Universal Healthcare the Pros and

Universal Healthcare The Pros and Cons of Universal Healthcare Michael Moore's film, Sicko, did a great deal to raise awareness about the issue of health care in the United States. Showing the differences between healthcare systems in Canada, France, England and other countries where the government offers health care to all, the movie made many ponder why the United States does not have universal health care. But there are many on the opposite side of the coin.

As of late, it is hard to miss their commercials on news channels, the soulful stories of Americans who, with universal health insurance, would still be very sick or dead. These commercials are most likely a reaction to U.S. President Barack Obama's recent release of his health care plan, which claims to give affordable health care to all Americans. But there are many opponents of this kind of health care system, and their concerns are valid.

A discussion of the pros and cons of universal healthcare, as well as the recent trends and implications of this policy, will allow Americans to make their own choices regarding whether or not universal healthcare is the way to go. Those who believe that national healthcare is needed often cite the many Americans who die each year because they are insured -- 18,000 according to My Family Doctor Magazine (Whelan para. 1). Dr.

Patrick Whelan, a practicing rheumatologist and the national executive director for the Catholic Democrats, says that it is not universal healthcare itself that raises questions, but instead how the policy would be paid for and how it would be enacted. He wonders how anyone could actually be opposed a system that would prevent many deaths of children minorities, and others who are unable to obtain health insurance. Generally, Whelan argues that people are opposed to a healthcare system that is completely government run like those in the UK.

But this kind of healthcare system will never be a realty in the U.S., suggesting that U.S. universal healthcare would involve private corporations, tax dollars, and other compromises so the private sector and U.S. government could work together in order to ensure all have health insurance. In fact, Whelan states that "no major organizations or national political figures have advocated creating a system like Great Britain's, where the government owns all the facilities and employs all the doctors and nurses" (para. 2).

According to Messerli, other benefits of the universal healthcare system include a reduction in the amount of paperwork that the medical field produces, which will not only save time and money for healthcare providers, but will also give the environment a significant break. Having universal healthcare, according to Messerli, will allow one, centralized database to serve as the container for Americans' health information, meaning that any doctor would be able to pull up any patient's file. Because this would be done quickly, it would aid to efficient treatment.

Further, Messerli contends that having universal health care would significantly free up doctors to concentrate on patients and healing rather than records, costs, and paperwork. Finally, Messerli shows that universal health care may encourage people to seek preventative treatment, as some would not have done so in the past due to cost. Thus, the arguments in favor of universal health care are quite convincing. Saving lives is never something that can be easily argued away.

But those who argue that a universal health care system is not the best way to go often argue that universal healthcare will not save lives. Messerli argues that one primary argument against universal healthcare is the efficiency of the government. The government is not efficient, and Messerli challenges readers of his Pro-Con list, featured on www.balancedpolitics.org, to think of even one government agency that runs smoothly.

If the government is running health care, previous experience with other agency may lead citizens to believe that health care will not be run more efficiently and will not save lives, but will be even more difficult to deal with, which could have mortal outcomes. Other important arguments against the universal healthcare system include cost and quality. Some believe that a universal healthcare system would provide fewer incentives for doctors, who would be less likely to perform at their best.

Doctors who are not paid based on their quality may be more likely to perform at a lower quality, some hypothesize. This argument is also used to support the fact that having national health insurance may dissuade those who would be good doctors from going into the medical field, as they may opt for better paying positions. Paying doctors, and healthcare workers as a whole, is another major issue that those opposed to universal healthcare site.

They wonder how the economy can support such a policy, believing that it will be paid for by a hike in taxes, so that the benefit from universal healthcare will be overshadowed by the literal cost. John O'Shea, a practicing general surgeon and a prominent conservative, takes this view. He argues that government-run health care is inefficient, and that people have to wait for a long amount of time before they can receive the benefits that they need (para. 1).

The problem of the wait time has been one of the most used attacks against universal health care, as some wonder whether health insurance would matter at all if one has to wait a great deal of time for it. In addition, O'Shea argues that a better answer would be to use the government to subsidize low-income healthcare, but still allow low-income persons to make decisions regarding where they will go for care. O'Shea argues that "the fundamental flaw un universal health-care systems is a misplacement of incentives" (para. 3).

This means that O'Shea believes patients and doctors, not the government, should be making decisions about a person's health care. Finally, O'Shea also argues that spending money on universal health care programs would mean raising taxes and diverting funds away from.