State of Health Care Essay (2nd 6 Weeks)

The current healthcare system in the United States of America is a bit of a failing system. Many Americans can’t afford it, and the numbers are constantly increasing. In order to resolve this, Congress is trying to introduce the ever so wonderful idea that is called non-other than “universal healthcare”. As much as the current healthcare system is pretty…well, horrible, universal health care isn’t going to make anything any better. If anything, it’ll get worse. 

Yes, there are upsides to it. For example, the number of uninsured United States residents has grown over 45 million so universal health care would cover them—although that number includes illegal immigrants and I’ll come back to that later. Healthcare has also become increasingly unaffordable so universal healthcare will also help cover that. With universal healthcare we can also eliminate wasteful inefficiencies such as duplicate paper work, claim approval, insurance submission, etc. and develop a centralized national database which makes diagnosis and treatment easier for doctors.

However there are so many negative sides to it, so much that it pretty much eliminates the upsides. “Free” healthcare really isn’t free to begin with, we’re paying for it with taxes and you know how much we love taxes. Government-controlled healthcare would lead to a decrease in patient flexibility and will ultimately reduce the quality of healthcare; not to mention an even longer waiting list for patients waiting to be treated. Why do you think some people go over to the United States to fix a broken arm? Because universal healthcare in their country requires them to wait months just to have it treated. Most people generally rather not wait months to get a cast on their arm, most especially Americans, who’ve grown to be quite spoiled.

 Just because Americans are uninsured doesn't mean they can't receive healthcare; nonprofit and government-run hospitals provide services to those who don't have insurance, and it is illegal to refuse emergency medical service because of a lack of insurance. Furthermore, healthy people who take care of themselves will have to pay for the burden of those who smoke, are obese, drink, etc. Fair? I think not. While we’re on the topic of fairness is it right for illegal immigrants—who will end up covered by the universal healthcare—to be able to have that privilege even though they’re not paying taxes? In other words, tax payers not only have to cover for self-destructing inconsiderate people, but for nontax payers as well. Where’s the justice in that?

And to shorten this rant, there are also likely results of corruption in the system and government restrictions or raised taxes on items such as cigarettes and fast food—both of which are bad for you anyway but despite that fact, it interferes and/or reduces personal freedom. Furthermore, there are people that will abuse this system, there are patients who aren't likely to curb their drug costs and doctor visits if health care is free; thus, total costs will be several times what they are now. As horrible as our healthcare might seem now, with as complex as society is, it’s our best option—unless they manage to work out the problems. Even with upsides, too much negative is brought into play when dealing with universal healthcare.