Measles and Health Insurance in Illinois Essay

Exclusively available on Available only on IvyPanda® Made by Human No AI

Vaccination is crucial to prevent diseases that might be dangerous. An outbreak of measles that happened in Illinois recently affected mostly children who were not inoculated due to their young age. Health insurance is an important instrument of healthcare; luckily, the number of uninsured people is decreasing in the U.S.

The outbreak of measles happened in Palatine, Illinois in February 2015. Five infants under the immunization age were reported infected on February, 5 (Yuhas, 2015). The number of cases rose to 14 on February 18 (Rodriguez, 2015). Most cases were associated with a Palatine KinderCare Learning Center (Graham, 2015). The reports about the happening explain how measles is transmitted, give some statistics on measles, and state that the cases involved mainly infants who were too young to be vaccinated (Dacy & Hanna, 2015; Graham, 2015).

Even though the daycare center was not closed, to address the problem all the children who were not immunized were told to stay at home (Graham, 2015). KinderCare, the national chain supervising the daycare center, required all the personnel who work with children under 15 months to be inoculated (Rodriguez, 2015). The officials also urged other people to have an inoculation (Yuhas, 2015, para. 11). As for the local community’s involvement, all the persons who contacted a college student who was one of the infected were contacted and notified (Graham, 2015). Besides, the local population was informed of the cases via the media and recommended to contact their doctors if they had symptoms similar to those of measles (Yuhas, 2015).

The “Healthy People 2020” program addresses the problem of measles by proclaiming an objective to reduce measles cases. 115 cases of US-acquired measles were reported in 2008; the goal is to reduce that number to 30 cases in 2020. To do that, immunization is recommended (“Immunization and infectious diseases”, n.d., para. 5). Yuhas (2015) also notes that the mass inoculations led to a significant decrease in the number of cases of the disease in the U.S. (para. 13).

I have PPO insurance, which is rather convenient because I do not have to always go to a primary health care physician or obtain referrals from them; even if I am far away from home, I can find a doctor the services of whom will be covered.

Because I only attend online classes and, therefore, am unable to collect information from my classmates, I will present statistical data about medical insurance that is available online. It is pointed out that Illinois is a state that is covered by the Medicaid expansion program, a government insurance program designed for families and individuals of any age with low income. It is also shown that Illinois had the 23rd position among the states of the U.S. according to the percentage of the population not covered by health insurance in 2014, beginning with the states that had the lowest number of non-covered dwellers. However, the percentage of the non-covered population decreased in comparison to 2013; in 2013, ≈13.0% of the state’s population wasn’t covered by medical insurance, whereas in 2014 this figure decreased to ≈10.0% (“Population without health insurance coverage”, n.d.). These numbers are better than those in the US in general, where the percentage of the non-insured population was ≈14.5% and ≈11.5% in 2013 and 2014, respectively (“Population without health insurance coverage”, n.d.). The situation with insurance coverage is improving in the U.S. on the whole, and among people aged 18-24 (the age typical of students) in particular; if, according to different surveys, 18.9-20.6% of these people lacked coverage at the beginning of 2014, only 15.4-16.0% did not have it at the beginning of 2015 (“Comparison of the prevalence of uninsured persons”, 2015).

To sum up, it can be stated that vaccination significantly helps prevent becoming infected with serious diseases, such as measles, and inoculation is widely recommended by healthcare personnel. Statistics show that the number of people who have no medical insurance is decreasing in the US, which is a positive tendency for the health of the population.

References

(2015). Web.

Dacy, G., & Hanna, J. (2015). Web.

Graham, D. T. (2015). Web.

n.d. Web.

Population without health insurance coverage by state: 2013 and 2014. (n.d.). Web.

Rodriguez, M. (2015). Infant who attended Palatine day care the 14th measles case in Illinois. Web.

Yuhas, A. (2015). Web.

More related papers Related Essay Examples
Cite This paper
You're welcome to use this sample in your assignment. Be sure to cite it correctly

Reference

IvyPanda. (2022, April 17). Measles and Health Insurance in Illinois. https://ivypanda.com/essays/measles-and-health-insurance-in-illinois/

Work Cited

"Measles and Health Insurance in Illinois." IvyPanda, 17 Apr. 2022, ivypanda.com/essays/measles-and-health-insurance-in-illinois/.

References

IvyPanda. (2022) 'Measles and Health Insurance in Illinois'. 17 April.

References

IvyPanda. 2022. "Measles and Health Insurance in Illinois." April 17, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/measles-and-health-insurance-in-illinois/.

1. IvyPanda. "Measles and Health Insurance in Illinois." April 17, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/measles-and-health-insurance-in-illinois/.


Bibliography


IvyPanda. "Measles and Health Insurance in Illinois." April 17, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/measles-and-health-insurance-in-illinois/.

If, for any reason, you believe that this content should not be published on our website, please request its removal.
Updated:
This academic paper example has been carefully picked, checked and refined by our editorial team.
No AI was involved: only quilified experts contributed.
You are free to use it for the following purposes:
  • To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
  • As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
  • As a template for you assignment
Privacy Settings

IvyPanda uses cookies and similar technologies to enhance your experience, enabling functionalities such as:

  • Basic site functions
  • Ensuring secure, safe transactions
  • Secure account login
  • Remembering account, browser, and regional preferences
  • Remembering privacy and security settings
  • Analyzing site traffic and usage
  • Personalized search, content, and recommendations
  • Displaying relevant, targeted ads on and off IvyPanda

Please refer to IvyPanda's Cookies Policy and Privacy Policy for detailed information.

Required Cookies & Technologies
Always active

Certain technologies we use are essential for critical functions such as security and site integrity, account authentication, security and privacy preferences, internal site usage and maintenance data, and ensuring the site operates correctly for browsing and transactions.

Site Customization

Cookies and similar technologies are used to enhance your experience by:

  • Remembering general and regional preferences
  • Personalizing content, search, recommendations, and offers

Some functions, such as personalized recommendations, account preferences, or localization, may not work correctly without these technologies. For more details, please refer to IvyPanda's Cookies Policy.

Personalized Advertising

To enable personalized advertising (such as interest-based ads), we may share your data with our marketing and advertising partners using cookies and other technologies. These partners may have their own information collected about you. Turning off the personalized advertising setting won't stop you from seeing IvyPanda ads, but it may make the ads you see less relevant or more repetitive.

Personalized advertising may be considered a "sale" or "sharing" of the information under California and other state privacy laws, and you may have the right to opt out. Turning off personalized advertising allows you to exercise your right to opt out. Learn more in IvyPanda's Cookies Policy and Privacy Policy.

1 / 1