Who Represents Us - Research Paper Example

Who represents us? The issue of concern My issue of concern is healthcare. I support the adoption of a single payer universal healthcare system in the United States; a rough equivalent of the Canadian Medicare, the National Health Service of the United Kingdom or the National Bureau for Health Insurance in Taiwan. The single payer system has been suggested through a bill in the House of Representatives, which is yet to be debated. Under the policies that would be enacted by the act, all the medical care that is medically necessary as decided upon between the patient and the doctor would automatically be paid for by the government. This would end any need for private insurance to cater for medical expenses. The national system would be funded by the taxpayer, meaning that Americans will collectively ensure a functional medical system to all citizens alike. The healthcare system will not be expensive as it may be seen from the outset. As it is, the system will eliminate the private insurance companies that currently offer medical insurance, which means the companies’ administrative overheads and the overall cost of healthcare will reduce significantly. This will enable that everyone in the United States will have access to any medical services he or she needs with much ease. This is good news to everyone alike since there will be no more constraints as they are now experienced especially by the poor who are unable to access quality medical care whenever they need it. I believe the right to access medical care is fundamental and no one should be denied. It is in line with the inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness that should be enjoyed by all within the American territory. Representatives’ views on the healthcare issue The New York Representative in the House of Representatives My elected official in the House of Representatives at the federal level supports the bill. He has been a champion for health care reform in the house for quite some time now. He is a member of the house committee on health and has, therefore, dealt with many matters that concern health care in the United States. Even though he supports the bill, he is of the opinion that it should be modified further to remove some of the clauses and include others. Even then, he agrees that the bill will reform the healthcare system in the United States, since the proposed system of health care in the bill is better than the current system. Talking about the current system, the representative views the current system as overly inefficient and burdensome to persons with low income who cannot afford the medical insurance. The representative prefers the bill over the other bills on health and come the time when the house will be voting on a health bill, it is likely that he will vote for it. He doesn’t however advocate for the bill to be passed as it is. He is reportedly prepared to influence the debate so that it favors his opinion on how the American healthcare system should be reformed. Currently the bill, which was referred to the committee for health for scrutiny is accessible to him being a member of the committee. The modification and scrutiny of the bill by the committee is mainly aimed at ensuring it does not conflict with other laws and neither does it replicate any other law. It is also scrutinized to remove any ambiguity that may raise a problem during its interpretation. The senator for the state of New York Another version of the same bill is in the senate committee for health undergoing the same processes as the one in the House of Representatives. The senator from the state of New York is opposed to the bill. The idea of the taxpayers’ money being used to foot medical bills for all Americans is unacceptable to him. Despite accepting that the bill would be more efficient in the utilization of funds than the current system of health care, he still believes that there can be established a better system of health care than both the current and the one proposed in the bill. The senator was also vocal against President Obama’s national insurance proposal of 2009. His history in the senate has never revealed his position as far as health matters in the United States are concerned. He has however been supporting most of the bills passed in the last five years on health. In one occasion while talking with reference to the healthcare bill in question, he was reported as saying that the bill is good if implemented at state level, but it is inappropriate if adopted by the federal government. His speech was with reference to a similar system of health which has been successfully implemented in the state of Massachusetts. While debating on the bill before it was referred to the house committee on health, one senator in support of the bill argued convincingly citing the successful health care system that had been implemented in the State of Massachusetts. However, political analysts dismissed his argument as simplistic since the bill can be scaled from the state level to the federal level with similar efficiency. The representative for District 13 in the New York State Assembly The healthcare issue of concern has mainly been debated at the federal level. Some states, however, had adopted the health care system long before the bill was introduced in the House of Representatives. The health care system that is currently used in the state of New York is far from being related to the one proposed in the bill. Even then, the representative for District 13 in the New York State assembly is a proponent of the healthcare bill, whose passage will see the adoption of the single payer healthcare system. His argument for the bill is that the state of New York will particularly benefit from the bill significantly. Citing some of the districts in the state of New York including Bronx where the state of public health facilities are highly deteriorated, the representative argued that the adoption of a single health payer health care system would see the federal government channel funds into public health care system and employ more doctors to take care of the patients in those health facilities. This will definitely ensure access to quality health care to all the residents of New York and the United States at large. According to the opinion of the representative, the bill should be passed in its present state with little or no modification. Apart from the federal level at which the bill has been debated and is meant to enacted if it passes, the representative is ready to support a similar system of health care as the one contained in the bill for the state of New York. He thinks it is time for all citizens to have access to quality medical care unrestricted. The representative for District 13 in the New York State Senate The New York senate representative for district 13 has not voiced her opinion specifically about the in question but has taken a position on the healthcare issue in the United States and in the State of New York. Currently, the bill has been referred to subcommittee on health while advocacy for it continues even though its advocates seem to have accepted that the realization of a single payer health care system is yet again a project of the long term, whose realization may take years or even decades. Some of the proponents of the act have shifted emphasis from the effort to enact it as a national law and moved towards enacting the single payer health care systems in the individual states of the United States. The enactment of the single payer systems at the state level is expected to serve as the base for argument to enact it at the federal level. During the 2008 presidential campaigns, Barack Obama had promised health care as one of the major reforms his administration would bring. Despite admitting that universal health care coverage can only be provided by a single payer health care system, he instead favored a plan for more insurance coverage. However, during his pronouncements in 2003 at town hall, Obama’s remarks included promotion for a system of health care that is single payer driven. The New York Senate representative was supporting the president on his bid for the healthcare system with more insurance coverage that would reach even the low-income earners living in poor neighborhoods. She is therefore a proponent of the fact that there is need to improve the healthcare system in the United States. The city council chairperson The city council chairperson in the city of New York has also been vocal about the matters involving health status in the city. He acknowledges that the state of some of the health facilities run by the city council is below the recommended standards. He therefore advocates that more funds should be channeled into the facilities to cater for the improvement of the facilities and to employ more personnel. The single payer system of health care is based on the value of equality and social solidarity. Primarily, this will be achieved by health care financing, where resources shall be redistributed from the rich to the poor citizens (Newnan 36). In the first place, the financing is progressive with revenues, both federal and state, for the health care system being raised via general progressive taxation. Further redistribution of resources occurs during the federal-state transfer of revenues where the cash component of the transfer shall be adjusted according to the socioeconomic characteristics of the state, particularly the condition of the health care facilities and other resources in the state. This will see the federal government allocating resources from the rich states to the poorer states hence diminishing the differences in ability of states to raise funds for the health care system. In essence, this will see all Americans getting quality and assured health care, which is in fact a fundamental right of every citizen in the United States. Moreover, redistribution of resources shall be achieved through additional and direct funding by the federal government for particular segments of the population, especially those that have not been able to access quality medical care due to marginalization over the years Personal reaction and feeling about the representatives’ positions Having learnt about what my various representatives think about the state of health care in the United States and about the proposed healthcare system, I feel the representatives are doing their job well and are executing the mandate given to them by the electorate in an appropriate manner. However, I wish to express my reservation about the representatives that fail to recognize that health care is a fundamental human right that every American should have access to. For instance, the senator for the state of New York does not approve of the fact that taxpayers should foot the medical expenses of all Americans. It seems to me that he ignores the plight of the low-income earners who are on the receiving end of the current health care system in the United States. His opinion is extrapolated to mean that; health care is an individual’s private affair that should be arranged for and catered by individuals and not the government. However, I respect the opinions of all the representatives since they use it to articulate the needs of those they represent. Works Cited Bill Summary and status: 112th congress. The Library of Congress. Retrieved from http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d111:H.R.676: Charles Schumer on Health Care. On the Issues. Retrieved from http://www.issues2000.org/social/Charles_Schumer_Health_Care.htm U.S. Congressman: Edolphus Ed Towns. United States House of Representatives. Retrieved from http://www.house.gov/representatives/ Read More