Essay On Single Payer Health Care

I personally understand health care cost, and spending is a major concern for our society. Many governments around the world have established all-embracing health care, which takes the burden of health care expenses off of private businesses or individuals through pooling of financial possibility. There are tons of arguments for universal health care, and related health care practices. Health care is an important part of health systems, and therefore, it often accounts for one of the largest areas of high spending for both governments and individuals all over the world. For example, medical debt is now a leading cause of personal bankruptcy in the United States. A policy should be created to help lower the cost of health care.2

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) also known as Obamacare is a healthcare reform law that is intended to reform the health care system by providing Americans with affordable quality health insurance by controlling the growth in healthcare spending. Some critics of the Affordable Care Act say the ACA has not provided universal coverage, and one way to fix this is to adopt a “single-payer system.” I agree with these critics on the counts of the Single Payer System being a single public or quasi-public agency organizes health care financing, but the delivery of care remains largely in private hands. Doctors and patients regaining healthcare freedom, the accessibility of full coverage, and with financial benefits, the Single Payer System should be adopted by America today.

Insurers don’t limit benefits and doctor networks, and patient costs are replaced by taxes in a single-payer system. A single-payer would also equalize health care quality since we would all share the plan with the same benefits, which is not present under the ACA. A single-payer plan would be a way to ensure universal health coverage while containing costs. In addition to the dramatic reduction in administrative costs, single payer plans offer other openings for managing costs. For example, it would allow the U.S. government to negotiate for lower costs with providers like doctors, hospitals, and pharmaceutical

This was the beginning of the numerous bills that would be passed in an attempt to improve the quality and fairness of United States healthcare. In 2008, the Affordable Care Act was passed in order to lower the cost of healthcare and make quality care more affordable for a larger percentage of the people. According to the 2015 Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC) of the Current Population Survey, currently 10.4 percent of the United States population still has no health insurance (U.S Census Bureau 1). Only ten percent may seem small, but that is still 33 million Americans that are left without healthcare, which still poses a huge problem. There seems to be heavy debate about how an affordable system can be achieved. There are numerous arguments against the United States adopting a system that puts the entire healthcare system in the hands of the government but there are alternatives such as a single-insurer health care system where the government would essentially provide universal health insurance for all citizens. A single payer system could be a viable and achievable alternative that could potentially cover all necessary costs for medical services and reduce the number of United States citizens without health care to zero.

This health care system cures all three of the major problems, prescriptions, Medicare, and uninsured citizens. Although 8,000 doctors recommend and support this, the American Medical Association (AMA) states that it does not solve any problems, just creates new ones (McCarthy 1). The AMA states, "A single-payer system would create a large bureaucracy that would interfere with decisions that should be made by doctors and patients, stifle technological innovation, and lead to long waits for health care services (McCarthy 1)." The one major problem with this is that the AMA is one of the few organizations along with HMOs, that would not benefit from this new national health care system.

The yearly expense of a family health plan is approximately $16,351, a figure that to the majority of families in the United States is unaffordable (Kamrany, 2014). “In a single-payer system, a public entity, such as the government, would pay all the medical bills for a certain population, rather than insurance companies doing that work” (“Doctors Warm to Single-Payer Health Care”, 2017). The United States federal government should provide health care to all its citizens with a single payer system, giving doctors and patients autonomy eliminating the exaggerated expensive costs and cover all Americans for medically necessary services.

Some have the outlook that we should not have to be required to have health insurance and they have good reasons. One of the cons of Universal health insurance would be the long wait time to see the specialists, which could possibly lead to patients not getting the care they need and deserve (Formosa Post, 2017). The money that the people of the U.S. would have to pay because of increased taxes is a huge negative (Formosa Post, 2017). Money is an important thing here in the U.S. and since some individuals would not be able to pay for their insurance, the middle and upper classes would have to give more to cover the others. The age group that the negatives of this system would affect the most is the young and middle aged. These individuals would be the ones that have newborns or multiple kids who could very easily get sick so the longer wait times would be a major problem for those families. Another con about a universal health care is the risk of putting our country more in debt (Formosa Post,

"Healthcare is a fundamental right that should be available to all people regardless of their economic resources" (Dorrien 2 of 6) Americans should have the right to healthcare. "Under a single payer system, all health care providers, doctors, hospitals, clinics- would bill one agency for their services and be remembered by the same agency. Every American would receive basic comprehensive health care" (Burtlet 2 of 8). This would make billing easier for hospitals and organizations, also, people would have access to more options when going to a doctor or hospital because they would no longer have the fear that their insurance wouldn't be accepted. Plus "we already have a single-payer system for everyone 65 and over: It's called medicare" (Burtlet 3 of 8) This system is a great system and it has worked for seniors for over 50 years so why wouldn’t it work for all of America."When wealthy and middle-class people have to rely on the same health care system as the poor, as they do in Europe. They use their political power to make sure it’s a decent system" (Dorrien 2 of 6). This would enable a better system for all people to be organized. "It is not a socialized medicine, as in England or Spain, where doctors and hospitals work for the government" (Dorrien 1 of 6). Doctors will always work for themselves in America so there are no worries of doctors

“Should America adopt a universal healthcare system?” is a question that seems to be easy to answer. In reality, it is a dilemma for a first-world, democratic country like America. Universal healthcare recently becomes a heated issue as Obamacare, also known as the Affordable Care Act, was passed through Congress. Many people, who were uninsured previously, are now able to purchase insurance at an inexpensive cost. They are relieved. After many years of being denied to healthcare, some people finally gain access to the right care, the right treatment. However, the United States should not adopt a universal healthcare system, for there is a multitude of underlying problems associated with universal health care, outweighing its benefits.

National healthcare has been a hot button issue around dinner tables in America for years. Everyone seems to have an option on what will or will not work, how our county will afford it and what a plan would entail. Although we are unsure of how a plan would affect the country or the average American. Whether one is for or against the current healthcare plans that have been put in place by our government, We can all agree that the need for a national healthcare system is due to rising healthcare cost,

On the other hand, there are many reasons to oppose universal healthcare. First of all, it would be extremely expensive to make this happen. People who pay taxes pay for healthcare for people who don’t work. Taxes would likely become higher than they already are. America's debt would increase significantly due to all of the prescription pills and doctor bills to pay. Another potential concern is that the doctors available wouldn’t be able to keep up with the increased demand for medical care. The majority of college students want to go into a field with high pay. Because of this, the number of people entering the medical field would decrease. Because of the increased availability and affordability of care, people would go to the hospital for the smallest inconvenience. . The quality of care would decrease due to the higher demand. When doctors have more patients to work on, the amount of attention each patient gets would be lowered. The wait for medical services would definitely become longer. The government could reduce this risk by hiring more doctors. There's many negative things that would happen as a result of universal

I believe that the only time our government should offer universal free healthcare is in the situation of a nation-wide crisis of some sort or a global crisis or epidemic. I do not believe that the number of people who are in dire need for healthcare that cannot financially afford it is high enough for the amount of debt we would add on to our tally.

America is a country lead by belief. The people are proud patriots under a flag that we name to represent freedom. But even though we parade around with these values firmly caught in our minds, many can stray away from the true meaning to which these values should uphold. As Americans we have the right to choose how we live our lives, with a combinations of many factors such as a free market, numerous job opportunities, and even our personal right to speak anything we wish. Though, there are still flaws even in a country as ambitious as this one. One being our health care lacks to be on par with the rest of the industrialized world. This is mainly the fault of a disagreements between political stances. Our healthcare system right now is mostly privately owned and for profit. Just think about that, for profit. No one 's misfortune of ending up in a hospital should be treated as an opportunity to gain. This profit isn’t even redirected back into healthcare (mostly), but instead placed in the pockets of the insurance owners. There are a multitude of families that can not afford to have the “luxury” of healthcare. A single payer tax system would allow all families to be guaranteed service no matter what their financial stance is. This is the main goal, not to rid the U.S of private doctors and hospitals, but to give the average person the option of health without financial disaster.

There can be no discussion about socialized medicine or healthcare reform without acknowledging the elephant in the room. Affordability is the giant obstacle to availability in our current free market system and the driving force behind the need for reform. Advocates for socialized medicine claim that with the adoption of a government paid healthcare system, that everyone would have access to reasonable healthcare because cost would not be the limiting factor. When you consider that according to J. Edward Hill M.D., former president of the American Medical Association, that “A Gallup poll tells us the second most important financial problem households face is healthcare costs, second only to the specter of bankruptcy itself” (1) being able to go to the doctor without paying sounds like a very good option.

Amongst many of the Unites States government run systems, healthcare is essentially a money making machine with little regard to the well-being of those in need. Our current system, widely known as ObamaCare, is an individual mandate system. The individual mandate system has historically been proposed by republicans, most notably Bob Dole and Mitt Romney, as a combat to the single-payer system. Single payer health care has been implemented by the majority of developed nations throughout the world. Despite being the world's largest economy, the United States healthcare system is ranked 37th by the worlds health organization (2), as it directly causes an estimated (by Reuters) 26,000 annual deaths as a result of lack of coverage (3). Given the context, I am inclined to support the idea of a complete reform to our current system, and pursuing a single-payer system in the US.