Suffering the System: Professional Dominance, the Uninsured, and the Healthcare Industry

By: Stephanie Petty

Introduction

Working class: Among the poorest classes in most social class systems.

Professional dominance: Performing a role that is in high demand while making a relatively high-self profit for the services performed.

“The United States healthcare system is the third leading cause of death, after heart disease cancer.” Starfield (2000:483)

40 million people in the US without healthcare (2007)

Thesis

The purpose of this study on the working class and the poor, as it pertains to treatment and access to healthcare, is to explore the unspoken and/or hidden inequalities in the United States healthcare system. Specifically, this analysis examines the income and educational attainment of patients with regard to the quality of care received.

Previous Literature

Quality of Healthcare

-Dutton (1978)

-Nechas and Foley (1994)

-Frank-Green (2004)

Knowledge and Education

-Light (2000)

-Nechas and Foley (1994)

-Anspach (1993)

Literature Review (contd.)

Professional Dominance Light (2004) Malat (2001)

Social Construction Theory

Donileen Loseke (2003)

A social problem is not a stable category; rather its meaning is subjective.

Claimsmaking occurs when a person or a group of people attempt to persuade an audience that a particular problem exists.

“risk society”

Typifications help the audience understand the “typical” so that behavior or events outside the typical are identified as a social problem.

Methodology

Survey on access to healthcare and treatment by physicians

7 participants in the South Bend, IN community

Hope Rescue Mission and Chapin Street Health Clinic

Findings

Educational background varied amongst participants. 4 of the 7 participants were employed. All 7 participants were considered “working class” or

“poor.” All 7 participants seek medical attention approximately

every 3 months. Variance in timeliness of receiving medical attention.

Findings

Yes No Don’t knowDepends on the medical

problemDo you feel confident asking your doctor questions?

6/7 (85%) 1/7 (15%) 0/7 N/A

Do you think your doctor discusses all options for treatment?

4/7 (57%) 0/7 1/7 (15%) 2/7 (28%)

Do you fear challenging your doctor’s advice?

1/7 (15%) 6/7 (85%) 0/7 N/A

Do you have the option to change your primary doctor?

4/7 (57%) 1/7 (15%) 2/7 (28%) N/A

Miscellaneous Findings

Making Ends Meet

The working class and poor populations are in high-risk, low-paying jobs.

The separation between hourly and salary-paying jobs.

Social mobility

The cost of treatment

Future Research

Surveying different geographic areas

Possibly interviewing or participant observation

Focusing more on race, age, gender, or ethnicity

Questions????

The greatest mistake in the treatment of diseases is that there are physicians for the body and physicians for the soul, although the two cannot be separated.  ~Plato