Long-Term Care Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Long-Term Care - Essay Example The aging of America has helped to bring the issue of the state of long-term care system in the limelight. It was in 1988 when Presidential candidates talked in their debates for the elections while Congress first tried decisively to cobble a national policy on long-term care by introducing four major bills on long-term care financing (Kuchler 1). However, while America is aging, life expectancy has also lengthened so that more and more older people are joining the ranks of senior citizens - consequently, expanding the ranks of those who will face disability in the near future. In the past, the policy was geared towards institutional care, mostly nursing homes and residential care facilities, but now efforts are being done towards more a home-based or community-based care due to the wishes of the families of patients. Another socio-cultural force that has brought the long-term care system to its current state is the role played by informal caregivers, especially women. Women and relatives of the elderly and the disabled have traditionally been assigned the task of being the caregivers of the family. As a result of higher educational attainments, rising divorce rates, and more opportunities for women in the labor force, the long-term care system has been faced with the issue of dearth of informal caregivers. ... The shortage of care-giving professionals will continue to affect the state of the long-term care system in the future. Long-term care financing as well as delivery has been tasked as a matter of policy to Medicare and Medicaid, with the former including long-term care service only as an adjunct in case of acute illness for people with disabilities and the latter, as the institutional source of long-term care funding for very economically hard-up people. The policy has been criticized for failing to provide support for people who need long-term care service. Medicaid only could be relied on to provide long-term care when their financial resources have dried up and thus, "the system is excessively harsh" (Feder, Komisar and Niefeld 54). Partly the result of the inadequacy of the coverage of long-term care financing, most people especially from the middle classes rely on out-of-pocket expenses to pay for long-term care. It is estimated in one study that 20% of older people will spend US$25,000 from their own pockets to fund future long-term care needs (Johnson, Toohey and Wiener 2). There are continuin g policy debates on how to integrate Medicare and Medicaid and how these debates will fare in the coming years and thus shape whether the long-term care system will be up to the challenge of providing better services and financially viable options for the country. As the age group called the baby boomers or those who were born between 1946 and 1964 reach retirement age and who currently comprise more than a fourth of the American population, some have sounded alarms that this phenomenon is a healthcare crisis in the making (Achison n.p.). When this age group will become part of the population that will stop paying taxes that fund Medicare and would be

Unilever international finance and accounting Essay

Unilever international finance and accounting - Essay Example Unilever, United Kingdom, has just dropped Boursin as one of its business entities.Unilever ia a global business focusing on personal care, food and other consumer products. It has entrenched itself in the home as one of the trusted and reliable but reasonably priced products in the market today.Unilever has always been a staunch follower of all social responsibility laws. The social responsibility laws focus on many issues (Sluyterman 2005, 12).Further, one such issue is the payment of minimum salaries to its workers. Another such issue is the implementation of work conditions where environmental laws are taken into consideration. Another issue of social responsibility it the company's role of uplifting the lives of people in its community, the customers of Unilever and the world as a whole. In this regard, companies like Unilever are required to produce products that are not harmful to the customers and the environment (Dingman 2008). Unilever is an institution today because it had gone through many years of trials and errors with the aim of making profits without sacrificing its social responsibility to the community and other stakeholders. The following paragraphs explain Unilever's important place in the business world in terms of making profits, divestment of segments and its social responsibility.Unilever (United Kingdom) is one of the country units of Unilever world. The company has been producing popular household brands that are needed by homes, offices and work places around the United Kingdom alone. The company is an institution in the field of food, home and personal care products. Unilever (United Kingdom) has under its big belt over thirty five brands that include Cornetto, Bertolli, Cif, and Sunsilk. In the area of highest country revenue, the United Kingdom is next only to the United States. The company has started smoothly the rough working conditions in order to streamline its operations. One such financially correct move was to cut its manag erial positions by half during the year. Reference: www.finance.google.com/financecid=5763516 Further, the company has also innovated its company -wide sales and marketing operational strategy. The company has reduced operating expense in its United Kingdom branch by relocating its three departments to one single location. This financially rewarding move is currently the right time for the company continue its retrenchment of more than three hundred twenty line and staff employees until the year 2009. Its office is located in St. James Road, Kingston -Upon-Thames, KTI 2BA, GBR. Reference: www.finance.google.com/financecid=5763516 Unilever company is a financially stable company. The Income statement of Unilever UK for the year 2006 shows that the company generated in billions of pounds of revenues to the tue of 26,714. This shows a two percent decrease from the prior year revenues. The 2005 revenues generated 27,304.4.This represented a decrease of four percent over the prior year revenues. The 2004 revenues generated only 28,584.1. The 2006 cost of sales amounted to 13,540.3. This shows a four percent decline over the cost of goods sold of the prior year. The prior year cost of goods sold is 14,037.6. This is definitely two percent lower than the prior year cost of sales. The prior year sales amounted to 14,309.8. The company also generated gross profit of 13,173.7 for the year 2006. This is a seven percent decrease from the prior year gross profit. The prior year gross profit only reached of 14,274.4. Also, the gross profit ratio for the year 2006 is high at forty nine percent (13,171.7 /26,714). The gross profit ratio for the year 2005 is lower than the 2006 data at forty eight ;/100 percent (13,266.8 /27,304.4). The gross profit ratio for the year 2004 is high at fifty percent (14,274.43,171.7 /28,584.1). The company's operating income for the year 2006