Running Head: CURRENT ISSUES 1

Current Issues/Challenges Within the Past Two Years

Alicia Mero, Cammoletta Blount, Consuela Gregory & Bryan Sherman

Bryant & Stratton College

ECON:325 Microeconomics

Mr. Rahman

June 20, 2016

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Abstract

There have been many different economic issues/challenges in the last couple of years.

Some of these issues range from healthcare, welfare reform, environmental problems, defense

spending and education. Too much overuse and unnecessary care accounts for anywhere from

one-third to one-half of all health care costs, which equal hundreds of billions of dollars, in

addition to the half-a-trillion per year attribute to lost productivity and disability.

Welfare benefits have been a topic of conversation in the United States throughout

history, government benefits in the past were considered a privilege not a right, it was also

believed that the reason some of those individuals were impoverished was because of their own

actions. There are many environmental problems that plague our nation. But with

microeconomics the part of Economics concerned single factors and the effects of individual

decisions.

The education system has been hit with multiple issues within the past two (2) years, such

as: common core state standards, student learning, technology, social media, politics, high stakes

testing, school leadership, pre-service teaching programs, school climate and poverty. In this

paper we will discuss the current issues or challenges the United States have faced within the last

two years. Understanding what the challenges are will help us to form various conclusions and

offer possible solutions for improvement.

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Healthcare Issues

Issues in the healthcare field overwhelm the United States lately. There are many issues

with practices and insurances, there are even issues with government health plans. Some issues

may be resolved, but some are very serious and hard to overcome.

One healthcare issue is that the costs for healthcare for the average family are on the rise.

For a while healthcare costs were plateauing and staying the same, but then some things

changed. The costs that the consumer had to spend started going up making it hard for a family

to afford healthcare. According to Scott Becker, “healthcare costs for families have doubled in

the past decade.” Employers are now paying less which means the employees or the consumers

have to pay more out of pocket expenses. This results in higher deductibles and higher co-pays.

There is one specific insurance company that is of high concern. There was an antitrust

case in Alabama where Blue Cross Blue Shield was sued because thirty-seven independently

owned companies were functioning as an illegal cartel. A cartel is a collection of businesses that

act together as a single company that influences prices for a certain good. This is illegal because

it results in high prices and little room for competition. Blue Cross has been previously sued

before and there is no access to this case at this time.

Some healthcare issues happen in the actual hospitals or offices. For example, there is a

doctor shortage. According to Gupta there are not enough doctors to care for the entire United

States population. The country is short by thousands of doctors and the issue is only getting

worse. This may result in longer wait times to get an appointment, and it may mean that policy

makers may need to change their criteria and ask themselves some new questions when figuring

out these issues. Another major issue is hospital errors. Dr. Gupta says that “mistakes made by

hospitals are the number one cause of preventable death.” Some different hospital/medical errors

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may include, misdiagnosis, operating on the wrong body part, infection infestation and patients

waking up during surgery due to lack of anesthesia.

Another huge controversial medical issue is medical marijuana. There are many different

laws that are changing in order to allow the recreational or medical use of marijuana. Some

issues that may arise as more states adapt this law may be consequences if you are caught with

marijuana without medical reasoning, what will happen if you are caught driving high on

marijuana and so on. This will cause doctors to be very careful when diagnosing a patient and

this will give them more responsibility when prescribing the medical marijuana.

One main issue within healthcare is the management. A survey was conducted and

evaluated by Paul Merrild. More than half of the healthcare professionals that were surveyed

stated that their process and management is in need of change. Most of the change was

determined to be needed internally. There are also many issues when dealing with population in

hospitals and making enough time to see each and every patient.

There are many issues dealing with healthcare, welfare reform, environmental problems,

defense spending and education. These issues need to be researched and assessed in order to

make the government run more effectively. Some healthcare issues are about the economy and

others are about management in the field.

Welfare Reform

Welfare benefits have been a topic of conversation in the United States throughout

history, government benefits in the past were considered a privilege not a right, it was also

believed that the reason some of those individuals were impoverished was because of their own

actions. In the past, individuals who were eligible, essentially depended on government

assistance to become self-sufficient. Some of these benefits included but were not limited to food

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stamps, cash benefits, housing and medical benefits. These benefits were reserved for mothers

and children, usually with no work or educational requirements and no time limit was required

on the payments of these benefits. (Jeffery Grogger, Lynn A. Kaoly, and Jacob Alex Klerman,

2002).

As time mulled on, these benefits and the distribution of them became a hot topic because

the public believed that there was injustice, injustice because the old system didn’t have

programs to incentivize individuals to use welfare as a stepping stone, but instead encouraged

individuals to remain on welfare forever, thus encouraging poverty.

Today, the reformation of welfare has definitely taken a different turn in regards to the

benefit distribution from the government and what types of benefits are available, there are time

limits which are implemented, mandatory employment and volunteering among others are

required. Welfare reform was primarily enacted to reduce the dependency of government

assistance over a short period of time; 5 years in most states and promote marriage among other

goals. Over time, according to (Peter Muennig, 2015) welfare reforms have reduced the amount

of individuals who are receiving assistance, there are more individuals who obtain employment,

however, the pay is only slightly higher than welfare benefits are.

Studies also show according to (Peter Muennig, 2015), “Some reforms can raise income

and also reduce poverty, however, some of those numbers change as individuals receiving

welfare, reach their time limits in the program”. A trade-off associated with this outcome,

according to (Peter Muennig, 2015), is that the central economic trade-off is between reducing

welfare use and raising income. He also stated the price for raising income means rising welfare

usage.

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The effects of welfare reform affect both adults and children, both positive and negative

especially children and adolescence, a working parent is usually not home because of work and a

parent receiving welfare is required to work to receive benefits. The primary reason is because of

the time missed in the child’s life, the fact that the parent is absent is the trade-off of both

situations.

In closing, the studies have shown results of the welfare reform according to (Margaret

Kimberley, 2016) Show to be mainly positive, however this research was done a couple years

ago when the economy was in a better state, because of the time limits imposed on individuals

receiving assistance, with the exception of the mentally and physically disabled, it is harder to

obtain statistics on current and future recipients. “From experience (Margaret Kimberley, 2016)

adds, we already know the likely consequences of removing the low income off of welfare, so

the government needs a more realistic expectation based on the information we’ve already

observed.”

Environmental Issues

There are many environmental problems that plague our nation. But with

microeconomics the part of Economics concerned single factors and the effects of individual

decisions. There are thousands of controversial topic when it relates to environmental issues.

Like, should or shouldn’t be permitted destroy places where animals live, the wildlife habitat.

Should developing countries reduce deforestation at the risk of limiting Economic Development.

Or should the world just go green and invest in renewable energy to prevent global warming.

Natural gas is a fossil fuel however the global warming emission from its combustion

are much lower than those used from coal or oil. The carbon dioxide that natural gas emit is

about 50 to 60% less in newer power plants than those of the typical coal newer power plants

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(National Energy Technology Laboratory). If you take in account of the tailpipe emissions

natural gas only about 15 to 20% less heat-trapping gases than gasoline when used in common

everyday vehicles (Fuel Economy 2013). Those who choose the drilling and extraction of

natural gas from Wells also lead to global warming factors because the transportation though

pipelines of the gas that leaks create methane which is far more potent to global warming.

Everything depends on the amount however, natural gas has lower lifecycle greenhouse gas

emissions than coal and oil depends on the assumed leakage rate, the energy conversion

efficiency and the global warming threat of methane over long period of times. A recent study

found that methane losses need to be kept about below 3.2% For Natural Gas power plants to

have a significantly lower life cycle emissions of coal plants over a shorter period of time about

20 years or fewer. That id so that natural gas in vehicle can deliver a better Financial marginal

benefit, methane losses should be kept below 1% this is compared with diesel and gasoline

respectively. With the world changing and Technology becoming more advanced much of the

leak and methane can be reduced but to use this new technology would take a lot of Investments.

With so much destruction, the world looks for better way to make cleaner and safer energy.

Did you know heat from the earth can be used as energy in many different ways? This

power can be used for your home or your business to run and a huge Power Station to run it

something simple as a fan. What is this energy you ask? It’s none other than geothermal energy.

This energy can be found anywhere even in your backyard. This type of energy would definitely

reduce the global warming scenario. As of 2013, there are about 12000 megawatts of large utility

scale geothermal capacity was already been used globally and plans to double that in the near

future (Geothermal Energy Association. 2013). It is said these geothermal plants can produce

about 68 billion kilowatt-hours of power this is roughly about the annual need to power more

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than 6 million United States households many countries like Iceland and El Salvador have

already put this into effect with about 25% of their homes been powered by this geothermal

plants. The United States is a global leader in geothermal capacity. There are as many as eight

states with more than 3,300 megawatts. Much of this is located in California there are 40 plants.

7% of the state’s electricity come from these plant. Using the earth natal heart, us a good way to

gain energy, but what happen when you take away from the earth.

Deforestation, is the act of destroying forest to make labs available for other usages.

There are four major causes for deforestation and that’s beef, soy, palm oil and Wood Products

Drive the majority of tropical deforestation (ucsusa.org 2015) a basic material needed for human

civilization instills play a huge role today is wood. 30% of the world’s forests are used for

deforestation, meaning designated to provide Wood non-timber Forest Products and also energy.

(ucsusa.org 2015). Palm oil is a very common product it is found in shampoo and even Donuts.

This is now the most common vegetable oil in the entire world. To get this or it has to be pulled

from the fruit of the oil palm tree. This effect deforestation book of the area’s been cleared for

prom or are particularly rich in carbon. It is a fact that that deforestation plays in global warming

but the burning of the Peatland can release a toxic Haze into the atmosphere that can cause

severe health problems an economic loss. Each year in Southeast Asia more than 100,000 deaths

can be contributed to that toxin (J. Jones 2015) beef is another factor and is responsible for more

than twice as much deforestation as the other three combined. In South America between 1990

and 2005 was responsible for 71% of deforestation in that region. This is something I don’t see

every stopping what is a major problem, soybeans are a valuable crop. They can somehow fix

nitrogen reducing the need for nitrogen fertilizer. Only about 6% of soybeans are used for food

for us to eat in fact 70 to 75% end up as animal feed.

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Education Challenges

The education system has been hit with multiple issues within the past two (2) years, such

as: common core state standards, student learning, technology, social media, politics, high stakes

testing, school leadership, pre-service teaching programs, school climate and poverty (Kibbe,

2014).

Building on the best of existing stat standards, the Common Core Standards provide clear

and consistent learning goals to help prepare students for college, career, and life. The standard

clearly demonstrate what students are expected to learn at each grade level so that every parent

and teacher can understand and support their learning. These standards are broken down into six

categories; they are: research and evidence based, clear understandable and consistent, aligned

with college and career expectations, based on rigorous content and application of knowledge

through higher-order thinking skills, built upon the strength and lessons of current state standards

and informed by other top-performing countries to prepare all students for success in our global

economy and society. Forty-six states may have adopted the standards but around a dozen states

are backing or considering backing out of using them (Hood, 2016).

Many American critics believe that the major problem with public education today is a

lack of focus on results. Students aren’t expected to meet high standards, the argument goes, and

the process of education takes precedence over analyzing education results  in policy-making

circles. This is a valid argument (as far as it goes). Indeed, it can be taken one important step

further. We not only fail to hold individual students accountable for poor performance, we have

also failed to hold the entire government-controlled school system accountable for its

performance since at least World War II. Public education is itself a failure. Why shouldn’t

individual students follow its example? (Hood, 2016).

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The history of reform efforts in American public education is replete with half-

hearted measures, with almost comical misdiagnoses of education problems, with blame-shifting,

and with humbug. Everyone is an expert (most have, of course, suffered through the very system

they want to reform). At any one time during the course of school reform, an illusion of debate

often obscures a surprising consensus on the heralded “magic bullet” of the decade-be it school

centralization or progressive education or preschool education or computerizing the classroom-

that will solve America’s education problems. These magic bullets always misfire. But instead of

changing their weapon, policy-makers simply put another round in the chamber, foolishly

believing that the newest fad will succeed despite the failures of its predecessors (Kibbe, 2014).

Some critics believe that public education reforms fail because they are compromised or

sabotaged by the education lobbies-teacher associations, administrators, and the legislators in

their pockets. There is certainly some truth to that explanation, as we shall see. But in many

cases, attributing the failure of reform to subversion merely exonerates that reform. Most reform

ideas are either irrelevant or destructive of education. They would fail whether organized

political interests opposed them or not (Hood, 2016).

Many conservatives believe that American public education is in poor shape today

because of cultural and social trends, most beginning in the 1960s, which destroyed classroom

discipline, the moral basis for education, and a national consensus on what students should learn.

Again, there is some truth in this proposition, but ultimately it fails to explain why American

students do not possess the communication and computational skills they need today to succeed

in college or in the working world (Kibbe, 2014).

Furthermore, many free-market thinkers believe that applying market competition to the

public schools will solve many of America’s educational problems. I’m sympathetic to this

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argument, but it ignores the role of government policies other than student assignment to schools,

which inhibit school success. When government policy continues to impose rigid personnel

rules, bureaucracy, regulations, and a mandate to use education to engineer social or political

outcomes, a school cannot successfully impart the needed skills, knowledge, and perspective to

its students-whether these students choose to be there or not.

The federal government's track record on education is, in a word, abysmal. Under the

Bush administration, No Child Left Behind proved a spectacular failure. The Head Start Program

has been lurching along ineffectually for 50 years, and even the programs own self-assessment

admits that any benefits children gain from it disappear by the third grade (Hood, 2016).

Yet the appetite of federal regulators to push failed policies on an unwilling public cannot

be sated. The Department of Education occupies a big, fancy building in Washington, D.C., and

it has to give some justification for its shameless pilfering of our tax dollars. Hence, Common

Core standards, the latest in a long line of meddlesome attempts by government to control our

children based on the misguided belief that top-down control can improve something as personal

and individualized as education (Kibe, 2014).

Lastly, the rhetoric of school reform often ignores the crucial role of individual decisions

(by students, by parents, by business owners, by educators) in determining educational outcomes.

You can lead a horse to water, the old adage goes, but you can’t make him drink. It’s a folksy

way of imparting an important individualist truth. Providing students opportunities at school

does not guarantee success if students watch television rather than do their homework—and

parents let them. By assuming that any set of reform ideas can magically create a well-educated

citizenry, we oversell the role of policy-making. Education requires initiative, a trait notoriously

difficult to create or impose (Hood, 2016).

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References

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FuelEconomy.gov. 2013. Find a car: Compare side-by-side. U.S. department of energy. 

Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) U.S. department of energy

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National energy technology laboratory (2010). Cost and Performance Baseline for Fossil Energy

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