Best Approach to Providing Affordable Healthcare to American Citizens: Analyzing the polarity of two opposing solutions to the problem of affordable healthcare
Affordable healthcare for citizens remains at the forefront of debate for American policymakers and the complex network of privatized institutions, which provides said healthcare for those fortunate enough to afford such coverage. According to data provided from the World Bank, an assessment of generated revenue shows that the United States generates 17.1% of its GDP on health expenditures (data.worldbank.org 2017). There looms the question of: How can a nation with one the highest percentages of GDP stemming from healthcare offer free, or very low cost, healthcare? It is
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The methodology of evidence-based healthcare somewhat lies by undergoing analysis by taking a philosophical approach (Miles 2000). For example, a simple argument that government assistance is beneficial and necessary in provisioning healthcare to be affordable as possible could follow such a construction:
P1. All citizens are fundamentally important, thus deserving of healthcare.
P2. It is not impossible to provide healthcare for all American citizens.
P3. The economic benefit of providing healthcare incentivizes some to not do what is necessary to provide healthcare for all.
P4. More governmental control should be allocated in order to prevent privatized economic gains to ensure healthcare is as affordable as possible.
C. Being that all citizens are fundamentally important, the government needs to take actions to implement policies that ensure healthcare is affordable for all.
One could argue the validity of the argument; however, it would be difficult to dispute the soundness. One of the major suppressed premises of the argument that I, here, posit is that the privatization of the healthcare industry is problematic when accessing how to make healthcare both more affordable and equal for all citizens regardless of the amount of money that they make. Also, the aim of the argument is to establish that in order to ensure that healthcare is not only affordable but also
Universal Healthcare sounds appealing, but it actually lowers the quality and quantity of healthcare services that are rendered to patients, thus downgrading the healthcare system as a whole. Not having to pay, with everyone having coverage leads to longer wait times for medical service and many people overusing health care services. Implementation of Universal Healthcare in the United States would lead to a detrimental crippling of the nation’s health system. For those countries that have implemented Universal Healthcare or a system similar to it, all or most aspects of the coverage such as cost and care is generally provided by and tightly controlled by the government, a public-sector committee, or employer-based programs, with most of the funding essentially coming from tax revenues or budget cuts in other areas of spending. This paper will conclude with comparing the US healthcare system to others and how the US has one of the most advanced systems in the world.
Health care has been an area of discussion for some time now. In the United States, the current health care system is a private system that allows individuals to choose their own method of care. Despite the freedom that comes with the independent nature of this type of health care system, the true disposition creates more problems than it solves. The privacy of the health care institutions has caused affordability and access to become serious issues with this system. Additionally, those with lower socioeconomic status fall short of the ability to access the same pool of resources as everyone else. Due to the issues with affordability, access, and the poor infrastructure of the health care system, a universal health
The availability of healthcare is an extremely important issue in the United States. There are millions of Americans that are uninsured in the U.S. A high amount of uninsured people are from minority groups such as Hispanics and African-Americans. High deductible payments, the cost of prescription drugs, and lack of health insurance coverage cause many Americans to choose to live without insurance to save money for everyday expenses beside healthcare. Without health insurance, people do not have access to quality healthcare. Most citizens are aware of the issues in the healthcare system, but the disagreement comes when discussing how the best approach on ameliorating the system. Some believe that a more public and universal healthcare system is the best approach. Others believe that America works best through free enterprise and private institutions, and believe health insurance should be more privatized. However, health care has been shown to work best and be more available through proper public government control as it will allow for all Americans to have access to equal healthcare, in which money does not dictate health.
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
It is essential for the United States government to provide its entire citizen with a free health care. This system ensures that everyone has an access to medical services regardless to his or her social status. It is an important way of preserving life as free health care plan ensures free treatment to the entire citizen. In addition, it can play a big role of ensuring that there is an improved access to health services. Ensuring that all American citizens have an access to the right health care will in turn decrease health care costs. It can also help to stop medical bankruptcies in the entire nation. Lastly, it is one way of reducing poverty as it will lower the debt of the US which would then increase employment.
Long before the 1990s when Ms. Clinton fought for a Universal Healthcare system in America, the issue of America’s healthcare had been a political quandary. The enactment of the Republican administration’s Health Management Organization Act of 1973 was a weapon meant to address that crisis, yet, it did little to fix the problem. While the liberal Democrats are fighting for Universal Healthcare coverage for all Americans, the conservative Republicans are fighting to maintain the current private health insurance, however, with some revamping of the system, which preserves the capitalistic element of the status quo. The reason for the two opposing views stems from their differences in political ideologies, which theoretically is like pitting socialism against capitalism. While the liberal Democrats’ endorsement of Universal Healthcare system is socialistic in practice, the conservative Republicans’ fight to retain the private or market based plan is unarguably in support of their pro-capitalism stance. The truth, however, is that, though almost every American believes in capitalism, yet, almost none would vote to disband the Medicare and the Medicaid programs, both of which are socialistic. In that light, the argument of a pro-capitalist nation is negated, as we do already have a socialized healthcare program for the seniors and the poor. Extending that concept to include
C: Therefore universal healthcare should be available to every person as a government funded program.
Health care in the United States is driven by a patchwork of services and financing. Americans access health care services in a variety of ways — from private physicians’ offices, to public hospitals, to safety-net providers. This diverse network of health care providers is supported by an equally diverse set of funding streams. The United States spends almost twice as much on health care as any other country, topping $2 trillion each year. (WHO.INT 2000) However, even with overall spending amounting to more than $7,400 per person, millions of individuals cannot access the health care services they need.(Foundation 2009) So when the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (a.k.a the Affordable Care Act or ACA) was passed in the summer
The paper is broken up in to three sections. In section one, we will discuss the problems with the American Healthcare system and we will try and clear up some of the often misrepresented facts about the healthcare problems and solutions to fix them. In section two, we will present some of the solutions being put forward to fix the healthcare system, including plans by both Presidential Candidates
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)”.
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
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
“We will pass reform that lowers cost, promotes choice, and provides coverage that every American can count on. And we will do it this year.” The preceding is a powerful statement from the newly elected President Barak Obama. One of the main aspects of both political campaigns was health care reform. The above quote shows passion and encouragement, but the quotes about health care do not end there. Georgian republican gubernatorial candidate and health care policy maker John Oxendine expressed: “Their proposal would virtually devastate the private healthcare sector in this country along with competition and patient choice, by replacing it with bureaucratic planning and government control. The result of this plan and its one trillion
A. The United States is one of the world 's only developed nations that does not guarantee universal health coverage for all of its citizens.
Absolutely, the issues relating healthcare affordability and access remains the most pressing concerns. Nonetheless, this has been the case for the most part of 20th century. Perhaps a fresh look at the system to which emphasizes on the special needs of a complex society can bring the most positive change. In systematic terms, the problem with the current structure is that prevention takes time, whereas, political progressions are short-range (McLaughlin & McLaughlin, 2008). Therefore, incentivizing prevention under the current system is almost impossible for the reason that when individuals engage in preventive programs, the continuation of accrued benefits will most likely be compromised or written out in its entirety. Such dilemma is the main concern; hence, cultivating a more consistent preventive care system is the most pressing need (Wyrwich et al., 2012).