Legal and Ethical Issues in Healthcare Insurance

HC 4

Legal and Ethical Issues in Healthcare

1. Should every American have health insurance coverage?

Healthcare happens to be rather expensive in the U.S. As a matter of fact, as Branning and Vater (2016) point out, our country’s healthcare happens to be one of the most expensive in the world. In the words of the authors, “Americans spent $3.2 trillion on healthcare (almost $10,000 per person on average) in 2015, accounting for 17.8% of the country\'s gross domestic product (GDP)” (Branning and Vater, 2016, p. 445). For this reason, there is need to find a way of cushioning Americans from the high cost of healthcare. Health insurance coverage could come in handy in this regard. This is more so the case given that thanks to health insurance coverage, Americans would have a way of covering the various costs associated with health checkups, hospitalization, treatment, etc.

2. How should it be paid for?

I am in favor of a single-payer model funded by taxes, in which case the single-payer happens to be the government via a national health service. It therefore follows that patients (or in this case tax-paying citizens) should not be forced into any cost-sharing or out-of-pocket fee arrangement. In my opinion, a tax-funded approach would be ideal as access to care would be similar and guaranteed across the board. It would, however, be prudent to note that to ensure that a model of this nature is not misused (i.e. by persons seeking unnecessary healthcare services), there would be need for strict regulation and restrictions. The said regulations should be designed to ensure that costs do not balloon, and hence necessitate increased taxes. The approach I propose in this case largely mirrors the beveridge model which has been embraced by a number of nations such as the New Zealand and the U.K. The beveridge model differs from the country’s national health insurance model in the sense that private providers happen to be key drivers of the latter.

3. Should all medical services be covered?

Not all medical services should be covered under the proposed health insurance coverage. This would be necessary to avoid overutilization, rising costs, and unmanageable liability levels. For instance, medical services deemed wasteful and/or unnecessary should be restricted. These are inclusive of, but they are not limited to, cosmetic surgery, weight loss surgery, various acupuncture therapies, etc. It is important to note that failure to limit the demand for medical services deemed wasteful or unnecessary would likely result in uncontrolled usage, rising costs, and, later on, funding challenges.

4. Would you be willing to pay higher taxes to ensure you have health insurance coverage?

I would be willing to pay higher taxes for health insurance coverage. This is more so the case if the said payment of higher taxes would guarantee financial security or protection (i.e. in as far as high medical costs are concerned). This would be a small cost to pay for protection against high costs related to health checkups, hospitalization, treatment, etc. Himmelstein, Lawless, Thorne, Foohey, Woolhander (2019) make an observation to the effect that one of the main reasons people in the U.S. cite for financial hardships happens to be high healthcare costs. As the authors further indicate, “US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau reported that medical bills were by far the most common cause of unpaid bills sent to collection agencies in 2014, accounting for more than half of all such debts” (Himmelstein, Lawless, Thorne, Foohey, Woolhander, 2019, p. 431).