Health Care Should be Free in America - Essay Example

Health Care Should be Free in America That the ineffective healthcare system needs a considerable an immediate overhaul is irrefutable. Health care professionals appreciate the problems related to the worsening system more so than anybody and are the first to express their concerns. Americans of all political beliefs agree too many people are uninsured or underinsured and the costs of health care are higher than needed but Democratic and Republican lawmakers differ on the solution. Unlike other industrialized nations, economic status plays a significant role in shaping the health status for American citizens, a despicable situation in the minds of Europeans who benefit from cradle-to-grave medical care. They deem it a birthright. Caring for the country’s sick without regard to their societal position is a duty civilized societies accept, at least those outside of America. The Republican answer is to give tax incentives to businesses and individuals that buy health insurance however this would not deal with the root of the problem. Even people with insurance are restricted to the treatments they get, usually dependent on bureaucrats rather than doctors to determine treatment. Democrats support what is termed as a ‘single payer’ system, otherwise named universal health care, a more effective system that covers all persons, essentially imitating a similar approach employed by Canada, Britain, Brazil, Cuba, Japan, Russia, western European nations and many other countries. Employing universal health care will greatly reduce the burden of rising healthcare costs to working families and eradicate the quality of care segregate in this country that exists between the rich and the other 95 percent of the people. The majority of Americans identify the health care crisis as one of the major concerns facing the country as evidenced by the magnitude of rhetoric allocated to this subject. Most Americans agree with the majority of the world in that a nation has the responsibility to care for its injured and sick regardless of their financial status. “Nearly seven in ten respondents go so far as indicating they would be willing to pay more in federal taxes to assure that every American citizen has health care coverage” (“Who should pay” 2004). That more than 45 million American citizens do not possess health insurance is widely recognized but it’s those who are insured who too often cannot afford the health care they need. A universal health care system similar to what is offered the majority of ‘civilized’ nations should not be questionable; it should be already be a reality. It’s what the American people desires and moreover, what they deserve as citizens. Often times we hear the expression, ‘America is number one!’ but naturally this applies to military and economic prowess alone and certainly does not take into account other areas, the affordability and quality of health care in particular. “The United States, which has the most expensive health system in the world, underperforms consistently relative to other countries and differs most notably in the fact that Americans have no universal health insurance coverage” (Presse, 2007). The U.S. is indisputably not number one with respect to health care delivery. America ranks 37rd worldwide providing overall health care, comes in at 67th with respect to child immunizations and 36th in life expectancy trailing Botswana and that is only a partial list. (Murray, et al., 2010) On the whole, America and the very underprivileged Cuba, a third-world country, are equal in providing health care to its people. “Achieving universal insurance coverage in the United States would protect households against undue financial burdens at the same time that it was saving an estimated 18,000 to 44,000 lives” (Murray, et al., 2010). Insurance and pharmaceutical companies make their profits from health care resulting in the billions of dollars every year. Those dollars would be better spent providing health care, not a difficult concept to understand. However, those profits are used to buy advertising which is designed to confuse people into thinking free health care is a bad idea, the very same entities who profit from refusing to provide services to it’s customers when they need it most. In short, people die because corporations want to pad their bottom line. Those insurance and pharmaceutical companies are naturally opposed to universal health care and have characterized this approach as ‘socialized medicine.’ This phrasing elicits fears of communist principles, the ‘red menace’ move stealthily into American society. However, universal health care cannot be truthfully described as socialized medicine. “It is health care payment system, health care providers would be in fee for service practice, and would not be employees of the government, which would be socialized medicine” (Battista, McCabe, 1999). If the single-payer system can be classified as socialism then other essential services such as the military can too. Few, if any, are against socialized fire, police and ambulance services or would desire to privatize the public school system. Americans of all political ideologies are willing to publicly fund these necessary services yet some, those prejudiced by the fear-mongering of insurance company lobbying efforts, would renounce health care delivered by this same process. Studies have constantly shown that the lower the social position, the odds they will be less healthy and pass away at a younger age increases proportionately. “Data stretching back centuries demonstrate that each step down the socioeconomic ladder increases the morbidity and mortality for numerous diseases. This gradient, documented in all industrialized societies, is considerable, with mortality rates due to some diseases differing by an order of magnitude between the highest and lowest echelons of socioeconomic ladders” (Adler et al. 1993). Theoretically, the opposite is true too. The health benefits of having a higher social position are most apparent in the elderly. “The social position that each older individual occupies, which exerts such strong influence on health, is the result of lifelong processes, and may itself be influenced by earlier health status” (House, et al. 1994). Presently, America is the only developed, ‘civilized’ nation that allows its people to be refused health care because of their inability to pay. This shameful circumstance would be eradicated by putting universal health care into practice. In addition the government would save billions of dollars each year. The topic of health care has been a explosive and divisive subject during several phases of U.S. history. The past 18 years the discussion has surfaced twice again, during an unsuccessful attempt to pass health care reform by the Clinton administration during the 1990’s and when Obama took office ending when the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (PPACA) was signed into law of the (Kleefeld, 2009) The PPACA was a historic law that many said would never occur and was a hard fought triumph for the Democratic controlled congress and Obama. It addressed many significant issues and will benefit millions of people while at the same time saving billions of dollars. However, the PPACA is not universal health care or even close. The law doesn’t incorporate the ‘public option’ which was believed to be a compromise with Republicans. The public option basically means the government would be the insurer for about 10 percent of the American people, still considerably shy of the single payer, all-inclusive, system. Most Americans concur with the rest of the world. Societies owe a duty to each other to make universal health care available without consideration of anyone’s economic status. This, the ‘greatest country in the world’ as parroted by many people, is obviously not, at least not when considering healthcare services. Currently, America is the only ‘civilized’ country that allows health care to be generally thought of as just another commodity. The lack of a universal health care system widens the gap between the poor and wealthy. We are demonstrating to the world that our principles begin and end with the almighty dollar. Works Cited Adler N, Boyce T, Chesney M, Folkman S, Syme S. “Socioeconomic inequalities in health: No easy solution.” Journal of the American Medical Association. Vol. 269, (l993):3140–45 Battista, John R., M.D. McCabe, Justine, Ph.D. “Talk Given To The Association of State Green Parties” (June 4, 1999). December 13, 2010 House, J. S.; Lepkowski, J. M.; Kinney, A. M.; Mero, R. P.; Kessler, R. C.; and Herzog, A. R. “The Social Stratification of Aging and Health.” Journal of Health and Social Behavior. Vol. 35, (1994): 213–234. Kleefeld, Eric “Poll: Americans Overwhelmingly Favor Universal Health Care -- Until Taxes Are Mentioned.” Talking Points Memo D.C. (May 29, 2009). December 13, 2010 Murray, Christopher J.L. M.D., Frenk, D.Phil., and Frenk, Julio, M.D., Ph.D., “M.P.H.Ranking 37th — Measuring the Performance of the U.S. Health Care System” New England Journal of Medicine (January 6, 2010) December 13, 2010 Presse, Agence France. “U.S. Health System Ranks Last Compared to Other Countries” (May 15, 2007). December 13, 2010 “Who Should Pay for Health Care?” PBS.org (2004). December 13, 2010 Read More