Research Proposal

Windye’s JOMC 713 Research Proposal: Universal Health Care Debate in the United States

 

My knowledge of this topic primarily centers around the fact that it is one of the main issues up for debate between the two major political parties’ platforms for areas that need reform in our current system. The main topics that I want to address through further research about this topic are:

1) Definitions of Universal Health Care: I want to write a comparison of what the concept of “universal health care” means in different parts of the world, and how it has developed in terms of country, region, and the main ideologies within those boundaries.

2) Sources of Funding: since most countries define universal health care as “health care coverage extended to all citizens, and sometimes permanent residents of a governmental region,” we should discuss the financial implications of public vs. private funding for these endeavors. We should ask questions such as: what percentage of the American population has their healthcare coverage fully funded by the U.S. government? These groups include many populations with many diverse and often interwoven needs, including the elderly (Medicare), the disabled (Medicaid), military service families (Veterans Administration) and some who live well under the national poverty line (Medicaid).

3) Audience: I think that audience of both health care consumers and professionals will possess a genuine interest in how this topic develops over the course of the next few weeks remaining in the presidential election. I believe that I offer a unique perspective gained through my career as a professional nurse and patient advocate. I do not let situations or circumstances define me, rather, I seek to define situations based life experience and personal wisdom (what little I have gained during my short time here thus far).

4) I hope to examine which groups in U.S. society are for or against the concept of universal health care in the United States. As a nurse, I want nothing more than to “take the temperature” of the general public on a topic so frequently discussed but with so little information that is widely known.

I think that my audience will want to know the best sources of information on health care topics as widely varied as “the best” home care remedies to the latest advancements in health care policies and technologies as we grow into the 21^st century. Through permalinks to relevant websites and articles, the Weblog will provide its readers with ways to access the some of the most current information available at the time of publication.

5-10 Keywords that I plan to use in my Search:

1) Universal Health Care

3) Healthcare Reform

4) Free Health Care

5) Socialist Medicine

6) Hillary Clinton

7) 2008 Health Care Platforms

Websites of Research Interest:

 

 

 

www.healthaffairs.ofg 

 

 

www.amsa.org/uhc/uhcres.cfm 

 

 

www.universalhealthct.org 

 

 

www.pnhp.org 

 

 

www.uhcan.org