Is Universal Health Care a Realistic Goal for America? - Research Paper

Introduction

Although the United States is ranked among the most developed countries world over, the difference in terms of income is only surpassed by the inequalities to access to healthcare. Consequently, due to the close relationship between the health care predicament and the financial health of the nation entirely, proposals are being advanced to initiate universal health care to adopt current structures and to support efforts such as the deemed "Obamacare." Indeed, this initiative will help to move to greater accountability in getting and maintaining health insurance of American who are underinsured and uninsured (Chen, Mingsheng, Palmer, and Lei 852). Some Americans believe that universal healthcare is a realistic goal for the United States. On the contrary, many people think changing the healthcare system is detrimental to society, and that the system must allow people to choose their insurance packages.

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Supporters believe that universal healthcare will lower medical bills for the country. The existence of a comprehensive health care system in place will enable the government to be in a position to leverage the size of the medical market by negotiating for favourable pricing structures (Fusheini, Adam, and Eyles 558). Consequently, this will help to decline the expenses of care since services as well as medication will tend to be slower (Horton, Richard, and Pamela 1156). Even though pharmaceutical and doctors agencies are likely to receive a smaller compensation for each service as a particular portion of the GDP will drop.

However, opponents feel it will raise expenses for people who do not require specific prescriptions. Research has shown that in the U. S. approximately 50% of Americans consume nearly 50% of the health care cost that is created every year. Similarly, the remaining half of the populace only use approximately 3% of the cost on healthcare (Santos et al. 103). Therefore, in a universal health care system, it shall mean that individuals who are healthy and wealthy will be required to care for the poor and sick (Kirdruang, Phatta, and Glewwe 79). Consequently, as such makes, it is difficult to accept the universal health care idea since most of the chronic ailments can be prevented through simple lifestyle modifications.

Advocates also believe universal health care will keep emergency rooms less busy. The extension of health care to each American citizen will allow individuals to pay visits to their physicians at a convenient time. Accordingly, the "free" access will allow patients to see doctors without haste because one will not have to wait until the illness get unbearable because of the reduced health care cost (Abiiro, Gilbert and Manuela 17). Consequently, the "free" accessibility by patients to physicians is likely to reduce the long queues in the emergency rooms since access to family doctors will help to cater for most illness early enough before it can escalate to being emergency.

Critics disagree and believe it may enable pharmaceutical companies to gain too much wealth. Stigler et al. assert that pharmaceuticals are likely to make huge sums of cash in a free-market healthcare scheme when they are capable of offering the required services to patients that need these service. In the system of universal health care, physicians are in most cases assigned to many patients than they can legitimately handle. As a result, this may force doctors to rush through the interview as well as the diagnosis procedure, searching for the most probable explanation of bothersome symptoms instead of providing a thorough examination (Martin-Moreno, Jose and Meggan 129). Therefore, through the hurried examination and diagnosing of patients it will lead to doctors and pharmaceuticals not being careful about the health of patients but focusing on making more money.

Finally, proponents argue that universal healthcare will help the government keep its citizens healthy. Sen, claim, that nearly, 40% of the patients in the United States used to go to the emergency room seeking therapeutic services since this was the last resort place where one could afford to go prior to the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. The reason behind this is that an emergency room is obliged by law to cater for all individuals irrespective of if they have enough money to pay or not (Connolly, Sheelah, and Maev-Ann 791). Therefore, with universal health care, there is higher emphasis which will be put on preventive care. Indeed, as such initiatives will allow individuals to be active about their health, hence declining the need for emergency interventions since most people will become cautious about their health.

On the contrary, detractors feel this may allow the government to become too involved with people's personal lives. Universal health care is a government initiative thus it will shave to force healthy individuals to pay for other people's medical care (Tangcharoensathien et al. 1206). Accordingly, such cases are not acceptable since it is infringing on the wealth of hardworking people to cater to the poor.

Conclusion

In conclusion, health care is an essential need for all Americans. It is, therefore, necessary to consider healthcare as a fundamental human right which should be affordable for all people. Based on the above resources it indicates that universal health care is a good initiative which could help to ensure healthy American citizens. In accordance to this research it shows that the adoption of universal healthcare in America has the will only be beneficial to the poor because it is the largest population that mainly depend on service offered by the emergency room.

Works Cited

Abiiro, Gilbert Abotisem, and Manuela De Allegri. "Universal health coverage from multiple perspectives: a synthesis of conceptual literature and global debates." BMC international health and human rights 15.1 (2015): 17.

Chen, Mingsheng, Andrew J. Palmer, and Lei Si. "Improving equity in health care financing in China during the progression towards Universal Health Coverage." BMC health services research 17.1 (2017): 852.

Connolly, Sheelah, and Maev-Ann Wren. "The 2011 proposal for Universal Health Insurance in Ireland: Potential implications for healthcare expenditure." Health Policy 120.7 (2016): 790-796.

Fusheini, Adam, and John Eyles. "Achieving universal health coverage in South Africa through a district health system approach: conflicting ideologies of health care provision." BMC health services research 16.1 (2016): 558.

Horton, Richard, and Pamela Das. "Universal health coverage: not why, what, or when-but how?" The Lancet385.9974 (2015): 1156-1157.

Kirdruang, Phatta, and Paul Glewwe. "The impact of universal health coverage on households' consumption and savings in Thailand." Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy 23.1 (2018): 78-98.

Martin-Moreno, Jose M., and Meggan Harris. "N 3.5 Universal health coverage, including the private sector and traditional medicine." South Eastern European Journal of Public Health Special Volume 2015 (2016): 129.

Santos, Leonor Maria Pacheco, et al. "Implementation research: towards universal health coverage with more doctors in Brazil." Bulletin of the World Health Organization95.2 (2017): 103.

Sen, Amartya. "Universal healthcare: the affordable dream." The Guardian 6.01 (2015): 2015.

Stigler, Florian L., et al. "No universal health coverage without primary health care." The Lancet 387.10030 (2016): 1811.

Tangcharoensathien, Viroj, et al. "Health systems development in Thailand: a solid platform for successful implementation of universal health coverage." The Lancet391.10126 (2018): 1205-1223.