universal health care in the U.S.?

A) Over-empowered physicians given too much authority.
B) Complete socialism.
C) Longer wait times for care and reduced services for certain conditions or medications.
D) Higher health care costs overall.

Question 47

What role does sociology play in clarifying the US health care debate?

A) Arms politicians with sharp rhetoric.
B) Studies inform discussions with detailed evidence across the complex issues involved in health care and policy.
C) Allows voters to decide the perfect solution to fixing health care policy.
D) Reveals the rationale for maintaining the status quo.