The Jungle Summary

In the early twentieth century, when hospitals had just begun sprouting and organized health care had just developed, doctors and treatment were limited and shoddy. After the installation of non-profit healthcare programs in the early 1930’s, workers were reassured, knowing that a mishap at work would not erase their bank savings. Seeking profit, private businesses scrambled into the healthcare marketplace. The sudden influx of private insurers left the original non-profit insurances in the dust, and left the cost of insurance steadily on the rise. Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle captures the challenges proposed to Americans in the early 1900s when health coverage for the poor was minimal, and the dilemmas today’s health care system deals with.

Medicals costs were spiraling out of control, twenty-five years later after the launch of Medicaid and Medicare under President Lyndon Johnson in 1965. Statistics revealed that in 1991, Americans spent $733 billion dollars on medical care alone (SOURCE 1). With medical costs soaring, statistic further revealed that millions of Americans were unable to afford basic health care. Only forty percent of low income families received Medicaid, while thirty-seven million Americans were left with no insurance at all (SOURCE 1). Faced with a crumbling health care system, President Obama was forced in 2010 to reform Medicaid with an extension act formally known as the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” (ACA). The “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, widely known as “Obamacare”, ensures that health care is more affordable and accessible, while promoting a stable economy and a more competitive health insurance marketplace. Under the plan, out-of-pocket expenses are reduced for tens of millions of families and small business owners, helping overt thirty-two million Americans afford health care that had no access to it before (SOUCE G). Along with Obamacare’s reformation of health care, Obamacare works to stabilize the budget and economy. By cutting government overspending, waste, fraud, and abuse, the plan will reduce the deficit by more than $100 billion, putting the economy on a more secure