U02d2 The Uninsured Problem Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

U02d2 The Uninsured Problem - Essay Example It was noted that this number increased to 255.1 million in 2008, when compared to 253.4 million in 2007 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010). c) The year has also shown the decline in use of private health insurances. It was noted that the health insurance from private providers has reduced from 202.0 million in 2007 to 201.0 million in 2008 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010). d) The government health insurance saw a higher level of applicants and people have turned more towards the government insurance than the private. The year 2007 saw a total of 83.0 million while this increased to 87.4 million in 2008 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010). e) As mentioned earlier the private insurances reduced a great extent. In 2007 the total percentage of people covered by the private insurances was around 67.5% which reduced to 66.7% in 2008 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010). f) The employment based health insurances also saw a decline and it fell from 59.3% in 2007 to 58.5% in 2008. The number of people covered by health insurance for employment bases also decreased from 177.4 million in 2007 to 176.3 million in 2008 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010). CNN has also presented a report which talks of the issue of uninsured. Here in an interview with Ron Pollack, the Executive Director of Families USA, stated, ‘The huge number of people without health coverage is worse than an epidemic’. He also went on to explain, ‘Inaction on health care reform in 2009 cannot be an option for the tens of millions of people who lack or lose health coverage each year ... the cost of doing nothing is too high’ (Pifer-Bixler, 2009). The report has also brought out more details of the issue of being uninsured. The report also states that, ‘Critics say the number of uninsured Americans cited in the Families USA report is misleading. "No one disagrees we have a problem with the uninsured," says Douglas Holtz-Eakin, who advised Sen. John McCain on domestic and economic policy during the 2008 election’

Chemical, Biological and Nuclear Agents and Incidents Research Paper

Chemical, Biological and Nuclear Agents and Incidents - Research Paper Example There are four types of classifying various hazards using a color-coding system, which are the following: Blue (for threats to health or physical injuries), Red (flammability), Yellow (reactivity) and last, White (water reactivity). A new classification which uses the symbol of a radioactive propeller has been added to indicate a material is radioactive. This paper tackles the common chemical, biological and nuclear agents deemed to be dangerous and common incidents involving them. Most of the hazardous materials (hazmat, for short) are essentially man-made although a few of these are naturally-occurring, such as certain types of anthrax and radioactive elements. The three major categories of hazmat agents are discussed individually, and incidents involving the same materials, such as accidents during transport and spills or leaks during production. Only some 39 elements as found in the Periodic Table of Elements are actually hazardous, the rest of the materials are the results of combining these elements into various mixtures and compounds which made them hazardous if these are not handled properly (Burke, 2003, p. 43). Chemicals – it is the U. S. Department of Transportation (DOT) that came up with the nine major classifications for hazardous chemicals that are now widely used. These classes are mostly explosives, compressed gases, flammable liquids, flammable solids, oxidizers, poisons, radioactive materials, corrosives and last, miscellaneous hazardous materials (OSU, 1997, p. 1). Industrial chemical compounds are often long-lasting (they take years and decades to degrade to be harmless) and find their way into water supplies, lakes, rivers and oceans and along the food chain. Research conducted eliminated smoking, drinking, lifestyle and diets as probable factors and the polluted environment is the most likely cause of many cancers (Steingraber, 1999,