Providing Fund by Federal Government to Health Care - Research Paper Example

Federal Government Provide Health Care For All U.S. and the citizens of U.S. are experiencing continuous increase in the cost of health care, research states that individuals within the nation are spending more than they spend on necessities such as food and shelter. The rate of premiums is elevating at a very fast pace due to which economic growth has been tampered and employees are not gaining increase in their salaries. The quality of operations conducted in the health care system of US is quite high and debate has taken place whether US can adopt a system of health care that is entirely funded and controlled by the government which is similar to the health care system of Canada (Uhlenberg 216). President Obama has put forward measures to adopt such a system but it has not been welcomed by the judiciary and other stake holders of the nation. This move by the president is under scrutiny, in this writing we will focus on whether US can adopt such a system or they are better off without it. Body Favorable The above graph shows that the benefits provided by employers to their employees in private organizations with US has declined, and there has been a steep decline in the amount of health benefits provided by these companies to their employees (Mauersberger 2012). Those in the favor of such a system state that the number of people within US who are living without health care insurance has elevated to the figure of 45 million (Washington, 2000). Organizations are even trying to cut their cost by not providing health coverage in their compensation plan to the employees. Decrease in the rate of wages and layoffs have even promoted individuals and employees of US to live without an insurance plan. All these events have taken place because insurance providers have increased the rate of premiums associated with health plans. Citizens of US do get free medical services for those diseases and illnesses that are not covered by health insurance providers. But there are those who can not purchase insurance services, these people need to be covered by the government otherwise their quality of life will continue to deteriorate. Those individuals and businesses that have already purchased health insurance have to end up paying very high rates of premium. If businesses continue to spend huge amount of their money as premiums, they will have lower amount of money to conduct investment activities and provide employment. Individuals who are paying loads of money as premium for health coverage are spending less on food and other necessities which is resulting in failure of businesses. Thus the government needs to provide health care services to all individuals of US in order to save the economy and create economic growth (Sidlow, 2013). When government will pay the cost of health care, individuals will start spending money on other goods and services which will result in growth of businesses. When businesses will grow, they will hire more employees and expand and ultimately, economic growth will be achieved. Individuals and businesses have experienced issues due to the huge amount of paper work that is conducted in order to obtain health coverage through insurance plans. Several records are created, by the individuals and the businesses themselves, then the insurance company conducts paper work and then the physicians and doctors conduct separate paper work. The time that passes through these steps makes the situation worse and the delivery of quality health services become slower and this leads to increase in the worsening of the health condition of the patients. The paper work even increases the cost of time that is wasted and the resources that are used to conduct such paper work. Thus the government can save all these mishaps from occurring by controlling the entire health care system. The cost that consumers have to pay to attain services for prevention of diseases and their wellbeing is quite high. Counseling service providers and those who advise consumers charge very high prices for their services. There has been a shift in the paradigm of health care system from one which used to focus on treatment of diseases to one which is focusing on providing prevention techniques and wellbeing. This shift in paradigm can help save the cost because treatment of diseases results in very high amount of cost, the cost of prevention of diseases is quite low. The consumers are even demanding for such services and prefer that government covers such services in their health care system funding network. The cost of obtaining counseling services is rarely covered by insurance agencies. Thus if the government creates policies through which it provides funds for prevention of diseases, it can help lower the cost of such services for the consumers and consumers are better off with such services than services that focus on treatment of illnesses (Edlin 435). From an ethical stand point, if government provides health care services and funds such services for all individuals, they will indulge in an ethical act. According to utilitarianism view of ethics, those actions should be conducted that result in higher amount of benefits for the community and society and results in lower amount of cost for the society (Morrison 68). If government provides health care services to all various benefits can be achieved, these benefits include: economic recovery, increase in investments, and increase in purchases of necessities, high quality health care for every one and standardized health care for all individuals. The costs associated with such an action includes: government spending will increase. But this can be countered by the increases in taxes that can be achieved through economic growth caused due to higher investment by businesses and higher amount of expenditure by consumers. One of the most disturbing issues experienced by US today is increase in government borrowing from foreign nations which has resulted in an increase in budget deficit. Budget deficit has been caused due to decrease in taxes and taxes have been decreased because businesses are closing down and economy of US is experiencing negative economic growth. If government starts spending on health care for all individuals and businesses, businesses will be able to flourish as individuals will spend more and this will result in increase in the amount of taxes obtained by the government. These taxes will help the government in paying off its debt and decrease the amount of budget deficit. Unfavorable The problem with the organizations handled by the government of US is that they are quite inefficient and if the control of the health care system is entirely transferred in the hands of the government, the health care system will even become inefficient. Secondly, the notion of free health care system funded by the government is just a concept and not a reality, this is because government needs funds to provide free healthcare and these funds can only be obtained through taxes. Government agencies are inefficient and the entire system including the employees does not operate in an efficient manner. This is because government officials earn a limited amount of money which they receive whether they work or not. Similarly, if government starts funding health care for every individual of citizen the doctors will be paid by the government. This will decrease the amount of interest that doctors put into providing quality health care because the government will fail to provide them with higher amount of salaries. Due to decrease in the rate of salaries, the motive of profit making and earning higher incomes will be eliminated and doctors will stop providing high quality services. Another problem that might occur due to government owned and controlled health care system is that the profession of health care will be badly damaged. Students pursue education in the field of nursing and other professions related to health care system because they have a motive to earn higher amount of salaries and profits. Students will loose their interest in this area of work and will look for better opportunities and higher paying jobs as the government will fail to provide high amount of compensation to the professionals of health care system (Simmers 33). The health care system is already fighting the issue of lower amount of employees; government will make the situation worse if people start pursuing other professions. Government funds for free health care for all will result in the issue of increase in substance abuse. One reason due to which several individuals do not involve themselves in the act of substance abuse such as usage of drugs and alcohol is the high amount of money they have to spend for recovering from the side effects caused by indulging in the act of substance abuse (Ruiz 1011). If government starts funding health care services, people will not stop from indulging in the act of substance abuse as they will not longer have to fear the high costs attached with abuse of substance. Conclusion Every coin has two sides, a good side and a bad side; similarly the issue that government should fund health care services for all the citizens of United States has a favorable side and an unfavorable side. The reasons due to which government should conduct such an act is that such an act is ethical, it will result in economic growth, people will have better quality of life and they will have more money to spend on other goods and services. Those against such act state that government is quite inefficient and this will make the health care system inefficient, it will decrease the number of people who are pursuing a profession in health care arena and will make people indulge in negative acts such as substance abuse. Works Cited Edlin, Gordon, Eric Golanty, and Kelli M. C. Brown. Health and Wellness. Sudbury, Mass: Jones and Bartlett, 1998. Internet resource. Health Care Coverage: 45 Million Uninsured and Counting : Hearing of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, United States Senate, One Hundred Sixth Congress, Second Session, on Examining Issues Relating to the Challenges and Barriers Faced in Obtaining and Maintaining Affordable Health Care Coverage, Including Related Data from the Recent Current Population Survey, the Impact of Current Tax Policy, and Expanding Coverage, October 4, 2000. Washington: U.S. G.P.O, 2000. Print. Morrison, Eileen E.. Ethics in health administration: a practical approach for decision makers. 2nd ed. Sudbury, Mass.: Jones and Bartlett Publishers, 2011. Print. Ruiz, Pedro, Eric C. Strain, and Joyce H. Lowinson. Lowinson and Ruizs substance abuse: a comprehensive textbook.. 5th ed. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2011. Print. Sidlow, Edward. Govt: student edition. 4th ed. Boston, MA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2013. Print. Simmers, Louise. Diversified Health Occupations. Australia: Thomson/Delmar Learning, 2004. Print. Uhlenberg, Peter. International Handbook of Population Aging. Dordrecht?: Springer, 2009. Internet resource. Mauersberger, Brian. "Tracking Employment-Based Health Benefits in Changing Times." U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. N.p., 27 Jan. 2012. Web. 12 Nov. 2012. . Read More