Has the time come to consider socialized health care or some hybrid, why or why not. To help answer this question, we need understand what the definition of “socialized health care” means. According to definition found in Wikipedia (2016), “medical and hospital care for all at a nominal cost by means of government regulation of health care and subsidies derived from taxation.” The phrase “care for all at a nominal cost” sound like a goal that everybody wants, but when you add the phrase “by means of government regulation” after it, now the whole definition changes. The notion that government need to intervene to provide health care cost to all automatically instill in our psyche that our “freedom” is restricted to some degree. It says
A national health care system in the United States has been a contentious topic of debate for over a century. Social reformists have been fighting for universal health care for all Americans, while the opposition claims that a “social” heath care system has no place in the ‘Land of the Free’.
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
Citizens in America obtain healthcare either through an employer, Medicare, or ,for the forty-five million, out-of-pocket. The number one in healthcare, Japan, uses the Bismarck model system- healthcare through insurance. America is almost the same, except the Bismarck insurance insures everyone without making a profit. Japan has more privately owned hospitals than America. This model can be funded several different ways for cost-control. The reason we have not changed our healthcare system is because of federal debt. Half of the health care costs are paid by the government. This debt will be America's downfall, but also the healthcare reform it so desperately
September 10, 2009 President Barack Obama said “Our predecessors understood that government could not, and should not, solve every problem. They understood that there instances when the gains in security from government action are not worth added constraints on our freedom. But they also understood that the danger of too much government is matched by perils of too little.” When thinking about health care you have to first define what the system is
Besides the general purpose of providing healthcare to all, the idea of government healthcare is that there is a single-payer as opposed to multiple insurance companies as well as government payers. All citizens are considered insured and only charged based on each individual’s “ability to pay” (MacDonald, 2013). This insurance would be paid for by the single-payer, the government, though the taxation of its citizens. Examples of this type of system can be seen in countries such as Canada and Sweden, as well as our own Department of Veterans Affairs ' VA health system. The idea of a nation-wide single-payer system has remained fairly popular in the United States due to the popularity and acceptance of the government’s Medicare program. In MacDonald’s article, “Healthcare reform: Socialized medicine?”, he quotes Deborah Chollet, a senior fellow at Mathematica Policy Research in Washington, D.C.: "No matter where you move in the country, you keep your Medicare," she says. "It allows you to go to any doctor or hospital you choose, and it 's not wildly expensive given the relatively expensive population it serves." (2013) Opinions such as these are what is fueling the desire of U.S. citizens to evolve our multi-payer system into a universal single-payer system. This would eliminate competing private insurance plans and exclusion of patients from coverage due to their existing health status (Kemble, 2012). Overall, a single-payer system appears to be a more equal, streamline
In a socialized medicine program, the government owns the health care system and employs the doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals. In a universal health care system, the government ensures that everyone is guaranteed health care coverage regardless of their financial position and current health status which are the largest factors that inhibit individual’s in the current system from attaining health insurance. Directing the conversation away from politics and towards the current needs of society will aid individual’s in considering what efforts need to be made to make the system inclusive of, and affordable for everyone. It is important that there is an understanding of both sides of the argument, nonetheless, universal health care could be a positive change for Americans. Universal health care could benefit society, starting with an individual’s health.
In Canada or Great Britain, the government funds healthcare providers through taxes, and such a system is called social. The United States, on the other hand, being a profoundly capitalistic country, opted for another route and passed the burden of healthcare spending on private consumers as well as other
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
There should be a public option available in health care and the government should have control over the industry. Backing up a bit, what is wrong with the health care system in the first place to cause such an enormous reform?
Socialized medicine, when the healthcare is provided by the government, has many benefits including: reducing Americans’ financial struggles, improving the American economy, and allowing Americans to live healthier lives The American people must support the creation of socialized medicine in the United States. The United States currently lacks any true form of socialized medicine. Obamacare and Medicare for All, Bernie Sander’s proposal for socialized medicine, are the closet systems the United States has to socialized medicine. Obamacare was estimated to save tens of thousands of lives by expanding the number of people with access to healthcare and prohibiting insurance companies from discriminating against people with existing conditions (Alter).
If we look back at history, we can see the need for health care transformation. During the presidential campaign in 1912, Theodore Roosevelt has been quoted “No country can be strong if its people are sick and poor” (Houle & Fleece, 2011, para. 29). Although he was defeated, this triggered the deliberation as to how to best make available healthcare to the people (Houle & Fleece, 2011). In Europe, the social norm was to have Universal Health Insurance and they endorsed social welfare programs (“History of health care reform in the United States”). Because of this, progressives wanted the same program here in America (“History of health care reform in the United States”). In 1943 the Wagner-Murray-Dingell Bill with the purpose to ratify required insurance in the United States (Houle & Fleece, 2011). The Bill, however at the time did not pass because of the lack of support from President
Firs let me start with the question of What is the reason that the united states, which indisputably is held out to be the greatest nation in the planet to live in by many and using many different standards, is the only western country that lack some form of socialized medicine? One main reason being that opponent continue to refer to any universal health care program as just that, socialized medicine without giving viewing it as important aspect in greatest country like U.S. The label alone is enough to prevent many people from supporting such an effort, without looking any deeper to the facts of the situation or the solution it offers. The connotation behind the expression socialized medicine is that it is a system that belongs in a communist run country. Socialized medicine refers to a health care delivery system where the hospitals are owned by the government and the doctors and other caregivers, whether in a hospital, office or other setting, are all government employees. And while I agree that this is not the system that would be effective for this country and our problems, we do need a system of universal health care for many reasons.
Imagine a nation where one did not have to worry about deductibles, high monthly insurance rates, and being denied health care. Is this possible? Can the United States (U.S.) have this or is such a nation fiction? Michael Moore, known documentary filmmaker, set out on a mission. This mission was featured in his documentary, Sicko. The mission consisted of multiple rhetorical strategies to disclose the positive and negative effects of socialized health care. The great thing about this topic is that it’s applicable to a wide audience. From teenagers just starting to get health insurance, to people midway through their life that may have been burned by the industry, to seniors that need to still work in their eighties to pay off their health care bills. Moore gives good insight to both sides of the argument, and allows the audience to examine all factors. Through many accounts of Moore’s credibility, emotional connections, and pure facts; the audience is strongly convinced that the U.S. should move to a socialized health care system.
In today’s society, there is growing sentiment that our government should provide a “socialized” type of universal medicine for the masses; that the onus to provide healthcare should no longer be on the individual or business. I posit that entrusting our healthcare to a government that can barely manage itself is misguided; that even if The United States could successfully implement a system of socialized medicine the economic and medical hardships this would cause to so many would far outweigh the benefits to a relative few. Although socialized medicine appears to provide adequate healthcare for each person, regardless of economic status, in reality this flawed and expensive system penalizes everyone associated with it. It will
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.