Healthcare in the United States.

¶ … healthcare in the United States. Specifically it will discuss the pros and cons of universal healthcare, and why it is time to implement such a program in the U.S. Universal healthcare is the norm in most industrialized nations around the world, and yet, America lags far behind in providing healthcare coverage for all her citizens. If the time has come for change in America, then part of that change must be in the form of universal healthcare - it is time for a change, now.

It is not difficult to agree that health care costs are rising, and rising sharply. Two authors note, "Health-care costs are rising at three times the rate of inflation, and have been for the past five years. CEOs of major corporations are screaming that these costs are creating major problems for U.S. corporations and their workers" (Emanuel and Fuchs 20). It is extremely expensive to insure workers in America today, and many companies are foregoing healthcare insurance for their employees as a result. However, this "solution" to the problem is shortsighted at best, because employee morale and productivity suffer when employees do not have health coverage. Another writer notes, "The Institute of Medicine estimates that over $65-$130 billion is lost each year due to lost productivity by the uninsured, who are less healthy and therefore less able to be a productive member of society" ("Arguments and Counterarguments" 5). Thus, employers who reduce their healthcare coverage are really facing more lost time and less productivity, so they are shooting themselves in the foot, so to speak, and may not really be saving money at all. In a universal healthcare model, employers would pay a portion of employees' healthcare costs, the employees would pay a portion, and the government would pay the rest. In addition, there would be income levels, so that those below the poverty level would not pay at all.

Many opponents of universal healthcare insist costs will be much higher for healthcare that ensures the health of everyone, regardless of income. Two other authors dispute this claim, however. They write, "Even after taking into account the costs of assuring universal coverage, annual system-wide savings would be between $125 billion and $182 billion in the tenth year of implementing reform. Cumulative savings for that same ten-year period would range, across scenarios, from $320 billion to $1.1 trillion" (Thorpe and Woodruff, 4). If this is the case, universal healthcare would actually reduce the cost of healthcare in America, and that would save Americans billions of dollars each year. Many cite the high costs of healthcare in Canada, one of the most well-known universal healthcare models. However, the statistics show Canada's healthcare is much more efficient than American privatized healthcare. Writer Chua continues, "In 2001, Canada spent $2,792 per capita on healthcare, whereas the U.S. spent $4,887 per capita on healthcare. That is, Canada spent about 57% of what the U.S. spent per capita" ("Canadian healthcare" 2). Reducing healthcare costs would eventually reduce the cost of American's payments for healthcare, and their contributions to a universal healthcare system, as well. It would also help insurance companies reduce rates, something that would help many areas of the healthcare community and the economy.

Universal healthcare is manageable in other countries, and the United States has the benefit of learning from others mistakes, so we do not make the same mistakes with our own universal healthcare plan. Universal healthcare would benefit a large segment of the population, and it should be implemented as quickly as possible to ensure the nation's health and to save money.

There are some clear arguments against universal healthcare. One of the most well-known and cited is the idea that the Federal Government is not capable of efficiently managing healthcare, and they cite the problems with the Veteran's Hospitals and Medicare as a very real example of that mismanagement and inability to control costs and other aspects of universal healthcare. Many government agencies are indeed inefficient, understaffed, and mismanaged, so care must be taken to ensure this does not happen with any agency managing universal healthcare. There should be strict controls and measures in place to ensure the agency is managed efficiently and provides the best results, and there should be measures in place to ensure the quality and delivery of healthcare services, as well.