Universal Health Care Systems in the United States - Essay Example

Universal Health Care Systems in the United States It is unanimously agreed that the wealth of a nation is its health; health care has proved to be one of the major priorities for nations all over the world and the growing number of health related problems calls for Universal health care systems where access to health services are open and free to all. Disparities in health services are most likely to occur among the low income class and the high income class in society in terms of access to health care, life expectancy, life threatening diseases and infant mortality rates unless the nation offers universal health care to all its citizens. Zambia is a classical example for low income nations suffering from poor heath care system and 80 percent of the people in the nation ‘are not expected to see their sixtieth birthday’ (Kendall, p. 417). However, statistics show that ‘large expenditure for health care do not always produce better health care for individuals”; for instance, the United States spends one trillion dollars on health care each year; however, when one compares the health care expenditures of Sweden with that of the United States, one can see that “Sweden spends an average of $ 1,701 per person on health care and has an infant mortality rate of 3.5; by contrast, the United States has an infant mortality rate of 6.8 (Kendall, p. 419). Thus, one comes to understand that there is great disparity among world nations in the distribution of health and diseases, and this has increased the scope for social epidemiology. This paper analyses the need to introduce Universal health care systems in the United States with special reference to the PBS documentary ‘Sick Around the World’. The frontline documentary entitled ‘Sick around the World’ shows why the health care systems of nations like Great Britain and Japan are much more effective than that of the United States. The correspondent T.R Reid reports how the five nations-Britain, Japan, Germany, Taiwan and Switzerland-have adopted better universal health care systems than of the United States. In all these nations, “insurance premiums are significantly lower than those in America (in Britain there are none), and the waiting time to see a doctor is either tolerable (in Britain) or nonexistent” (Hale, 2008). The first chapter of the documentary ‘Great Britain: A leader in Preventive Medicine’ states that the American health care system is in big danger; the American health care system is the world’s most expensive health system but it leaves 47 billion people without medical coverage and almost 25 billions are under insured. It has thus become mandatory that every single American is entitled to a universal health care system. The question ‘have you ever paid a medical bill?’ in Britain deserves primary attention in this regard. Government run Hospitals play pivotal roles in the health care of these nations. All these nations have succeeded to a considerable degree, in reducing infant mortality rates and in increasing life expectancies of its citizens. Similarly, the second chapter of the documentary entitled “Japan Universal Coverage, No Gatekeepers’ shows why the health care system of Japan is superior to that of the United States. Japan provides universal medical coverage to its citizens and the services of the specialists are offered to the public at minimum cost. Similarly, the private health care of the nation is brought under strict regulations so that the practitioners cannot levy large scale fee to make undue profit. The fees for each disease and treatment are fixed exclusively. Thus, America needs to improve its access to health care as well as the quality of its health care. For this, there needs to be more of Government run hospitals and it is the duty of the government to ensure universality of education to all its citizens. Discussion Forum The New York Times Editorial on August 12, 2007 plainly states that the Americans are living under the false notion that they have the best medical care system in the world. The editorial states that this is true only in some top medical centers in the nation whereas the truth is that the country “lags well behind other advanced nations in delivering timely and effective care” ("World's Best Medical Care: [Editorial]. "). This is partly because of the fact the United States heavily depends on the private insurance system of the country whereas countries like England, France and Canada display superior health care practices through their government run health care systems. The editorial shows how the World Health Organization and the Commonwealth fund ranked the United States far behind countries such as Australia, Canada, Germany, New Zealand and the United Kingdom in terms of ‘quality of care and access to it’. One of the shocking findings of the editorial reveals that there are almost 45 million people in the United States without health insurance and sufficient health coverage whereas all other industrialized nations have succeeded in offering universal health coverage to their citizens. Another shocking finding is that the nation is still unsuccessful in providing timely care and access to health care is a constraint for many needed people, even though the nation has spend lavishly on health care. The low income people and Americans with below-average incomes very often find it unaffordable to get quality health care. Similarly, America is ranked last among the 23 nations in terms of infant mortality rates while the average life expectancy of the nation is only 60 years of age. The positive sides of the health care system of the nation are that the nation has successfully reduced the amount of smoking and has improved its preventive care and breast cancer treatment considerably. The negative sides include the largest obesity rates, circulatory diseases, respiratory diseases, diabetes, poor kidney and river transplants, and the larger rate of murders due to surgical and medical mistakes. A poll conducted in Europe and North America revealed that 40 percent of the Americans were dissatisfied with the health care system of the nation. It is also disappointing to find that in spite of the nation’s technological advancements the nation has not made use of information technology in health care promisingly. The healthcare issue, thus, is a major concern as far the United States is concerned and not surprisingly it has emerged as a major issue during the Presidential campaign of the nation. The findings of the editorial are quite shocking as a common man would not expect such drawbacks in the American health care system. The editorial serves as an eye opener to the Americans as well as the world nations to adopt more competent and effective policies towards health care. Similarly, the Americans needs to reply more on government run hospitals and medical care; easy access to health care and quality of health care is to be ensured for every single American. Thus, it is evident that the nation has got a long way to go with the national health care system; provision of universal health care and insurance packages are the immediate needs of the nation with regard to the health care system of the nation. Works Cited Hale, Mike. Lower Insurance Premiums and Better Care: Un-American Health Delivery. Television Review: Sick Around the World. The New York Times Company, 2008. 4 May 2009. Kendall, Diana. Sociology in Our Times: The Essentials. (Provided by the customer "World's Best Medical Care :[Editorial]. " New York Times  [New York, N.Y.] 12  Aug. 2007, Late Edition (East Coast): WK.9. ProQuest Central. ProQuest.  4 May. 2009  Read More