Blog 7: Independent Component 1 Approval

1) In order to gain more knowledge in the different aspects of healthcare and how the administration and economics of healthcare affect the quality of patient care, I'm planning on shadowing a close family friend that is in the insurance industry. She has strong credentials and knows the health insurance industry. Shadowing her would involve asking her questions in order to gain insight on how the insurance companies operate, and would also involve attending and helping out at health insurance promotion events.

2) To show evidence of 30 hours of work for the independent component, I'll show documentation of the different events that I'll be attending, as well as writing an essay that explains the current relationship between healthcare providers and insurance companies, and how this relationship affects patient care.

3) Gaining knowledge about how the insurance companies work with the health care providers, and learning the economics behind it will add depth to my understanding of what makes our healthcare system tick. The current healthcare system doesn't allow for very many consumer (patient) options, and a big part of that is because of insurance companies. This independent component will allow me to learn how insurance companies interact with health care providers, which will allow me to better analyze the current healthcare status.