Hillary Clinton proposes that every American should be required have coverage, as most health care analysts agree that mandated coverage is necessary, so that the care and contribution of the healthy can effectively balance out the care of the sick. Obama would not require individuals to have coverage, merely require all children to have health insurance, and require employers to offer employee health benefits or contribute to the cost of the new public program. McCain, much in the tradition of Bush before him, says that he would provide tax credits to individuals to buy insurance ("2008 Candidates Health Care Proposals: A side-by-side summary," Health08.org, 2008).
The McCain proposal would do little to eliminate high co-pays, however. One of the arguments for co-pays is that it discourages the overconsumption of medical care, the so called moral hazard aversion: "twenty-dollar co-payment for a visit to the doctor, or when your plan includes an annual five-hundred-dollar or thousand-dollar deductible, it's not simply an attempt to get you to pick up a larger share of your health costs...Yet, when it comes to health care, many of the things we do only because we have insurance -- like getting our moles checked, or getting our teeth cleaned regularly, or getting a mammogram or engaging in other routine preventive care -- are anything but wasteful and inefficient. In fact, they are behaviors that could end up saving the health care system a good deal of money" (Gladwell 2005 p.2).
Health care does not function as supply and demand, because the consumers have little control over their demand. "Just raise the price of health care, and demand will adjust accordingly. That is to say, demand will fall," say the health insurance companies (Sher...
But when an individual's life is at stake, he or she has no choice but to pay the price -- even if that price is bankruptcy. or, when an individual needs to pay the rent, he or she is likely to put off getting an infected tooth pulled -- until he or she has a more costly, nasty infection. Until a financially feasible universal system of care is created that all Americans must be required to contribute to, just as they pay taxes for the good of society, then costs for Americans (including employers) will continue to rise, the overall quality of American's health will decline, and fewer Americans will be insured. The only stakeholders profiting from the current arrangement are insurance companies
Works Cited
2008 Candidates Health Care Proposals: A side-by-side summary." Health08.org. 6 Mar 2008. 22 Apr 2008. http://www.health08.org/sidebyside_results.cfm?c=5&c=11&c=16
Gladwell, Malcolm. "The Moral Hazard Myth." The New Yorker. Aug 29, 2006
22 Apr 2008. http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/08/29/050829fa_fact
Kolata, Gina. "Co-Payments Go Way Up for Drugs With High Prices."
The New York Times. 14 Apr 2007. 22 Apr 2008. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F06EFD7163BF937A25757C0A96E9C8B63&scp=2&sq=healthy+people+cost+more&st=nyt
Pear, Robert. "Without Health Benefits, a Good Life Turns Fragile." The New York
Times. 5 Mar 2007. 22 Apr 2008. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/05/us/05uninsured.html?scp=3&sq=healthy+people+cost+more&st=nyt
Sher, Jeff. "Health Care Cost: Eliminate Co-Pays."
Counterpunch. 19/20 May 2007.
22 Apr 2008. http://www.counterpunch.org/sher05192007.html
