m (Drake 109). More than one thousand hospital beds are occupied by people who could be better care for in nursing homes or through home health care (Drake 110). Of the disabled elderly 1.3 million reside in nursing homes (Drake 10). These patients are unable to perform two or more of the basic activities of daily living without assistance. Long- term care is not just a problem for the African American elderly, it is a major burden for their children. According to Drake, 1.6 million elderly citizens live with their children or in their own homes where there children or other family members have to care for them. Few families are prepared either financially or emotionally to take the responsibility of proving long term-care to their parents. They need to be feed, bathed, dressed, taken to the bathroom and/or transferred from a bed to a wheelchair.The center and main problem with the U.S. health system is the tax treatment of health costs. In the late 1960’s the IRS ruled that the value of company paid group health plans did not have to be included in a workers taxable income (Fitzgerald 40). This was to be a way to encourage not just blacks but all Americans to go out and get some type of health plan. Although it did work in some cases, it also had two side effects. The first is that with an employer or company paying most of the bill, and with premiums set for all the workers and not individual, the physician or patient has no say so when considering cost when recommending a test or treatment. This lack of incentive to economize means that price is not a barrier to good medicine, but has caused an explosion in health cost (Fitzgerald 42). The rapid rise in cost has led most employers to cut back on health plans and in some cases dropping coverage for dependents. This has lead to companies having bitter strikes over health benefits.The second problem with taxes and health care is that while company provided covera...
