Devin Byrne
Owens
English 1001
12 December 2014
Universal Health Care in the U.S 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
Medical costs are getting too expensive. Ever fought with your insurance providers because they refused to pay for care, or struggle to find an “in-network” provider? I know a woman whose name I will change for her privacy and the struggles she is going through are a perfect example of an issue many people face when dealing with insurance; Nancy’s (name changed for privacy) story is a perfect example of how our healthcare system is no longer working for the people. Nancy is this woman whose husband recently passed away. Nancy used to work for county and county workers cannot receive social security; and Nancy is too
The U.S. is an industrialized nation that continues to be behind on providing health care coverage to all citizens. However, the German health care system came up with a plan that ensured all citizens are provided with some form of health care coverage; nevertheless, the U.S. continues to dispute health care reform and how to provide coverage to all citizens. “Health spending per capita in the United States is much higher than in other countries – at least $2,535 dollars, or 51%, higher than Norway, the next largest per capita spender. Furthermore, the United States spends nearly double the average $3,923 for the 15 countries ("Health Care Cost," 2011, table 1)”.
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
The American Healthcare system has always been in a perpetual state of chaos. In the decades that preceded President Obama’s healthcare legislation. Our system was based entirely on the citizens choosing to have insurance and if they chose not to the cost was absorbed by the insured and the hospitals, because it is illegal to refuse care to anyone. “Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care act.” Made having no insurance punishable in the form of a “fine” administered by the IRS thereby making sure every citizen has medical coverage. By expanding our current laws into a “single” payer system it becomes a tax on all citizens. Universal Healthcare is a moral and just obligation, by promoting the health of our citizens we
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
It can be argued that establishing Universal Healthcare would be a drain of government resources and would necessitate subsidization by taxes. A Universal Healthcare system provided for all citizens would create an extra tax on
The single most important impetus for healthcare reform throughout recent history has been rising costs (Sultz, 2006). In the book called The healing of America: a global quest for better, cheaper, and fairer health care, Reid wrote that the nation’s health care system has become excessively expensive, ineffective, and unjust. Among the world’s developed nations, the US ranks near the bottom for healthcare access and quality. However, the US ranks at the top for health expenditure as a percentage of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and average of $7,400 per person (Reid, 2010). Therefore, Americans are spending
The United States has a very unique healthcare system. Does this mean that we are simply leagues ahead of the rest of the world in healthcare? Unfortunately, not at all. The ideal of American exceptionalism is apt to describe our healthcare system. That is, our current system is exceptionally bad. Per capita, the United States spends “twice the average of other developed countries” on healthcare ("United States Per Capita Healthcare Spending Is More Than Twice The Average Of Other Developed Countries"). Yet, in the World Health Organization’s ranking of healthcare systems by nation, the U.S. comes in at a dismal 37th place, despite spending the most per person of any country on Earth on healthcare ("World Health Organization’s Ranking of the World’s Health Systems").
Universal healthcare (Obamacare) is it worth the trouble to sign up for and then be able not to qualify for the healthcare insurance. Universal typical mean all Americans, there is no way that all Americans have health a plan. America is the only country that does not have this type of care. The healthcare system is not up to par, there are so many to choose from how one know the right one for their particular needs. There are more questions than answers. This is impossible to navigate when making decisions about medical insurance. The marketplace for insurance has to be a joke because not everyone qualifies for their insurance, so that means those who do not qualify have to find an alternative to insurance. Universal healthcare is not crucial for American to sign up for it made things more complicated.
In 2007, more than 45 million Americans did not have health care insurance. The United States is the only industrialized major nation in the world without health care, and the debate about changing that has become a popular issue recently. The sharp difference between the two sides is a difference in ethical values; those for universal health care desire to see the government help others, mainly the lower class, and those who do not, wish that private companies be allowed to continue taking advantage of the status quo for profit. In this paper, I will argue why the Government should put in place The Universal Healthcare Systems.[1]
According to Squires and Chloe, the United States of America is considered as the greatest country in the world, with the largest economy, military powers, freedom of religion and speech, and one of the most successful democrats (2). However, the United States in the only western modernized nation that does not offer free healthcare services to all its citizens. Apparently, the costs of the healthcare services to the uninsured individuals in the US are prohibitive, where the insurance companies are interested in making higher profit margins than providing adequate health care to the insured (Squires and Chloe 4). These conditions are unexpectable and incompatible with the United States
As a contractor, I had the opportunity to manage personnel both here in the United States where 20 to 30% of income was spent towards taxes and in Germany where 50 to 60% of income went towards taxes. Because such a high percentage of wages in Germany are spent toward taxes the country is able to practice socialism on a large scale such as free universal healthcare, schooling, and job placement. I would be more than willing forgo such a large portion of my salary just for the satisfaction and peace of mind of knowing that any and all medical issues for my family will be covered. According to Dranove and Millenson (2006) personal bankruptcies are becoming a direct threat to the financial competency of the middle-class. It is estimated that medical
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
Every country vision is to have a universal health care system. A system that is not necessary “free” but a system where everyone has equal opportunity to get the best health care being offered without any partiality. Canada successfully implemented the universal health care to its citizens, but it is not perfect in any sense. Individuals’ citizens are provided with preventive care and medical treatment from primary care physicians as well as access to hospitals. There are still many services that are not covered or partially covered (Canadian Health Care, 2014-2017). Prescription medication, physiotherapy, ambulance services, prescription eyeglasses as well as dental care are some of the services that are not covered under the health care system (Canada’s universal health-care system, 2015)). Some Provinces may provide partial coverage for mental health patients, children living in poverty as well as old people. With the implementation of the Affordable Care Act in 2012, we can now say that the U.S. is on the road to hopefully having a universal health care system or a system that covered most residents. The Affordable care act can be considered to be the most significant overhaul of the health care industry in decades since the defeat of the Clinton Health Security Act of 1993(Sultz and Young, 2013). According to Sultz and Young, the ACA highlights 4 major goals. These are providing new consumer protections, improving quality and lowering costs, increasing access to
The current state of United States’ health care system is one of the most polarizing subjects of debate among scholars and other health care professionals across the globe. This can be attributed to the fact that at one extreme end, there are some who argue that that Americans have the best system of health care in the world (MePhee, 2013). Perhaps the availability of the state-of-the-art facilities and free medical technology that have become highly symbolic of the various industries in the United States have motivated the idea of the country’s health care system being unparalleled to others. However, there is a common belief that the fight for universal health care can only be successful if its current state of health care is described as a failure in the modern era as emphasized by MePhee (2013).