Could a Universal Health Care System Work in the United States - Term Paper Example

Could a Universal Health Care System Work in the United s Cara Morris of New Mexico Nurs 493.001 The healthcare cost in the United States is becoming excessive and people are unable to afford or obtain any type of healthcare. It cannot be denied that there is something wrong with the system today. The rate of the uninsured and underinsured is rising every year. Not having health coverage leads to 18,000 deaths a year (Davis, 2003). A Universal Health Care system is to ensure that all residents, regardless of their position in life, maintain coverage in the event of injury or the need to pursue a general practitioner. This type of system would increase taxpayer dollars, burden the government when funding is not available, cut funds from certain programs, and increase the number of patients to each nurse. The United States is an industrialized nation that has widely funded healthcare system (Wikipedia, 2007). A Universal healthcare system could hinder or benefit the financial system in the United States. In addition to these growing concerns is the growing number of unsatisfied Americans. This paper argues both for and against the Universal Health Care System in the U.S. Background The universal healthcare system began in the United Kingdom in 1948 (Wikipedia, 2007). Canada, France and Japan have a universal healthcare system that is beneficial. Their performance rankings are higher than in the U.S. Canada is ranked 30th, France is 1st, Japan is 10th, and the U.S. is ranked 37th in overall performance (World Health Organization, 2000). During the time of the Great Depression importance was placed on unemployment insurance and benefits for the elderly and the Social Security Act was passed as a result. The U.S. financial system suffered and it became difficult for Americans to obtain health insurance after World War II. The government decided to offer tax breaks to companies that offered health insurance to their employees to control the suffering financial system. However, the cost of health insurance continued to increase and led President Johnson to sign the Medicaid and Medicare bill ( PBS-health care crisis, n.d.). The cost of health care increase and the recurrence of health insurance restructuring as a key subject helped the health care business to multiply. Employers believed they did not have an option, so they joined in the HMO insurance as a low cost option to the growing health insurance premiums (Rise of HMO, n.d.). In 1993 the HMOs were created. Since 1993 our health care costs continue to increase and the ability to afford health care coverage is out of their reach. The Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey for 2006 reports that a total of 46,883 people are uninsured in the U.S., and a total of 80,072 are covered by government plans such as Medicare and Medicaid. These 46,883 uninsured people could qualify for Medicare and Medicaid, but many of them do not know that these programs exist. The people who do not qualify for Medicaid or Medicare only have the option to pay for health insurance through their employers or buy individual health insurance. Since the cost of health care premiums are so high many Americans are confronted with, do they continue to pay the high healthcare premiums or drop their coverage and ultimately they give up their necessities. According to the Census Population Survey in 2004 approximately 414,000 or 22.1 percent of New Mexico’s population is uninsured and this was an increase of 21.1 percent of the population in 2002. This ranks New Mexico second in the nation for uninsured In New Mexico the number of Hispanics that are uninsured is 55.9% of 45% of the population. The most common reason 67 percent of people stated why they are not insured were they cannot afford it. The highest uninsured rates are in Northwest and Southern NM and Albuquerque has the lowest. (New Mexico Service Dept, 2005). The U.S. Department of Health and Human services report in 2006 the NM’s overall performance is in the average range. It is the belief that the current presidential candidates’ proposed methodology for carrying out a Universal Healthcare program is somewhat unrealistic. John Edwards, 2008 presidential candidate, believes that the time has come for such a system to impose the costs of providing it back onto some of the employers of workers (Edwards, 2008). Thus Edwards suggests that companies should give this health care coverage as a basic human entitlement, likely to remove some of the financial burden off the federal spending level. Hillary Clinton, another presidential candidate, suggests placing most of the funding back on the government in the form of a budgetary allowance of $110 billion per year for mandatory coverage (Woodward, 2008). However, this would raise taxes on the wealthy in order to offset the governmental expenditure, which would likely anger more individuals who feel they should not be given the burden of paying for less-fortunate individuals. Barack Obama suggests using the new universal health care system to cover only children rather than adults, only costing the federal government $65 billion, rather than the total which was proposed by Hillary Clinton (Woodward, 2008). This too targets the wealthy citizen for funding this program, which likely provides greater resistance to why these new programs have not yet been developed; as elite groups have significant influence in capitalistic economies (Henslin, 2003). Arguments for Universal Health care It is the right of every nation to live a life free from diseases. It is the responsibility of the government to ensure that the country is well and healthy for the health of the nation will reflect upon the economy. A healthy country is a wealthy country. A person that is free of any illness will be able to resume his working activities efficiently. Healthcare is a right because it is connected to the life, happiness and freedom. There are nagging problems on the U.S. healthcare system and a solution may be a Universal Healthcare system like Canada, France, and the UK. How come if the U.S. is the best healthcare system in the world we cannot provide healthcare. Those who are uninsured merely ignore or try to self heal themselves and when the time comes when the illness develops and they did go to the hospital is that they incur more expenses then if they did not go, which is why the U.S. is ranked number 37th on overall health performance (U.S. Health & Human Services, n.d). Since healthcare is a right then, it should not be given to the selected few, and if a Universal Healthcare system existed, everyone regardless of ability to pay would be insured. Right now the trend in the U.S. is that access to healthcare is directly related to income and race. By implementing a Universal Healthcare system this would allow all individuals regardless of socioeconomic status to receive benefits. A Universal Healthcare system would help doctors to focus more on their patients rather than the money that he/she is about to make. A centralized, national database makes diagnosis and treatments easier for doctors. Even though profit is important, we should not make light of the lives involved in this area. When lives are at stake the focus should not be on profits alone. Doctors are often limited by insurance practices such as what tests can be ordered and what procedures they can do. Also doctors have to perform protective medicine to prevent law suits against them. A Universal Healthcare system would permit doctors and nurses to focus on what is best for their patient (Messerli, 2008). People have to spend more of the money they earn before taxes on health care expenses and the people who could take health care for granted are being priced out of the health care that they need. People are finding themselves in financial trouble because of health care costs and this is the reason why most of the uninsured easily shy away from receiving medical care because they are afraid of the expenses that will accumulate if they do. Not only is health care unaffordable for individuals, but it is unaffordable for businesses. If businesses have to spend more on health insurance premiums, the less money they will have give employees raises, hire new employees (Messerli, 2008). Arguments against Universal Health Care With a Universal Healthcare system in the U.S. it would increase waiting times to see the physician or for surgeries. This would suggest that people would be considered more like numbers than patients due to the mandates at the government level. The U.S. currently maintains what is referred to as a lack of a high-performance system (American Academy of Family Physicians, 2008). Under our current system people have wait times that are already extended, but with a Universal Health care the wait times would be even longer. If a patient tore their ACL, they would have to wait a couple of months to get it taken care of. Having to live with a nonemergency would be painful, uncomfortable and risky because it can lead to an emergency or even death, such as gallstones or hernia. With a Universal Healthcare system it would increase taxpayers’ dollars to pay for the people who are unemployed or undocumented who will end up receiving health care without contributing to the well being of society. These are also the people who will abuse the system and since they do not contribute tax dollars for a Universal Healthcare system, they will not do anything to maintain a healthy lifestyle. John Edwards stated in an interview with Tim Russert that a Universal Healthcare would cost about $90 to $120 billion dollars a year so it would increase our taxes. To pay for a healthcare plan there has to be a revenue source (Phillips, 2007). Americans would not have to pay so much money for healthcare insurance, but they would end up paying for it with taxes. The unemployment rate tells a lot about the economy. Currently there are thousands of people that are unemployed and unable to provide for their basic needs. With a Universal Health care system the unemployment rate will skyrocket because the people who work in the health insurance business would be out of jobs and ruin the economy in the U.S. According to the U.S. Department of Labor the unemployment rate for December, 2007 is at 4.9% and New Mexico’s rate is at 3.1%. Also the hospital record clerks that worked with the insurance companies would be out of a job. This would be a hard transition and the U.S. would have to go through a whole new round of patient record creation and database construction. This would cost a huge amount of money and time. Discussion Since the inception of the HMO, health care costs have continued to drive this motivation toward the creation of a universal health care system. Further, with the United States being an international player in terms of infrastructure and technological development, it is somewhat alarming that the country ranks 37th in relation to the rest of the developed world in terms of supplying adequate health care. In addition, with New Mexico and the rest of the nation facing very high percentages of uninsured, the notion of healthcare being an entitlement becomes a primary motivation for the institution of such a health program. This would appear to be a rather universal argument for such a health care system as it implies coverage for each individual regardless of race, gender, or socio-economic status. However, it does not appear that any individual candidate for the presidency, or other governmental body, has managed to determine an appropriate method for implementing a universal health system without burdening the taxpayers, whether middle class or the wealthy. This is the strongest argument against the new program as it would appear that various governmental legislators must find a way to fund this universal health system without raising taxes. Until this has been accomplished, it is a likely assessment that many individuals in the country will continue to act against the universal health system, which would seem to also be an entitlement in terms of denying such tax-related payments for the pursuit of helping the underprivileged. Conclusion Despite the many arguments for and against the universal health care system, it is clear that such a program is workable for the United States, however there must be a balance struck between ensuring that equal health care is distributed to all citizens and without burdening the well-to-do. As it would appear that national averages related to the uninsured continue to rise, something must be done in this nation to ensure a better quality of health care delivery. Despite the best efforts of governmental legislators, and a variety of theoretical proposals for implementing such a system, until more adequate and realistic methods are established to fund this program, it will likely not be instituted or be a practical program in relation to finance. References American Academy of Family Physicians. (2008). Universal Health Care – The Current System. Retrieved 4 Feb 2008 from http://fmignet.aafp.org/x1203.xml. Balanced Politics. (n.d.). Universal health care pros & cons. Retrieved February 9, 2008 from http://www.balancedpolitics.org/universal_health_care.htm. Census Bureau. (2007). Census Bureau’s 2006 Census Population Survey. Retrieved February 9, 2008 from http://pubdb3.census.gov/macro/032007/health/ho2_001.htm. Davidson, Scott. (2003). Economics: Perfect Competition and Monopolistic Competition. 2nd Series. Bantham Books: 103-105. Davis, K. (2003). The costs and consequences of being uninsured. Retrieved February 4, 2008, from http://www.cmwf.org. Edwards, John. (2008). “Universal Health Care through Shared Responsibility”. Campaign: John Edwards 2008. Retrieved 4 Feb 2008 from http://www.johnedwards.com/about/issues/health-care-overview.pdf Henslin, James M. (2003). Sociology: A Down to Earth Approach. 6th ed. A&B Publishing. Nickels, W., McHugh, J. & McHugh, S. (2005). Understanding Business. 7th ed. McGraw Hill Irwin. New Mexico Human Service Department. (2005). New Mexico State Planning Geant Insure NM! Initiative final report. Retrieved February 10, 2008, from http://insurenewmexico.state.nm.us/documentations/HRSA%20report%20_%20october%202005.pfd. PBS-health care crisis: Health care timeline (n.d). Retrieved February 8, 2008, from http://www.pbs.org/healthcarecrisis/history.htm. Rise of HMO. (n.d). B. History of HMO. Retrieved February 9, 2008 from http://www.rand.org/pubs/rgs-dissertations/RGSD172/RGSD172.ch1.pdf. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. (n.d). What is the Overall health care quality performance compared to all states. Retrieved February 10, 2008, from http://statesnapshots.ahrq.gov/statesnapshot/overall_quality.jsp?menuId=3&state=NM&level=0. U.S. Department of Labor. (2007). Unemployement Rates. Retrieved February 11, 2008 from http://stats.bls.gov/cps/ World Health Organization. (n.d). WHO World Health Organiation’s ranking of the WHO’s Health Systems. Retrieved February 10, 2008, from http://www.photius.com/rankings/healthranks.html. Woodward, Cal. (2008). ‘Where They Stand: How leading Democratic and Republican Candidates line up on a selection of issues’. Retrieved 3 Feb 2008 from www.ABQjournal.com/politics/ Read More