Modern America’s Role in Life-Saving Medical Care Few debates are more intractable than the one around the issue of the government providing free health care for those incapable of paying for the care themselves. It’s a fight between the capitalist impulse that all people are – ultimately – responsible for taking care of themselves, and the liberal-democratic idea that providing health care for those too destitute to afford ir is one of the issues governments are designed to handle. To let the most unfortunate peoples of a society die due to lack of health care is not something a modern government can allow without serious damage to its credibility and moral compass; for those reasons the United States should provide free health care for those people incapable of paying for life saving medical procedures. Modern democracies are based on a simple trade-off. Citizens agree to abide by rules and taxes, in exchange for the government providing essential services to the people. I can imagine no person would classify life-saving medical care as “unessential”, particularly when it’s someone they know. It becomes easy to display a lack of empathy when someone you don’t know or care about is dying because they can’t pay, but this is the wrong moral stance to take. Making moral decisions in a democracy is as much about the society around a person as it is about the individual decision-maker’s life. Citizens make moral decisions, because they wish to live in a moral society.
Health care is not a privilege. In fact, a good level and quality on healthcare should be an inalienable right for all people. Social class, status or economic situation shouldn’t dictate who live and enjoy of good health or who doesn’t. Healthcare in America should be universal, continuous, and affordable to all individuals and families. Although some of the states in the US are taking unilateral measures not to focus exclusively on the poor, but seeks to guarantee health access to any uninsured people, achieving universal coverage will require federal leadership and support, regardless of which strategy is adopted to achieve this
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
Leonard Peikoff, “Health Care Is Not Right” and Andrew Bradley “Positive rights, negative rights and health care” debate the morality of a government funded health care system. Although both authors give ample evidence in support of their posture on this matter, Andrew Bradley presents a more clear and concise reasoning that supports his belief that “health care is a human right and …should be guaranteed” (Bradley 1). He effectively reveals the fallacies of Peikoff’s “negative rights” and “positive rights” assertion by examining the correlation between the two.
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
I strongly believe that all American citizens should be entitled free healthcare. This is due to that fact that this can play a big role of ensuring that there is an improved access to health services. In addition, ensuring that all American citizens have an access to the right health care will also decrease health care costs. For instance, by allowing people to receive regular and preventive medical care and not wait until they are persistently ill to request treatment when medical costs are much higher (Niles, 2011). In relation to this free health care will promote equal chance by decreasing the number of people who are economically deprived in society (Niles, 2011). This can be because of bad health and other medically-related financial problems.
One of the great hypocrisies of American culture is found in its health care system. The United States claims in its Declaration of Independence that “all men are created equal” and that all of these men have the inalienable rights to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Yet this is the same country that allows over 120 people to die each day because they are uninsured. How can this nation claim that all are created equal and have a right to life when they deny healthcare to those who cannot afford it? This issue has come on the scene relatively soon, having only truly been discussed beginning in the early 20th century. Since that time, a fear of socialism stemming from tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union throughout the century has placed a stigma on the concept of universal health care because it is similar to the Soviet’s socialized medicine. In recent years, President Obama made great strides toward universal health care by passing the Affordable Care Act, but some would argue that while America is on the right track, more can be done to care for the nation’s poor. Others argue that the economic impact of such policies could cause problems for America. Though creating a universal health care system has complex logistical and economic consequences, health care is an internationally acknowledged human right and should not be denied to the American people.
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
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
In The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care, T.R. Reid, a Washington Post reporter and NPR commentator, compares the United States’ health care system to the systems of other industrialized democracies. In this journey, he analyzes costs, quality, and overall functioning of the different systems. Through his first hand experiences around the globe, Reid illustrates a variety of systems, emphasizing the changes America needs.
“If Obamacare is so wonderful, why is it that its loudest advocates don 't want to be subject to it,” stated Senator Ted Cruz. As financial and social hardships began to become apparent in the United States, one major problem facing the citizens and governing body is Health Care for all. Socialized medicine is a health care system where the government funds and runs health care facilities and employs the health care professionals, also paying for all health care amenities. This idea of giving high quality care to citizens previously unable to afford healthcare has caused problems in the United States, and this idea of “socialized medicine” has proven to create hardships in other countries in the past. Obamacare has introduced socialized medicine in the United States which has caused negative effects both financially and ethically.
In recent years, health care has been a huge topic in public debates, legislations, and even in deciding who will become the next president. There have been many acts, legislations, and debates on what the country has to do in regards to health care. According to University of Phoenix Read Me First HCS/235 (n.d.), “How health care is financed influences access to health care, how health care is delivered, the quality of health care provided, and its cost”.
Studies in various cities in the United States have revealed that there is an overall inadequacy of health care for low income, homeless, and uninsured individuals (Hwang et al., 2010). The government has recognized the lack of healthcare for these individuals. For many years, politicians have been struggling to enact a healthcare reform. Finally, in March 2010 the Affordable Care act was written into law (Hammer, Phillips, & Schmidt, 2010). There have been many debates on the pros and cons and how effective this act will be at achieving the goal. These debates raise the question, should poor or homeless individuals be required to pay for healthcare insurance?
Consequently the U.S. spends more money than any other country on health care, and the medical care that is being provided may be compromised. Research has shown that the lack of health care insurance compromises a person’s health. However, there continues to be unnecessary death every year in the U.S. due to lack of health care
Another benefit associated with free health care system is that it preserves life as it ensures free treatment to the entire citizens despite their financial status. Apparently, the life of a human being is sacred and incomparable with any amount of money. It is unethical for an individual to die due to lack of finance. As stated by Obama, the United States is known to have the most skilled doctors and healthcare facilities in the world (526). Ironically, the two third of the Americans have no access to health insurance cover, meaning, they cannot afford to get the health services from the best doctors and the best facilities in the country. To protect life and to avoid unnecessary deaths of the innocent citizens, free access to medical services should be a distinct system to be employed in the United States of America.
The health care system in the United States is one of the greatest concerns facing Americans today and is an issue both moral and economic in nature. Some think the system should stay, for all intents and purposes, the same. They believe that the right to healthcare is a stepping stone toward socialism, and that it is the responsibility of the individual to obtain health care. These are usually the more ideologically conservative citizens and politicians who believe that medicine should remain a free enterprise, not to be constrained by government interference. Then there are those who believe that healthcare is a right, and the federal government has a responsibility to make sure it is available to all citizens, not just those who can afford