Universal Healthcare in the United States

Universal Health Care The issue of health care is a widely debated issue in the United States today. The United States spends more on health care than any other country in the world, but there are 48. 6 million people that do not have health insurance. The United States also has one of the lowest life expectancies in the industrialized world, and 45,000 people die every year due to a lack of health care. The United States Congress passed the Affordable Care Act in 2010 to try to correct some of these problems. Unfortunately, conservatives and Liberals cannot agree on the subject of health care (Kleinstuber).

The health care system should be changed so that universal health care is enacted in the United States. With universal health care, citizens of the United States will become healthier, therefore, people have better opportunity to obtain human capital. Also, the benefits outweigh the detriments in the case for universal health care with some small changes with how it works. The implementation of universal health care would benefit the United States’ economy and society’s welfare. Thousands of US citizens suffer every day from a lack of health care.

This has become a serious problem in the US, and it needs to be changed. There are over 45 million people who are uninsured in the US (Ireland). Of these 45 million uninsured people, about 9. 4 percent of them are children under age 18 (Todd and Sommers). Many of these uninsured people did not have the same opportunity to obtain human capital as others did, therefore, they are stuck in the lower class without employer-sponsored health care. With universal health care enacted in the US, these healthier people would have better chance at obtaining human capital.

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In effect, children grow up healthier, and they have better attendance at school and have a better chance to become successful in the future. Universal health care will lead to a more prosperous, opportunistic society. Universal health care has more benefits than it does detriments. Described by Jae Ireland in her article “Pros and Cons of Free Universal Health Care,” the pros of universal health care are extended care, reducing medical costs, and the proof of the success of universal health care (Ireland).

The cons of universal health care are raised taxes, competition between doctors and hospitals would disappear, and there will be longer wait times at health care offices and emergency rooms. Of course, with universal health care, every citizen in the US will have free health coverage. This will result in a healthier and happier citizens. A disadvantage of the enactment of universal health care in the raising of taxes. This increasing of taxes could be eased by the decreasing of some other taxes. Although this is true, the cost of medical costs will go down without privatized health care.

With the medical costs decreasing, the amount the US spends on health care per person would decrease from how much they pay for Medicaid and Medicare. A disadvantage of universal health care is the potential loss of competition between doctors and hospitals (Ireland). This does not have to happen though. The government could still pay doctors based on their skills and how important they are to society and the medical community. Also, make sure that patients can choose their own doctors so that doctors can still compete for patients.

This ensures that doctors and hospitals still have good incentive to do adequate work for patients. Another benefit of universal health care is the proof of the success of universal health care with other countries such as France, Italy, and Spain. These countries show that it universal health care can work with many benefits. These countries are able to provide universal health care with a much smaller percentage of their GDP than the US is currently using. Also, many countries with universal health care prove its success with longer life expectancies than the United States.

A drawback of universal health care is that patients are put on waiting lists for appointments since there will be many more patients (Ireland). On the other hand, this may be able to be changed. Policies that make sure patients with more extreme reasons for the need of medical attention get treated before patients with less serious reasons for medical attention. With some of the changes to the harms of universal health care, the implementation of universal health care in the United States would be undoubtedly beneficial.

In essence, universal health care can be very beneficial to the United States in multiple ways. With universal health care, citizens of the United States will have a better chance to attain human capital, and they will have a better chance to be successful. Also, with some minor changes to the universal health care system, the benefits outweigh the detriments. The implementation of universal health in the United States would create a better society and improve the well-being of their citizens.

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