A Universal Health Care System

Imagine what your life would be like if you were one of the millions of Americans without

medial coverage. Over 40 million Americans are currently without health care coverage for

themselves and their families. Not to mention there has been a steady rise in in people under 65

without health coverage. Although our nation has cutting-edge medical services and some of the

best hospitals in the world, many Americans do not have access to the services they need. Health

is not an issue to take lightly. Whether health care is given can mean life or death for many

people. So how can a country so advanced not supply medial coverage to many of its people. To

top that, we must pay a high price to keep ourselves covered. A price that so many people cannot

afford to pay. With healthcare insurance premiums rising constantly, it’s hard to keep up. And

many Americans cannot afford their employer sponsored insurance given that they have a job.

But insurance premiums are not the only healthcare prices that are rising, prescription drug prices

are on the rise too. And people who do not have healthcare insurance are forced to pay an

enormous amount of money on their needed medication. Americans are paying these prices while

all the other rich nations in our world provide free or inexpensive health care to their entire

populations. 16 percent of the United States population is suffering from being without the

universal health care plan that we see the other rich nations with. Most of this population consists

of people who are relatively poor and almost one third of them are between the young ages of

eighteen and thirty four. What we need as a nation is a coverage for all of our nation’s deserving

citizens under one large plan. A universal health care system would surely address this problem.

Universal health care, also known as social health protection would cover the millions of

Americans who are currently living without any health coverage and provide them with financial

protection. With this system, Americans who are suffering now would have the necessary access

to health services which would then improve their overall health. A universal health care system

is desperately needed for our country. It is the greatest health care system that our country could

have.

In March of 2010, after many failed proposals, The Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as

Obamacare, was passed by Congress. This program is designed to provide coverage for almost all

Americans. The ACA plans to bring health care insurance to about 32 million more citizens with

half of them being covered by expanded Medicaid and the other half being subject to an

individual mandate to buy their own private insurance. The individual mandate requires these

newly insured Americans to sign up for a minimal insurance plan or pay a penalty. Requiring

people to pay for their insurance might be a little harsh. And poorer Americans would be offered

substantial subsidies to be apart of the new plan. These reforms make our already large issue of

uncontrolled health spending even larger. Especially since Medicare and Medicaid are already

quickly taking over the budget. And with that, this bill will prevent health insurance companies

from turning down those with health conditions or limiting the benefits of the people who

become ill. None of these reforms are to go into effect fully until 2014. But this plan has its

drawbacks. These drawbacks include lack of direct cost controls for money paid to hospitals and

doctors and the requirement of insurance companies to pay about 80-85 percent of their

premiums for medical care. Also, employers are being forced to change their policies. And all the

the costs are falling back on undeserving Americans in the form of taxes. The ACA is a poor

system which is not benefiting the United States as well as it was designed to.

$400 billion annually is a huge health care cost to be passed down to Americans to pay under this

plan. And along with that, American families will not be protected under the ACA from any big

financial and medical problems. These are huge issues that could easily be solved with an

alternate health care system. Instead, we should follow the lead of the rest of the industrialized

countries and provide good health care to more people for a lot less money. We should be

switching to publicly funded universal health care rather than continuing our trend of being on

private health insurance. This is a health care system that is sure to work. We do not need the

ACA which will only have more Americans become dependent on private health insurance, but

we do need a universal health care plan.

Our own former leaders even believed that we should have a governmental system ensuring that

every citizen has access to their needed medical services. A universal health care plan was

favored by former presidents such as Franklin D. Roosevelt and Richard Nixon. Nixon even tried

to work an agreement on it but could not get Congress to agree.  Our past presidents must have

seen all the benefits to switching to this type of health care system. But our need for this system

is growing greater now than it was in the past.

Along with our 40 some million citizens without any health insurance, we run into several other

serious issues with our current health care system. Most of these issues greatly involve the lack of

money for hardworking Americans to pay for the health care they need. All the while, private

insurance companies are gathering billions of dollars from those who pay the price. This is a

problem so great that currently 63% of bankruptcies and 49% of home foreclosures occur due to

medical bills. Along with that 25% of insurance firms drop insurance coverage instantly when a

disabling illness happens and 25% more will drop within a year. The result of that is 50% of

Americans losing their coverage due to their injury. With a universal health care system, we

would prevent this from happening.

A really good thing about this plan is that it would be highly beneficial to the economy. It is clear

from our country’s current financial situation that we really do need something to stimulate the

economy. A universal health care would stimulate the economy by boosting the financial security

of average Americans. This system would lower the debt of the US which would then increase

employment. More business would be created, which would then require jobs. The jobs created in

turn will better the economy. Our current health care system only seems to be deteriorating the

economy.

If you take notice to the health care systems other industrialized countries such as Canada,

France, and Germany, you would see that their health care systems cost 6-10% of their gross

domestic product. But if you look at the cost of USA’s health care system, you would see that it

costs over 15% of our country’s gross domestic product. This percentage difference simply

comes down to the different health care system we use compared to these countries. These other

countries are spending percentages as little as 2% of their health care budget on health care

administration. The United States however, is spending 30% of theirs. A universal health care

system would downsize bureaucracy tremendously. Reducing the money that insurance agencies,

heath care consultants, and others make out of the health care system would benefit us greatly.

Our country would save billions of dollars with a plan like this, leaving money in the pockets of

hardworking Americans and much less spending in private premiums and tax dollars. To top that,

health and prescription costs would make a huge drop because the insurance industry would not

be able to continue to make a $60 medication cost $200 for out of pocket payment.  And

procedures such as MRI scans would cost much less than the current pricing of $400-$4000

because treatment facilities would no longer be able to create additional costs based off

insurance.

Another great thing about a universal health care plan is that having everyone insured would be

the greatest assistant in preventing the health conditions that we do not want our citizens to have

to suffer from. Mental conditions such as depression can be very threatening to ones overall

health. These mental health conditions can also be spread as Americans will associate with those

who suffer from these conditions. What is even more concerning is the physical health conditions

that can be easily spread. Epidemics such as swine flu and smallpox could be easily treated if

everyone has access to the same health care. Along with that, Americans with medical conditions

will not seek out treatment for these medical conditions because they know they will have to pay

a lot of money for treatment. So instead they choose to wait out their illness. Also, with a

centralized nation system which entails that all date analysis, patient records, and other patient

information would be kept in one space. This means that doctors can diagnose and treat their

patients much faster. Doctors currently have to deal with a lot of insurance information for their

patients which slows down the treating process. Just this effect of the universal health care plan

alone can be key to making tons of Americans much healthier.

The best part about universal health care is that it can save a great amount of lives. Oftentimes,

people are rushed to hospitals only to find out that the hospital cannot accept their insurance. By

the time these people are taken to another hospital, their life is gone. Under a universal health

care plan people would not be sent away for having the wrong insurance or no insurance. A

universal health care plan would serve people in emergency situations rather than deciding if they

will receive care based on how much money they have or what insurance they use.