The United States and Universal Health Care: Should the U.S. Make the Switch? The United States has one of the largest, most complex health care systems in the world. Although the U.S. is among the wealthiest nations in the world, it is far from the healthiest and falls behind other developed nations in terms of healthcare. Mexico and the United States are the only members of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which has 34 members in total, which do not have universal health care (“Should All Americans Have the Right to Health Care?” 2015). Health coverage in the United States is provided through both private and public insurance and not automatically provided to everyone. About a fifth of America’s gross …show more content…
The United States should switch to a universal health care system to make health care more accessible to its citizens, improve health conditions, and make it so that medicine and treatment is more affordable for everyone regardless of their social status. Universal health coverage ensures that all people use the health services they need, of adequate quality to be effective, while also ensuring that the services provided are affordable (“What is Universal Coverage?” 2015). France, Germany, Italy, The United Kingdom, Japan, Canada and Russia all have universal health care. This means that the United States is the only industrialized nation that does not provide all its citizens with health care. With universal health care, countries provide their inhabitants with basic healthcare services as long as they are citizens. No one can be denied healthcare in these countries regardless of their social status (“Universal Health Care Coverage Definition | Investopedia” 2011). In the United States, the healthcare system is much different. Facilities are mainly owned and operated by the private business sector which causes the price of treatment and medical visits to be higher than those in countries who have hospitals and insurance run by the government. For example, the United Kingdom in which “Health care and health policy for England is the responsibility of the central government, whereas in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland it
America is a country that is commonly appreciated by its citizens for the values that it fought for and stands by today. When new policies and ideas are brought forward and introduced to our society, proponents and opponents frequently rely on our historic values such as freedom, equality and democracy to support their stances. While capitalism is something that has always been important to the United States people, it is important that we don’t confuse the systems that should be accessible and guaranteed to all with the systems that are excludable and look to make a profit. Health care is one system that should be easily accessible and available for all American citizens
Health care systems are highly complex and require vast resources. Moreover, providing healthcare coverage to all citizens can be challenging for many countries. Different models and theories abound all over the world about how best to provide care and only the most developed countries have adequate resources to truly provide universal coverage to their citizens.
Despite people’s fears that a universal healthcare approach would cost them more money, the truth is it would cut overall healthcare spending by billions of dollars yearly.
Another unique characteristic of the U.S. health system is that no one agency governs the U.S. health systems because it contains multiple third party payers. Third party payer are critical to the system because they serve as a buffer between financing health services and the actual delivery of health services. Other countries such as Canada, Germany, and most of Western Europe have universal health insurance programs. One huge difference between health systems in the U.S. versus other countries is that in other countries citizens are entitled to health care services, especially for routine and basic care (Shi & Singh, 2013, p. 1). According to Teitelbaum & Wilensky (2012), the United
Actual medical care in the United States is better than many other countries, but there are those who think adoption of universal government-controlled healthcare is the way we are headed. In fact, the United States and Mexico are the only countries of the 34 members of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) that do not have universal health care. (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), 2013)
The United States is considered by many to be the greatest country in the world. However, when it comes to health care the US is ranked behind 36 other countries, according to the World Health Organization. If one was to do any research at all, they would find that an overwhelming 34 of these 36 countries all have one thing in common. They all use a universal health care system. This is not just a mere coincidence. The problems and outrageous cost within the US healthcare system causes over 700,000 Americans to go bankrupt every year. This staggering problem simply does not occur in any other industrialized countries. Accounting for these facts the United States needs to move quickly to embrace
America needs a legitimate universal healthcare system where everyone will receive the proper care and treatment in adequate time in exchange for an increase of taxes. Having an universal healthcare will expunge the need for Medicare, so Americans will no longer see money taken away from their paychecks. The new American universal healthcare system will have definite shorter wait times for emergency purposes because Sabriya Rice of CNN reported “patients admitted to hospitals waited on average six hours in emergency room and nearly 400,000 patients waited 24 hours or more”(Rice). To improve upon a six hour wait time I would need to change the standard of the whole healthcare system. Extract training to all nurses and doctors to learn how to treat patients effectively and efficiently would be a prerequisite before the systems carry’s through. I would also urge Americans to call their primary doctors if they are suffering from the cold or flu instead of coming to the emergency
In 2007, more than 45 million Americans did not have health care insurance. The United States is the only industrialized nation in the world without health care, and the debate about changing that has become a popular topic recently. The difference between the two sides is a difference in values; those for universal health care desire to see the government help others, 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.
The United States is the only industrialized nation without Universal healthcare coverage. It is privatized with low level of government involvement, however most Americans will receive their coverage through private health insurance, such as employers and individuals leaving over 47.5 Americans without coverage ("Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, 2014 Update: How the U.S. Health Care System Compares Internationally,"2014). The US sets age and income requirement in order for health care coverage which only leads to an enormous amount of the population without health coverage. This leads to many
Everyone is entitled to get the universal health coverage insurance. According to World Health Organization constitution (1948), all individuals have the right to health care. However, when it comes to UHI, the government will consider the most vulnerable persons without imposing any restrictions. These are people living below the poverty levels and can barely afford treatment costs. Equity in the healthcare program will be paramount and the country will track the records of health care access based on different factors such as sex, income level, residence, immigration status, and age.
Health insurance creates an impact in people in the way they receive their care. The fact that America does not have national health care system has formed a barrier for those too poor who cannot pay for medical coverage. Robert L. Ferrer, Professor at the University of Texas expresses, “A universal health care system is the only way to provide for the 24 million uninsured Americans suffering without proper health care” (Balkin
Health care costs in the United States has become an extremely controversial issue. The major issue is that most people can't afford health insurance, but if the country would adopt a universal health care system it could fix that issue. Some people disagree, and think that a universal system would be too expensive, but if everyone paid their fair share it would be less of a hassle for the nation itself.
Opponents of universal healthcare system assert that the program would be damaging to the quality of health services, although researchers have established that the country’s healthcare structure is not superior to those of various developed countries that offer universal health care (Garber & Skinner, J2008). In relation to the same research, the United States is ranked second last in terms of the number of practicing physicians. Moreover, the country has less than the normal number of hospital beds and period of stay for severe care. The expense of the country’s healthcare per individual is $8,000 more than Netherlands, Norway,
The first form of universal coverage can either mean every citizen has access to either public or private health insurance. The second form allows every citizen access to free or low cost simple services by the government. But under this system patients will never receive a bill from their doctor. Although much is covered I would also like to note that Canada is one of the few places that does not cover prescription drugs under universal healthcare.
Healthcare coverage resembles a blanket: In some countries, the cloth of healthcare covers all of its citizens, and others allow their people to fight over the blanket. This resides in the hands of its government, whether or not they will permit universal healthcare. To clarify, universal healthcare refers to the process of medical service being provided to citizens while the costs are taken out of the taxpayer money. While thirty two or more countries use universal healthcare, America is one of the only first world countries to not jump on that bandwagon (Kapitall). Instead of raising its taxes and risk making their people and economy suffer, the United States established a law known as the Affordable Care Act