United State Healthcare
Introduction
The United States healthcare system works, but it is not the most efficient in providing the best services to citizens. Healthcare can be a very controversial topic and every country tends to do it differently. When looking at the data, the United States lacks in life expectancy compared to other high-income countries because of our healthcare system. There is a lack of insurance coverage and costs are way too high for citizens to pay for in our healthcare system. So, what can we do to fix it, and how can we make it as ethical as possible? How can we cut costs, but also make our healthcare system as efficient as possible? *I think one of the answers is Universal Healthcare, and not so much a Free Market/Enterprise Healthcare system. *
The Insurance Coverage Problem
I believe one of the aspects of healthcare that needs to be shifted is our insurance coverage. In the United States, if we are unemployed, we lose our health insurance coverage. No other country does it this way. There is essentially no safety net in the United States for health insurance coverage, unlike places like England and Canada. These places, regardless of your employment status, still allow people to attend the government hospital system. Other countries utilize Universal Health Care in this way so that all people of that country have full access to public health services, regardless of their financial situations, so they do not have to have financial hardship in healthcare. Comparatively, I don’t think free market enterprise in healthcare would benefit insurance coverage. With less government regulation, insurance companies can offer insurance to wealthy Americans only, which is unfair for citizens who cannot afford this insurance. Government regulation is important, especially in health care, and there are rules and antitrust laws that have to be met to be fair. I agree with Dr. Sean Masaki Flynn’s argument that health care providers should take initiative in saving up for people themselves, since some people will not save up money for their own healthcare. They would be able to save up money and deposit into people’s health savings accounts themselves to help provide for the community and people can afford healthcare. Would this actually work? The only thought that makes me question this idea is not knowing if these providers are actually going through with what they said they would do. Will they actually take initiative and help provide for the community, or be unethical and lie about what and how much they are saving? It can be hard, nowadays, to trust big public companies with major CEOs making the big decisions. Insurance coverage is one of the biggest problems in America and puts a lot of fear in people’s minds whenever their jobs can affect their health care coverage. It is hard for all sides to come up with one agreement because every community in America, insurance companies, hospitals, doctors, regulators, drug companies, Republicans, and Democrats, has to agree on one solution. This will ultimately never happen, so it is so much harder to cater to all needs with health insurance while also being the most efficient and ethical.
The Cost Problem
The second huge problem with America’s healthcare that needs to be changed is the high and unaffordable costs. Because of inflation, growing populations, technological advancements, pressures or wages, rising expectations, and rising competition, the United States’ healthcare costs have increased so much, to a point where it is unaffordable. I think one thing that the United States does, that other countries do not do, that also makes these prices go up is the amount that we pay health care providers. We pay physicians and technological specialists so much to provide for us, which makes costs go up. I do believe, though, that if we changed this, it would not bode very well for these employees. We cannot change the amount we pay them, unless we go up in income, and that would make the cost problem worse. I think Universal Health Care would help this problem just slightly, but as Dr. Flynn said, demand would increase a ton. This would then lead to an increase in competition, which could then reduce costs because of intense competition among providers. Competition is good in healthcare, because of how it can minimize unaffordable costs. On the other hand, I don’t think a free enterprise system would benefit or help reduce costs that much. One reason I feel this way is because if you reduce government regulation, there is way more freedom for higher prices. Providers, especially if they are in a monopoly system, have the freedom to increase their costs so much because they know that people will pay for it. Competition is then reduced, which is not good for the healthcare industry.
Conclusion
Overall, Universal Healthcare for the United States can be very beneficial. Though a free market sounds like it could help our health care system, there are many reasons why freedom might not be the best solution for our health care system. Government regulation is important, but how can we change it into a Universal healthcare system like other countries, and how would this best benefit the United States?