The Moral Hazard Myth By Malcolm Gladwell

In the United States, healthcare has been one of the most controversial issue. Everyone needs to see a doctor when they don’t feel well or for routine check-ups. However, the reality is that not everyone could afford to see a doctor regularly to prevent serious illness. As a result, many people have died due to finding out their illness a bit too late because they have waited until the last minute to see a doctor and it was too late for the doctor to do anything about it. The situation could have been different if they were not lacking healthcare coverage. The government has stepped in to fix the issue but the problem persists due to the complexity of the healthcare system and its involvement with the political system. The Democratic and Republican

Globally, the United States has one of the largest and most convoluted healthcare systems, whereas universal healthcare coverage seems extremely farfetched. Annually, the US spends over $3 trillion on healthcare. Nevertheless, we have the worst health outcomes when compared to other industrialized countries. As stated by Anja Rudiger (2008), “Recent data suggest that around 101,000 deaths a year can be attributed to the underperformance of the US healthcare system.” Thus, the United States’ healthcare system greatly relies on revenue. Both funding and the distribution of services are commercially structured and held accountable by investors to increase financial gains. According to Andrew Jameton and Jessica Pierce (1997), “the US healthcare system increasing appears to have

Health care spending in the United States of America as a percentage of the economy has reached astonishing heights, equating to 17.7 percent. This number is shocking when compared to other counties; in Australia health care is 8.9 percent, in United Kingdom 9.4 percent, in Canada 11.2 percent. If the American health care system were to hypothetically become its own economy, it would be the fifth-largest in the world. While these statistics sound troubling, they lead us to look for answers about the problems surrounding our system. The first health insurance company was created in the 1930s to give all American families an equal opportunity for hospital care and eventually led to a nationwide economic and social controversy that erupted in the 1990s and continued to be shaped by the government, insurance companies, doctors, and American citizens. In this paper, I will go in to detail about the various opinions regarding the controversy, the history behind health insurance companies, and the main dilemmas brought out by the health care crisis. Greedy insurance companies combined with high costs of doctor visits and pharmaceutical drugs or the inefficient hospitals all over America can only describe the beginning to this in depth crisis. Recently, the United States health care industry has become know for the outrageous costs of insurance models, developments of various social and health services programs, and the frequent changes in medicinal technology.

The lucrative healthcare companies in America have created an immeasurable gap between good healthcare only being for the privileged upper class Americans which has left a horrible effect on the middle and lower class Americans. As modern medicine achieves new heights, the prices of healthcare seem to tread right behind maintaining an unbroken pattern that American classes have grown accustomed to over the past few decades of paying more for less. Leaving many Americans uninsured, underinsured, or even in debt. In a speech Bernie Sanders a U.S. Senator from Vermont spoke at a presidential campaign October of 2015 which he discussed the unruly problematic healthcare trend of price gouging, that is the medical industry getting the most it can from American citizens. In a blog Bernie Sanders states that “46 million Americans today have no health insurance and even more are underinsured with high deductibles and co-payments” (Sanders). 18,000 Americans die every year from preventable illnesses because they cannot cover the cost and don’t go to the doctor when they should. Sanders summed this situation up with this “Health Care is a Right, Not a Privilege” (Sanders). After researching the issue of healthcare, I have come to the conclusion that the American healthcare system is disintegrating due to the ravenousness of modern medical industries, first I will discuss a few reasons to why the healthcare system is failing the modern American

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]

Article 1 claims that the establishment of a universal healthcare system would benefit the United states.This article supports its claim by providing Logos, Ethos, and Pathos in its argument. Examples of logos found in the text include, a statistic that states that in 2005 about 45 million Americans did not have health insurance. By including this statement, the editorial makes it it clear that many people in the US will benefit from a universal system of healthcare and makes the reader wonder how these people pay for doctor visits. In addition, the editorial states that the World Health Organization ranked the US at number 37th in terms of quality of care and adult morality rate. This gives the editorial a backbone so to speak since it

The author compares the specific goals and claims of the Affordable Care Act with the actual experiences in the areas of its implementation. The assessment is made in terms of access, costs and affordability, and quality of care provided. The article uses secondary data to present the perimeters of the assessment. According to the findings, affordable healthcare cost has not been realized and over 37 million Americans are likely to remain uninsured even after full implementation of ACA in 2019. More millions are likely to remain underinsured as profiteering will dominate the culture of healthcare in the US. The author notes that there is need to address the for-profit and bureaucracy in the US healthcare system and concludes by laying out benefits and economic, moral and sociopolitical lessons from ACA within the first five

“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, employs the health care professionals, and pays 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.

“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.

Additionally, scarcity affects how people view health care in a general sense. Many critics of the Affordable Care Act maintain that it creates a new increase in overall healthcare expenditures (Barr, 2011). Yet while addressing this issue of access, it also raised new questions about costs in the short term (Barr, 2011). It is very difficult to convince consumers that a rise in price in the short term will be beneficial in the long term. The ACA tampered with the set health ‘square’ by increasing access for all Americans. It

Astronomical costs together with increased numbers of uninsured citizens in the United States creates an environment where health care premiums continue to grow at an astronomical rate with many businesses simply choosing to not offer a health plan—or if they do—they pass on more of the cost to employees. Employees facing higher health care premiums often choose to go without health coverage. Being uninsured does not mean going without health care; there are many clinics and services that are free to indigent individuals. However, any costs not covered by insurance are absorbed by the rest of the population, which translates to higher premiums for the middle class. (Messerli, 2014)

In the essay, “The Art of Failure” by Malcolm Gladwell we are given the meanings of “choking” and panicking while being in a stressful situation. Gladwell began to illustrate his writing by giving us other people's story, with the stories of Jana Novotna, John F Kennedy Jr, to name a few. Gladwell starts off by telling the story of Jana Novotna a professional volleyball player who developed stress when she saw who her opponent was, as she was getting near her chance of winning the championship; she lost it when “choking” took over her.

Block, W. (2008). Is there a human right to medical insurance?. Business & Professional Ethics Journal, 27(1/4), 1-33. Retrieved from http://secure.pdcnet.org.ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/pdc/bvdb.nsf/toc?openform&journal=pdc_bpej&yearrange=1999 –2009&category=0027_40182_2008

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.

As a matter of fact Wise and Yashiro, 2006 assert that there some individuals who describe the America’s system as being fragmented and inefficient, considering the staggering statistics regarding how Americans spend more on health care compared to other countries in the world. Additionally, they suffer from massive insurance costs and uneven quality of care, and thus understanding the debate about the two diametrically opposed viewpoints requires an in-depth understanding of the current health care issues in the United States (Rashidian, Joudaki, Vian, & Baradaran, 2012).