The following are examples of health care events in the 1990s and 2012:
■ Human Genome Project (1992) ■ Assisted suicide; Dr. J. Kevorkian (1996) ■ Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (1993) ■ Septuplets born and survive (1997) ■ Octuplets born; 7 survive (1998) ■ Stem cell cloning (1998) ■ Biologics and follow-on biologics (2004) ■ Affordable Care Act (2010) ■ The Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act (June 28, 2012)
With the catastrophe of September 11, 2001, the need to immunize people for smallpox and countless other public health issues emerged, as did the need for emergency preparedness.
Biologics are complex medicines that are manufactured with the use of living organisms. The increasing use of biologics and new follow-on biolog- ics are the cutting edge of pharmaceutical therapies. The biogeneric market is about $2 billion. The Biotechnology Industry Organization has stated that “the safety and effectiveness of a chemical drug can be established by the speci- fication of its active ingredient, but the safety and effectiveness of a biotech product is determined by the manner in which it is made” (Samalonis, 2004). In other words, the consequences of this pioneering medicine will be expensive iatrogenic problems.
Grave concern is being expressed regarding the high costs of health care, and that the costs of durable medical supplies and medications continue to rise, and so on. On one hand, we are seeking to ever expand therapeutic miracles; on the other hand, there is shock and dismay at the ever-increasing costs of health care. It is apparent when one realizes that the costs of health care for a family of 4 has more than doubled in 9 years (2002–2011) from $9,235 to $19,393 (Strachen, 2011).
■ Common Problems in Health Care Delivery Many problems exist within today’s health care delivery system. Some of these problems affect all of us, and others are specific to the poor and to emerging majority populations. It has been suggested that the health care delivery system fosters and maintains a childlike dependence and de- personalized condition for the consumer. The following sections describe problems experienced by most consumers of health care, as categorized by Ehrenreich and Ehrenreich (1971, pp. 4–12). It is interesting to note that this historical framework was developed in 1971, yet it holds as a frame- work today.