Recent orders
A review of Obama Care
Obama Care
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Institution
Introduction
The importance of healthcare services can never be underestimated as far as the health of the varied other sectors of the economy is concerned. This is especially considering that the productivity of individuals in any economy is essentially tied to their health as only healthy people would have the ability to produce. This comes as an explanation on exactly why individual governments have been paying intense attention on healthcare and making immense investments in the same (Murdock, 2012). Recent times have seen increased attention being given to the current government policy on healthcare, The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act 2010. While there exists numerous debates as to the nature and effects of the PPACA, it is evident that the care comes with positive impacts on the American populace.
Commonly called the Obama Care, the PPACA or Affordable Care Act marks a turning point in the United States public health policy (Turner, 2011). It establishes the fundamental legal protections that have been absent in the history of healthcare policy via a series of revisions to and extensions of varied laws that together make the federal legal framework in the healthcare system of the United States (Murdock, 2012). This law would see the achievement of near universal guarantee for access to affordable coverage by health insurance right from birth to retirement (Turner, 2011). It is worth noting that the full implementation of the policy will be achieved on January 1st 2014 at which time it is expected that the law will result in cutting the number of uninsured Americans by over 50% or 31 million with 94% of the entire United States population being covered by health insurance, while the enrolment in Medicaid will be increased by 15 million beneficiaries (Turner, 2011). It also requires that insurance companies do not levy a higher amount of premiums on clients simply because they have pre-existing medical conditions (Pipes, 2010).
ObamaCare is funded via taxes collected, penalties, reformations, as well as the spending cuts in the healthcare industry. While the estimations pertaining to the cost of ObamaCare change on a regular basis, the net cost of the same is estimated to go up to about $1.1 trillion within the next 10 years. This underlines the incredible savings in the rise of healthcare expenditure by tens of billions every year while reducing the cost of healthcare for many Americans (Tate, 2012). The functionality of ObamaCare revolves around its requirement that every American will need to be under a healthcare insurance plan or pay a penalty. These plans may be bought via online marketplace, privately or even through one’s employer (Pipes, 2010). The average American would spend between $4,500 and $5,800 on a basic “bronze” level insurance plan without cost assistance (Tate, 2012). Despite the high cost of ObamaCare, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that more than $200 billion will be saved in the first ten years, while $1 trillion will be saved in the next 20 years (Turner, 2011). In fact, scholars note that the $1 trillion expenditure from 2010 to 2019 is more than offset by curbs on expenditure on Medicaid and Medicare, new taxes on high-cost plans, as well as tax shelters that are mostly used by wealthy families (Tate, 2013).
One of the key benefits of ObamaCare revolves around its effects on small businesses. It goes without saying that small businesses are a fundamental part of the economy providing employment opportunities and income to a wide range of American citizens. These businesses have been facing an immense barrier as far as the provision of healthcare is concerned. Studies show that among the small businesses offering coverage, about 40% spend over 10% of their payroll on healthcare (McCaughey, 2012). One of the key ways in which small businesses will benefit is through the tax credits. The provision of healthcare insurance to employees ensures that between 1.4 and 4 million businesses that have less than 25 employees with an average salary of $50,000 or less would be eligible to tax credits of a maximum of 35%, increasing to 50% after 1st January 2014 to be obtained for any two consecutive years (Hill, 2012). On the same note, insurance companies since 2011 are required to use a minimum of 80 cents of every dollar on medical care rather than administrative costs, otherwise they should refund the difference (Hill, 2012). This is extremely beneficial to small businesses as seen, for example, in California where an insurance company named UnitedHealth refunded about $3.5 million to 4400 companies in June 2012 alone (McCaughey, 2012). Part of the downside for businesses is that ObamaCare is seen as hindering the growth of small businesses due to its requirement that businesses that have 50 or more workers should pay healthcare insurance for their workers. This has seen some companies reduce the working hours of their employees or even reduce the number of fulltime employees (Tate, 2013). However, it is worth noting that the companies that have up to 100 employees would benefit from purchasing low-cost health insurance plans via employer-only exchanges established by every state (Morton, 2011). This would essentially lower the cost of smaller firms when their employees are added to a larger pool of insurance customers.
One of the most commonly peddled myths about ObamaCare is that it would result in an increase in taxes and premiums for healthcare insurance plans. However, nothing could be further from the truth as the policy is shown to incorporate the largest cut in middle class tax on health insurance in the history of the United States (Morton, 2011). The only individuals that would be affected would be 3% of businesses, as well as 140,000 of Americas wealthiest families that earn more than $250,000 with capital gains amounting to more than $250,000. As much as there may exist some taxes that affect Americans above 133% of poverty level, tax penalty levied against individuals that do not purchase insurance is the only one that has a direct impact (McCaughey, 2012).
In conclusion, ObamaCare marks one of the most fundamental turning points of the federal laws pertaining to healthcare. It aims at ensuring that about 94% of Americans have access to affordable healthcare. This is achieved through requiring that all citizens to have a health insurance over, whether privately purchased, bought through the employer or from shop pools. While there may be different opinions on the utility of ObamaCare, the policy would be beneficial to Americans. First, it would ensure that a reduction in healthcare costs incurred by Americans thanks to the increased health insurance coverage (Murdock, 2012). Second, it would be beneficial to small businesses as it comes with immense tax credits from which the companies can benefit. In addition, it comes with immense savings on the healthcare cost by the government, through curbs on expenditure on Medicaid and Medicare, new taxes on high-cost plans, as well as tax shelters that are mostly used by wealthy families. As much as the policy may cause companies to reduce their fulltime workers to eliminate the additional cost of healthcare, states still have the option of coming up with health insurance pools from which the small businesses would benefit.
References
McCaughey, B (2012). Decoding the Obama Health Law: What You Need to Know. New York: Paperless Publishing LLC
Murdock, K (2012). Affordable Care Act: ObamaCare. New York: GRIN Verlag
Morton, G.T (2011). Passing Obamacare. New York: Taylor, Levi, and Associates LLC
Hill, J. W (2012). Obamacare – What’s In It. New York: Primedia E-launch LLC
Tate, N. (2013). Obamacare survival guide. West Palm Beach, FL: Humanix Books
Tate, N. J. (2012). ObamaCare survival guide. West Palm Beach, FL: Humanix Books.
Turner, G.-M. (2011). Why Obamacare is wrong for America: How the new health care law drives up costs, puts government in charge of your decisions, and threatens your constitutional rights. New York: Broadside.
Pipes, S. (2010). The truth about Obamacare. Washington, DC: Regnery Pub.
The Starbucks Company
Starbucks Corporation
Name
Institution
The Starbucks Company
Research and Development
Starbucks is an international retail company that sells quality coffee and baked products to customers around the globe. The company has numerous stores around the world indicating that they serve a lot of customers on a daily basis. The company’s current research and development objectives, strategies, policies and programs are clearly stated to help them focus on their goals and mission. These strategies are meant to enhance growth and development, and they are vital in achieving organization sustainability. They are consistent with the corporation’s purpose, objective, procedures, policies and with internal and external environments to make sure that the company is responsive to emerging market trends. Starbucks has managed to incorporate technology to enhance and increase its corporate performance. Technology has been used to utilize opportunities and has enhanced efficiency and effectiveness thus improving operations helping the company to gain a higher competitive advantage.
The use of technology by Starbucks has helped the organization to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage, and corporate performance can be measured using the enterprise resource planning. The mix of basic, applied, and engineering research is appropriate for the company given the organizational mission and strategies. Starbucks has a clearly stated purpose and stipulated objectives and this mix would equip them to deliver quality goods and services to their esteemed customers worldwide. The combination is essential because it allows them to adapt to the emerging market trends that are changing as population increases. Furthermore, the mix of basic, applied, and engineering research motivates employees, and it facilitates the growth and development of specific skills and abilities. This means that the combination would be appropriate for the company to increase their level of global competitiveness to outcompete their industry rivals. This will be beneficial because they will produce quality goods and services that will spur customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Starbucks has invested heavily in research and development. As a result, this has increased its global competitive advantage, increased its customer based, enhanced customer loyalty and satisfaction, and all this has resulted in the economic growth and development of Starbucks. They have managed to produce products and services of high quality giving them an upper hand in the competitive markets. The company is using value chain alliances appropriately for innovation and competitive advantage. Starbucks has developed a strategic value chain that has allowed them to be competent because it has facilitated new changes that provide them with new products that are in line with the customer needs. This has helped them to achieve customer satisfaction and loyalty where they have managed to increase their level of global competitiveness. They have opened many stores across the globe to help them reach their customers at ease to dominate different markets.
Research and development in Starbucks adjust to the varying conditions in each country in which they operate. This has allowed them to adapt to different market conditions which vary from one state to another. This has helped them to dominate in their industry because they are responsive and can adjust to market conditions as per the rules and regulations of foreign investments. In Starbucks, the environment is considered because their research and development have allowed them to create and develop quality goods that are environmentally-friendly. They have initiated a green business where they consider environmental sustainability in product development, packaging and distribution.
Information Technology
Starbucks’s IT mission and objective is to promote as well as advertise the company’s use of ethically sourced goods or products to their global consumers and indicate that they are environmentally aware by reminding consumers that their products are environmentally friendly. The corporation’s current IT objectives and strategies are aimed at improving service delivery and the production of quality products. Furthermore, their IT policies are meant to facilitate innovations and market the company to gain more reliable and loyal customers. Their IT department has also played a significant role in the creation of a strong and global brand and image that has increased their bargaining power in the competitive industry. The company’s IT strategies are based on the corporation’s goals and objectives, and they focus on facilitating the growth and development of Starbucks corporation. This has been a significant factor that has led to their success, and it has improved the company’s position in the global retail market amid changing market conditions.
Starbucks’ IT is performing efficiently because their experts are helping the managers to make the right routine decisions by providing them with the essential information necessary for strategic choices. The IT department has managed to acquire essential data necessary for the corporation’s operations as they have come up with target market maps that help managers to identify the appropriate areas to operate considering the target audience of their products and services. The organization’s IT performance and stage of development are comparable to no other industry rival because the IT managers have initiated the efficient and most effective strategies in their operations to help the company to adapt to market conditions, consumer trends, as well as industry competition. This has improved their ability to respond to global trends, and they have increased operations because the IT managers have obtained, analyzed, and processed crucial information for the company to identify potential threats and use the strengths to utilize the various opportunities that emerge in the course of business. This has facilitated their success and growth because they have used strategic measures to ascertain that they are competitive.
The IT managers at Starbucks are using appropriate concepts and techniques to evaluate and improve corporate performance. They regularly conduct system analyses to guarantee that the company is operating as required. Furthermore, the IT managers have tried to implement interactive decision-making systems where they have involved the customers helping them build a customer-company relationship where customers give their reviews and comments on their goods and services. This has enabled them to serve more customers and better based on their needs. The IT experts have succeeded to manage complex databases because the company operates in different countries and has built numerous stores in nations they maneuver. Currently, the corporation has a significant IT and Internet presence that has been associated with the competence of the IT managers. On the internet, they have uniquely marketed the company and this strategy has assisted them to attract more customers from different backgrounds. Thus, they have increased their customer base, and this has helped them to succeed and become competitive globally. The primary role of the IT managers is to monitor and oversee the expansion and maintenance of the company’s IT strategic plan. This allows them to coordinate primacies between their department and other user departments within the organization. IT managers are crucial figures because they are involved in planning, justification of performance, and evaluation of the company’s progress towards achieving the postulated goals and objectives.
The Stages of a Hero’s
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Professor’s name
Course
Date
The Stages of a Hero’s Journey in Campbell’s Self as a Hero
Introduction
If asked what traits the heroes in one’s life possess, what would you say? Most people are likely to describe their heroes as having a kind heart, undeniable strength, and a chiseled jaw. Unfortunately, not all people with these characteristics are true heroes. To know the true heroes, we must identify the true traits of a hero. Published in 2004, Joseph Campbell’s The Self as Hero is an enlightening adult speech describing a hero’s journey. Campbell uses examples from various movies, texts, and folklores to define the necessary steps to declare a hero. Heroes exist all around us, in movies, books, and shows we love to watch. Heroes also exist in real life; they show up, serve others and do their best each day. Bronzite (32) notes that “a hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself.” In the book, Campbell argues that all heroes go through the same if not similar stages in their quest to complete their journeys. To support his claims about the stages of a hero’s journey, Campbell cites evidence from tales such as “When the Two Came to their Father.” The purpose of this text is to expound on Campbell’s definition of a hero as a person who puts other people’s interests before his and embarks on a daunting journey. Additionally, the text analyzes the call to adventure and return stages as some of the steps of the hero’s journey in the text “Where the Two Came to their Father.”
Campbell & his Process of the “Hero’s Journey”
According to Campbell, a hero’s journey comprises three processes: departure, initiation, and return. In turn, the three processes can be broken down into four main stages, including a call to adventure, crossing the threshold, road of trails and the return. The first stage known as call to adventure stage represents an interruption in the hero’s daily life. The interruption occurs in the form of a threat to the hero’s livelihood, his community, or his loved one. Although it can occur in many forms, the hero cannot say no to no matter how much he tries. It is a disruption in the hero’s ordinary world presenting a challenge that should be accepted. In the second stage of crossing the threshold, it is the moment that the hero embarks on their journey. It is a time when the hero must travel worlds and step into a new and different world from the one they know. In this step, the hero’s journey invites danger and the fear of the unknown. Road of trails is the first step in the initiation stage, where the hero goes through a series of tests and challenges to trigger his transformation into becoming the hero they were meant to be. In this step, it is common for the hero to fail the tests a couple of times before ultimately overcoming all challenges. This step is imperative as it builds the hero’s character, strengthens him and boots his self-confidence. In the return stage, the hero has accomplished their journey and is often reluctant to go back to the life they once knew. The journey tends to change them. Although they have completed their quest, alternate powers continue to chase them. They have a chance to evade them and go back to the life they once lived.
The Story that Supports Campbell’s Journey of a Hero
“Where the Two came to their Father” is a work that richly depicts the creation of the rich symbolic legend of the Navaho people. It described how they held a ceremony to bless the members of the tribe as they were about to head for battle. Ethnologists Maud Oakes observed the rite during the Second World War when Native Americans were incorporated into the U.S. military for the first time in history. He recorded the entire event of the legend and reproduced the beautiful ceremonial paintings given to her by Jeff King, a medicine man of the time. It is worth noting that Joseph Campbell comments about the book in the commentary and gives insights into Navajo Myth and relates it with other aspects of stories from other traditions. This helps the readers better understand the myth across cultures and times. Worth noting, the text “Where the Two Came to their Father” is a war ceremonial that tells the tale of two young men who are heroes. They two go to the Sun, the Hogan of their father and after a while, they come back bearing strength to destroy the monsters disrupting the peace of their people.
Analysis of Call to Adventure and the Return as the Two Stages of Heros in “Where the Two Came to their Father”
The Navaho legend in “Where the Two Came to their Father” passed through all the stages that Campbell defines as his steps of a hero’s journey. Particularly, they encountered the call to adventure and the return stage. The Navaho people are plagued by monsters in their community. The first step, namely call to adventure is depicted in how the hero notices an interruption in the lives of the community people. The problem is dire and they cannot ignore it because the security of the people is at stake. At this point, they decide to act upon it by going to war with the enemies to resolve the matter once and for all. They hold a two-day ceremony before the Navajo legend sets out to war. The ceremony includes elaborate sand paintings and songs meant to keep the souls of the soldiers healthy as they go away from their land and their loved ones to new territories to fight. Williams (72) writes, “it is the nature of monsterdom to mistake the reflection for the thing. Displaced emphasis is the very sense of the monster’s life.” This points to the existence of evil that poses a challenge to the people. It ignites a spark in the heroes to want to leave and fix the problem so that people can feel safe. This is what Campbell refers to as a monster. The other stage, the return is marked with how the legend comes back home from the war bearing extreme power to destroy the monsters that have been terrorizing the people. The goal of the legend’s return was the pilgrimage to the house of strength.
Conclusion
In closing, Campbell demonstrates the stages of a hero’s journey in “Where the Two Came to their Father” in various ways. As highlighted in this text, the Navaho legend goes through the call of adventure after they realize that their community is not safe from attack by monsters. This pushes the legend to want to do something about it. A blessing ceremony is held before they head into battle. The purpose of the ceremony is to protect their souls from harm during war. Upon their return, they come with renewed strength to destroy the monsters plaguing the lives of the Navaho people.
References
Bronzite, Dan. “The hero’s journey–Mythic structure of Joseph Campbell’s Monomyth.” Retrieved on February 1 (2018).
Williams, Clive. “The hero’s journey: a mudmap to wellbeing.” Heroism and Wellbeing in the 21st Century. Routledge, 2018. 72-85.