UNIT 4: HEALTH CARE
The Q Classroom
Teacher: Today we'll discuss the Unit 4 question: "How is health care changing?" Let's start with Sophy. First of all, do you think haelth care is changing?
Sophy: Oh, of course.
Teacher: How?
Sophy: Well, for one thing, technology. There's new technology all the time. Nowadays, doctors can perform surgeries with lasers that leave hardly any scar. And there are lots of new technologies for detecting illnesses.
Teacher: OK, technology is one aspect of health-care change. What else? Yuna?
Yuna: There are more specialists now. You can find doctors who focus on your particular problem.
Teacher: That's true. As the field of medicine grows, more people need to specialize, don't they? What else? How else is health care changing? Felix?
Felix: I think there is more emphasis on prevention now. They used to wait until people got sick and then try to cure them, but now we know about nutrition and the importance of a healthy lifestyle, and they can do tests to see if someone has a high chance of getting a particular illness.
Teacher: So, we've got technology, more specialiss, more emphasis on prevention, is there anything else? What do you think, Marcus? How else is health care changing?
Marcus: Hmm. People live longer now. That must be changing health care. There's probably more focus on diseases you can get when you're older.
Felix: That's true. Also, because people are living longer and older people need more health care, it means that health-care systems are costing governments more than they used to.
LISTENING 1: VACATION, ADVENTURE, AND SURGERY?
Listen for Main Ideas
Bob Simon: Thailand – an exotic vacation land known for its Buddhas, its beaches, the bustle of Bangkok. But for people needing medical care, it's known increasingly for Bumrungrad Hospital, a luxurious place which claims to have more foreign patients than any other hospital in the world. It's like a United Nations of patients here.
They're cared for by more than 500 doctors, most with international training. The hospital has state-of-the-art technology, and here's the clincher: the price. Treatment here costs about one-eighth what it does in the United States. That's right, one eight. Curt Schroeder is the CEO of Bumrungrad.
