The Pros And Cons Of Universal Healthcare

What would you say when I told you that if you look at a list of the worlds developed industrialized nations that there is only one developed country in the world that doesn’t have a universal healthcare system. Some of the countries on this list include Japan, Germany, and even Canada. The United States, a global power, our home and the world’s largest economy is the only westernized industrial country without universal healthcare. The amount of people dying due to a lack of medical coverage is at an all-time high, while the U.S also has the most expensive healthcare system in the world for its citizens. According to Toni Johnson, author of the article “Healthcare Costs and U.S Competiveness” “The United States spends an estimated $2 trillion annually on healthcare expenses, more than any other industrialized country. According to data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the United States spends two-and-a-half times more than the OECD average, and yet ranks with Turkey and Mexico as the only OECD countries without universal health coverage.” (Johnson) For a country that spends so much it seems strange we do not even offer the best health care in the world. It also seems even stranger that there are over 45 million Americans who are going without health insurance. (Johnson) Universal health care is defined as a basic guarantee of health care to all its

Brian became aware of his testicular cancer five years ago. Despite insurance, Brian still owed thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket costs. Over the course of three years, he built relationships with nurses, doctors, and the hospital staff during treatments and follow up appointments. Without warning or explanation, the insurance company no longer accepted his hospital as a provider under their plans. He doubted any other hospital staff could provide the physical and emotional support his previous providers gave and wondered how to replace the people who had been there during the toughest times of his life (Salmon). The current health care system in America affects people physically, emotionally, and financially. “Costs are enormous, yet Americans do not fare better, and often fare worse, than citizens in countries which spend substantially less on health care” (Cicconi).

“That the U.S. health care system is broken and needs to be fixed is widely agreed to be true” (Universal Health Care Opposing Views p 19) is immediately apparent following a brief research of the organization of health care in the nation. There is an inability to control rising health care costs, and the system, although considered the most technologically advanced in the world, is riddled with waste and inefficiency. Year on year, doctors are spending increasingly more time dealing with insurance related administrative work rather than healing patients, there is gross overuse of care because employees view healthcare as part of a work-related benefit package, access to health care is based on ability to pay, and there is constant anxiety caused by the fear of losing employer-sponsored coverage. In contrast, a system of universal healthcare offers free services that are accessible to all, releases doctors from insurance paperwork to focus on healing, removes overuse of care because citizens fund the services through the payment of taxes, and may lead to healthier populations, among other things. Therefore, although vastly different from the current system, one could consider whether the introduction of universal healthcare would be beneficial for the USA?

           In a country where healthcare is a decision, many debate if our country should keep our health care system privatized. Health care is an essential need in society because individual health can change at any time without warning at any time. While there are both pros and cons of this system, the pros outway the cons. I believe that our nation should ensure basic health care to all legal citizens, no matter the class. Many Americans fall into circumstances where they are not able to pay the expensive bills that privatized insurance companies billhave so they do not have chose to not have insurance at all. Universal health care gives those people the means of financial support when they medically need

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. 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 opportunity to have health insurance no matter his or her income. Isn’t this the principle of freedom and basic right what America was based on? On half of all bankruptcies in the United States are due to an inability to pay medical bills. These problems all pose a question and the answer Is Universal Healthcare. The federal government has the interest of all American citizens on its mind and universal healthcare is a perfect way of highlighting that fact. The Affordable Care act provides low cost healthcare to the previously uninsured and guarantees continued healthcare in the case of job loss. Many people are still opposed to this act. This new system of universal healthcare will lead to improvements within the lives of American Citizens. There are many

On March 23, 2010 the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was signed by President Obama, raising the question for many of whether this new law was going to be more helpful or hurtful. With universal healthcare, healthcare coverage would be increased tremendously, costs would be reduced, jobs would be created, and consumers would be protected. Conversely, it will also raise taxes and wait times, lead to a smaller number of doctors, and infringe on some employers’ 1st amendment rights. Presenting both arguments for and against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act allows one to draw a conclusion on whether the new program will benefit or hinder the citizens of the United States.

The question of Universal Healthcare in the United States has valid and non valid arguments with supporters on both sides of the issue. Millions of Americans do not have affordable health care insurance. The main question is who is responsible to provide this? Is it feasible for government to pay for the lack of health care by taxpayer’s dollars? Should you be responsible for yourselves or should you be compensated by the government?       Unemployment is at record high making health insurance less attainable or affordable than ever. In most cases, additional restrictions or

Disputing that the current Healthcare System (Obamacare) in the United States needs reform is not difficult. Although the current system is a step up from the previous system, lobbying and reform to get a Universal Healthcare bill passed resulted in the original legislation being rewritten to an almost unrecognizable level. However, true Universal Healthcare creates a system that is more affordable by eliminating fluctuating copays and premiums, Universal Healthcare increases accessibility for everyone by eliminating exclusions to care, and finally it takes healthcare out of the hands of multibillion dollar companies and puts

The subject matter of universal health care is important because the current system of health care in America is economically and morally wrong. The United States spends more than double on health care and still millions are left without coverage. During the Progressive Era, AALL (American Association of Labor Legislation) proposed a bill which provided coverage to those making less than $1200 and would be provided services such as physicians, hospitals, and nurse which would be shared between workers, employers, and the state. This system was opposed by the AFL (American Federation of Labor) because it felt this movement would weaken unions. Furthermore, Bill Clinton proposed a system of universal health care which would provide health coverage

Since the advent of health insurance in the 1950s, there have been many models of care that are come to the scene in an attempt to both control cost of care and improve quality of care. Insurance models came into being because the fee for service model used until then was proving to increase cost of healthcare without any measure of quality of services and care provided. Health insurance models have evolved from the basic hospital offered insurance to employer sponsored coverage plans. The US health system is broken both financially and quality wise with more than 20% of gross domestic product being spent on healthcare (Blackstone, 2016).

The government would be the sole determiner of the number of medical professionals that could work.”( Creech, Mark H. “Universal Health Care Is Unbiblical. ) Is access to health care a human right, or a valued social good, or neither? In 2003 the Institute of Medicine published a report, Insuring America's Health, which contained five principles for evaluating various strategies for health care reform. The first principle, "the most basic and important," was that health care coverage should be universal. The idea that access to health care should be universal, however, has become one of the most hotly debated issues in the ongoing discussion of how to reform the U.S. healthcare system. In Opposing Viewpoints: Universal Health Care, authors explores the

Act, often called Obamacare, the debate over whether a government ought to guarantee universal health care for its citizens has escalated to a higher importance. Universal health care is not relatively recent historical development; the idea was first proposed in the United States By former President Franklin D. Roosevelt as one of his New Deal aspirations, followed by Presidents Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton. However, more than ever, opponents of universal health care defined as any system (single payer, individual mandate, mixed public/private sector, etc.) which guarantees universal access to health care services to all Americans seem to ignore the overwhelmingly apparent issues with the current health care system and the societal benefits associated with universal health care. To understand the advantages of a universal access system, one must analyze the immorality of the status quo, the economic prosperity which corresponds with national health care, and the empirically-proven efficacy of such systems in other nations. Universal health care is a moral necessity, as a lack of universal access to even the most basic of services severely threatens the morality of any developed society. Kao-Ping Chua of the American Medical Student Association (AMSA) estimates the number of Americans who are currently uninsured and identifies the moral injustice of the

As a matter of fact Wise and Yashiro, 2006 assert that there some individuals who describe the America’s system as being fragmented and inefficient, considering the staggering statistics regarding how Americans spend more on health care compared to other countries in the world. Additionally, they suffer from massive insurance costs and uneven quality of care, and thus understanding the debate about the two diametrically opposed viewpoints requires an in-depth understanding of the current health care issues in the United States (Rashidian, Joudaki, Vian, & Baradaran, 2012).

Should healthcare be universal to all citizen of a nation? What is Universal health care? According to the World Health organization (WHO) Universal health coverage (UHC) means that all people and communities can, use the promotive, preventive, curative, rehabilitative and palliative health services they need, of sufficient quality to be effective, while also ensuring that the use of these services does not expose the user to financial hardship (Organization, 2013). Universal Health care should be provided to all citizens because of the mass benefit we can receive. Universal Health Care which is also known as universal care, universal coverage or universal health coverage is a term that is used to address a health care system which provides health care and financial protection to every citizen of a specific country (Formosa 2017)

One of the main attribute of publics’ opinion addresses “competing issues”. When it comes to the public’s idea and opinion of healthcare versus other competing issues, healthcare always seems to be in the top priority. There are many issues the public feel very strong about thus creating “competing issues.” Even with such competing issues healthcare is always a strong contender and prioritized accordingly.