Essay on Rose Weitz

Rose Weitz presents a profound critical approach to the problems of health care throughout the world. Chapter 9 presents the analysis at the macro-level. Because of inevitable globalization effects, it is highly important to be aware of the main global trends concerning health care issues. In particular, I felt indifferent to the problems of Mexican health care systems arising today. “Understanding Mexico’s health care system is particularly important for U.S. citizens because Mexico shares a long and permeable border with the U.S.,” Rose Weitz (240) alarms. There are a lot of immigrants in the United States, but Mexicans make up an essential share impossible to ignore. The border is being crossed regularly to both sides, so the United States are directly influenced by health issues in Mexico. It was, however, a surprise to learn that “Although Mexico remains rife with social and economic inequities and resulting inequities in health, it has nevertheless achieved notable improvements in health outcomes for much of its population” (Weitz 242).

Chapter 9 of The Sociology of Health, Illness, and Health Care: A Critical Approach is entitled “Health Care Around the Globe.” In this chapter specific characteristics of medicine from nation to nation are scrutinized. First of all, the criteria for health care systems evaluation are selected and discussed. Some of them are universal, so the author examines the portability of these criteria onto some of the national health care systems. The author makes suppositions based on geographic factors and thorough analysis of comprehensive benefits and efficiency of each system. The affordability is also examined together with the trends in consumer choices. The states selected for the contrastive analysis are Germany, Canada, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, China, Mexico, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Health care systems of these countries are compared and contrasted. Such a choice is reasoned by the differences in economic level of development, social order, geographic position, and so on.