45,000 Deaths Annually Due to Lack of Health Insurance - Essay Sample

Introduction

A recent study from the Harvard School of Medicine suggests that approximately 45,000 people succumb annually because they do not have health insurance, and consequently, a lack of access to progressive medical services for a wide array of curable conditions (Brayton n.p). The individuals who are not insured for health care coverages have an increased risk of death compared to those who are privately insured (Brayton n.p). The health care prices have augmented this year, making it difficult for citizens in the middle- and low-income status to access health insurance. Healthcare should be therefore, free in America since life, and the pursuit of happiness are unalienable rights. For example, in 2018, 8.6 percent of citizens, or 27.6 million lacked health care covers due to high prices of health care than in 2017, where only 25.5 million people were not insured.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Health Care Prices Are High in America

Augmenting health care costs has been a major worry for many American citizens in recent years. The current projections indicate that Americans spend $2.8 trillion dollars annually, about 18 percent of the GDP, and approximately $9,300 per individual on costs of accessing health care (Mathur, Pankaj, Srivastava, and Jawahar n.p). The highest percentages have been seen in the treatment of chronic diseases, such as cancer, obesity, and heart ailments. Prescription drugs have also increased rapidly. For example, doxycycline, a normal antibiotic, increased from $20 a bottle of 500 tablets to $1,850 in 2014. Based on these facts, there is a need to ensure that health care is free (Mathur et al. n.p). Finally, the prescription of drugs has increased up by 136 percent, since 2010, and it causes the government to augment the prices of health care services.

To Ensure Every American Have Access to Affordable Health Insurance

Currently, most Americans are not enrolled for health care coverage due to high contribution costs. Therefore, the government should ensure they develop measures to ensure that health insurance becomes affordable to all citizens (Allen 1-3). For example, broadening the eligibility for health programs, such as Medicare, and Medicaid would help them reach more uninsured citizens (Allen 1-3). Further, augmenting government regulation could prevent health providers from discarding anyone for coverage due to pre-existing conditions (Allen 1-3). However, the Affordable Care Act has made significant efforts in addressing these challenges. Americans can now enjoy access to health insurance in their entire life, and the federal government has the necessary tools needed to control the rise of health care costs. Finally, backing ACA is the best thing as this particular law has implemented comprehensive reforms intended to improve the accessibility, affordability, and quality of health care.

There Should Be a Universal Health Care Coverage in America Like Other Nations

In the United States, there is no Universal Health Care system. Instead, health insurance is bought in the private marketplace, making it expensive for ordinary Americans (Ridic, Goran, Gleason, and Ognjen 112). Therefore, there is a need to implement UHC like in Canada, as it has worked out well. In Canada, the UHC has helped in controlling the cost of medical services, and greater access to a wide variety of treatable conditions as opposed to the United States (Ridic et al. 112). Patients are not involved in the recompense process, as it entirely occurs between the government (public insurer), and the health care insurers (Martin et al. 1720-1721). It helps to eliminate the administrative charges of dealing with different private health providers. In Canada and other nations that have UHC, which uses a single-payer system, as opposed to U.S. and U.K, where national health services are funded by national taxes (Martin et al. 1730-1734).

Counter Argument

Health care should not be free because there are many uninsured people in the United States, and the majority of them are irresponsible. Statistics indicate that from 2017 to 2018, the number of uninsured people augmented by 500, 000 (Tolbert, Orgera, Singer, and Damico n.p). Surprisingly, eight out of ten of these uninsured members originate from working families. It is their fault that they do not have insurance; they play by the rules, work hard, but they cannot get insurance from their employer.

Rebuttal

Other researchers assert that unnecessary administrative costs and overuse of technology burden the United States healthcare system (Gee and Spiro n.p). This administrative complexity that is associated with high costs explains why the U.S. spends double the amount of money in healthcare as compared to high-income countries. Moreover, there is a strong profit motive in the private healthcare industry. Poor working families are exploited in the health insurance market while, on the other hand, the government distorts prices, impairs the quality and affordability of care, and suppresses innovation.

Conclusion

The best part as to why healthcare should be free is that it can save the lives of many Americans. The aforementioned information proves that there are many Americans who die due to high prices of healthcare; this is the reason why healthcare should be free because life and pursuit of happiness are unalienable rights. For instance, 27.6 million people in the U.S. did not give healthcare insurance in 2018, the majority of them suffer because of the high price of healthcare yet there are countries, which offer free healthcare, and they have proven that it is possible.

Works Cited

Allen E. Jason. "Should the government make sure that every American has affordable health insurance." 2009. 1-9. Retrieved from: https://constitutioncenter.org/media/files/healthcare_townhall.pdf

Berchick R. Edward, Barnett, C. Jessica and Upton, D. Rachel. "Health insurance coverage in the United States in 2018." (2019). Retrieved from: https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2019/demo/p60-267.html

Brayton, Ed. "Study: 45,000 deaths per year due to lack of health insurance." (2018). Retrieved from: https://www.patheos.com/blogs/dispatches/2018/10/15/study-45000-deaths-per-year-due-to-lack-of-health-insurance/

Gee, Emily, and Topher Spiro. "Excess administrative costs burden the U.S. health care system." American Progress. 2019. Retrieved from: https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/healthcare/reports/2019/04/08/468302/excess-administrative-costs-burden-u-s-health-care-system/

Martin, Danielle, et al. "Canada's universal health-care system: achieving its potential." The Lancet 391.10131 (2018): 1718-1735. Retrieved from: file:///C:/Users/User/Downloads/lancet2018_391_1718-35%20(1).pdf

Mathur, Pankaj, Shweta Srivastava, and Jawahar L. Mehta. "High cost of healthcare in the United States-A manifestation of corporate greed." J Forensic Med 1.1 (2015): 1000103. Retrieved from: https://www.omicsonline.org/open-access/high-cost-of-healthcare-in-the-united-statesa-manifestation-of-corporategreed-jfm-1000103.php?aid=66253

Ridic, Goran, Suzanne Gleason, and Ognjen Ridic. "Comparisons of health care systems in the United States, Germany, and Canada." Materia socio-medica 24.2 (2012): 112. Retrieved from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3633404/

Tolbert, Jennifer, Kendal Orgera, Natalie Singer, and Anthony Damico. "Key facts about the uninsured population." KFF. 2019. Retrieved from: https://www.kff.org/uninsured/issue-brief/key-facts-about-the-uninsured-population/