Background
In the United States, the government aids on health care coverage are very minimal and most people have to buy commercial health insurance or live without it. Despite the fact that President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law on March 23, 2010, the enactment in each state is still nebulous. Also, as the doctor interviewed in one of the final videos mentioned, Obama’s health care reform confuses many people. Furthermore, there has been little effort to accommodate grassroots’ views on the process of reforming health care. Responding to this lack, this video project enabled participants to look into the health care system and speak about their unique perspectives.
The five participants created two short documentary videos, titled as Rx for Health Care and Health Care: I Thought I Was Covered. What Happened? Both videos indicate that health insurance is not affordable to many people and its policies are so complicated that many patients end up paying unexpected high co-payments although they have insurance. Through these videos, the participants suggest creating more community-based resources to inform people about their insurance policies. The participants also discussed expanding preventive health care and simplifying health insurance policies.
Videos
User Guide
The two documentary videos may be of interest to: (a) health care workers and researchers who want to know more about ordinary people's experiences with the health care system in the United States; (b) community-based participatory researchers who want to explore participatory video as a method; and (c) community action groups who grapple with health care issues and want to organize a video screening and group discussion. The two documentary videos reveals ordinary, especially low-income, people’s experiences with the health care system. They may be used most successfully in a group environment where people watch the videos together followed by facilitated group discussion. It would be helpful that the facilitator allow viewers to reflect on their own experiences and provide them with relevant information, such as the core issues of the Affordable Care Act and the statistics of health care, in order to provoke more fruitful discussion. Some information that may be useful in facilitating group discussion is provided here.
Related Literature
Yang, K. (2016). Participatory video in adult education: Cultivating participatory culture in Communities. Singapore: Springer.