Should Universal Healthcare Be Mandatory?

The United States is known as one of the greatest world powers: however it is held back by its weak healthcare system. As of 2010 the US healthcare system currently ranks the 37th best out of 190 countries (Murray). Before the introduction of the Affordable Care Ac in 2010, the United States had an individual insurance market. It was the responsibility of the individual or their employer to take care of their healthcare costs. On top of this, millions of people could be denied insurance by different agencies due to pre-existing claims. Healthcare was expensive, but the costs were nothing compared to the medical bills owed by an uninsured person. Universal healthcare is a basic right not a privilege. Everyone should be given the

Universal Healthcare will increase accessibility, by eliminating the ability of major insurance companies to discriminate, based on pre-existing conditions and other exclusions to care. A key debated issue with Universal Healthcare is whether healthcare is a basic right under life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, or a privilege. Universal Healthcare is built on the idea of healthcare being a basic human right. As a basic right, all citizens regardless of pre-existing conditions or disabilities would have the right to necessary healthcare. According to Jerry Levinson,

Universal health care coverage is a dream that the majority of Americans have had for many decades. It seemed that the dream could become a reality with a major effort under the Clinton administration in the mid 1990’s. This effort was spearheaded by the First Lady, Hillary Clinton, and would have established a universal health care system for the entire nation. Unfortunately, after years of work, the effort ended in failure due to trying to modernize and finance universal health care at the same time (Rodwin, 2003). When the current President, Barack Obama, campaigned in 2008, one of his cornerstone promises was to develop a healthcare system that would assure affordable healthcare for all Americans through the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obama Care. With only a slight majority of democrats in the Senate and a large majority of Republicans in the House, this would prove to be an uphill battle (Moore, 2014).

"Universal healthcare refers to a healthcare system that provides benefits to all persons in a particular country." (Definition of "Universal Healthcare Coverage", Investopedia.com). This form of healthcare is used among the richest countries, Ex. Canada and France. Other rich countries that use the Universal Healthcare system spend far less than the United States does. Although the U.S spends more on healthcare, “The U.S ranks 28th below almost all other rich countries, when it comes to the quality of its healthcare assessed by UN parameters (pdf, p.13)"(Annalisa Merreli, A history of why the US is the only rich country without universal healthcare, qz.com). These statistics call for a change. The United States should adopt universal healthcare because it would benefit business, provide equal access to healthcare, and is a human right.

Since the early days of our nation, our founding fathers thrived for change. At the peak of his election campaign, Barack Obama promised the change the country had been longing for. He promised a health care reform and new benefits. Many presidents elected after the signing of Roosevelt’s New Deal had tried to achieve health care reform but ultimately none succeeded. Obama promised change; his change came under the name of the Affordable Care Act, a bill that was filled with empty promises. The Affordable Care Act, nicknamed “Obamacare” was supposed to benefit all Americans but instead of helping our nation's citizens, it burdened them. It burdened them with higher taxes, less hours of work, and higher costs

1. Its unfortunate when reading the text you realize how much the country you live in is lagging behind so many others in healthcare. Japan, Germany, Canada, and the United Kingdom all provide universal healthcare for their citizens, something that the United States does not do, yet we spend some much more on healthcare than those nations.

Universal Healthcare in the United States has been a long time journey that dates back decades and we, as a country, are far behind other developed countries who have had universal healthcare for a long time. Today, Healthcare is obtained through employers or by people paying for it by themselves, which is incredibly expensive due to high premiums. Five years have passed since the controversial Obama care, or Affordable Care Act, was signed into law on March 23, 2010. The Affordable Care Act aimed at fixing the many problems that the United States has with healthcare by making it available to everyone, but also more efficient and this required drastic changes that made some people happy while others unhappy since some are benefiting while others are not. These people include politicians, but foremost presidential candidates. Candidate’s stance on the issue of healthcare is truly important due to the fact that if they’re the next president of the United States, it could hurt or improve the health care reform. Noteworthy candidates are: Jeb Bush, Hillary Clinton, Marco Rubio, and Bernie Sanders. Republicans and Democrats have long debated whether or not the Affordable Care Act should be repealed or replaced. Republicans believe that it is a problem while Democrats support it. The Affordable Care Act should not be replaced but instead improved because it provides quality and affordable health care to Americans. Everyone gets sick and people shouldn’t be afraid of receiving help

The issue of universal health care taking over the present health care system has become a heated topic all over America. With President Obama’s promise to pass a bill that will give government

Universal Healthcare means that all individuals can use medical services as preventative, curative, and rehabilitative care when they need it regardless of their income levels. Universal healthcare guarantees that these services are available to everyone. The U.S. is in talks now for a single payer system which would provide health insurance in place of private companies to bring more access to medical to the lower class and the thousands of under or uninsured.

The citizens of the United States are burdened with many hardships. Most of these hardships stem from poor political policies and programs set forth by past politicians. However, politicians cannot be the only blame. This country is relatively young. Our political policies are still in somewhat of a “beta” period. We only learn from trial and error. This country is in the middle of a political shift. Now is the time to make the necessary changes to mold and shape our future society for the better. Far too long have Americans been denied basic necessities such as education, food, employment, and most importantly healthcare. The healthcare crisis has been the topic of debate for many years among politicians across all the governmental factions. The catalyst applying the brake on healthcare progress has been a strong division of politicians on what is ethical and what is legal when it comes to the government putting its foot in the door. Along with that debate there is also whether or not the government should do anything at all or just let the private sector and the citizens hash it out. Throughout U.S. history many attempts have been made to reform our healthcare system to no avail. Healthcare reform is clearly an issue that takes great socioeconomic knowledge and political tact. President Barack Obama is the first president to present us with such a plan. This plan is known as The Affordable Care Act or “Obamacare” (a term coined by a group of Republicans to disenfranchise

Should the United States have Universal healthcare? Healthcare is a huge part of everyone's daily lives, from receiving check-ups, to acquiring care for medical emergencies such as cancer, or other things we can not control. Sadly, these services all cost an absorbent amount of money and a lot of insurance plans may not cover all services. Many people die from not receiving the proper medical care they need. High out of pocket expenses can force people into medical bankruptcies. These problems would not occur if the United States would have Universal Healthcare. Having Universal Healthcare will result in many benefits. Everyone would have access to the care they need, the government would pay for the services, and the services would still

U.S. health care reform is currently one of the most heavily discussed topics in health discourse and politics. After former President Clinton’s failed attempt at health care reform in the mid-1990s, the Bush administration showed no serious efforts at achieving universal health coverage for the millions of uninsured Americans. With Barack Obama as the current U.S. President, health care reform is once again a top priority. President Obama has made a promise to “provide affordable, comprehensive, and portable health coverage for all Americans…” by the end of his first term (Barackobama.com). The heated debate between the two major political parties over health care reform revolves around how to pay for it and more importantly, whether it

This study will argue in support of universal healthcare as a financial and healthcare-based initiative in the Unite States. The overarching problem of healthcare in the U.S. is based on the high costs of treatment and insurance company profiteering, which can be controlled through government regulation and price caps on medical costs for the American citizen. Currently, the private healthcare industry is an unregulated “free market” system that does not control the cost of healthcare pricing, which could be regulated by government caps on medical supplies, physician services, and healthcare services. In Canada, for instance, the cost of medical supplies and physician services are limited by the government, which prevents insurance companies and doctors from raising prices for profits. The U.S. could easily apply his method to healthcare services as the

As we have learned in recent weeks the longstanding, “survival of the fittest” capitalist ideal is no longer working for our economy. How then, can we expect the same philosophy to work for our health care system? In a country that is so wealthy why are there so many not receiving the care that they need because they cannot afford it? According to the World Health Organization, the United States ranks no. 37th in health systems around the world. This great country is the only wealthy, industrialized nation that does not have a universal health care system. Shouldn’t health care be regarded as a basic constitutional right, such as the right to bear arms and freedom of speech? The “basic coverage for all” concept has been successful throughout

You are working at your small business when you hear a knock on your office’s door, it is your boss… he comes in; he starts talking about how you were a service to his business; after a long period of talk, he fires you. You are now on the way home thinking that this day cannot get worse but then you look at your taxes and they have increased. Then you open the TV and you are watching the news “Obama care will increase taxes for people making more than $250,000 a year as well as force businesses with 50 employees or more to provide health for the workers or pay a fine”. You then read it on your cell phone and you know what ACA (Affordable Health Care