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Attempts at improving access to and quality of healthcare services have been going on for a while, with varied effects having been achieved so far. However, among the current trends, the endeavor at introducing a systematic approach to managing health issues can be called the prevalent one (Sherrow, p. 11). Consequently, the notion of Universal Healthcare, which is expected to unify the existing approaches to public health management, is often deemed as the ultimate response to most present-day health concerns. However, on further inspection, the Universal Healthcare system turns out to have several critical flaws that may affect the target community negatively. Due to the provision of unnecessary services and the related costs, as well as the threat of a massive decrease in health literacy levels among general audiences, the Universal Healthcare system should be, at the very least, postponed until an improved approach is introduced.
Payment
Access to healthcare and the relevant services is largely defined by people’s ability to pay for the required healthcare services. Therefore, a flexible pricing strategy and the opportunities for covering the associated expenses with the help of insurance are critical to one’s ability to address one’s health needs accordingly. The current framework for health management, namely, the use of Medicare and Medicaid insurance, may be flawed, yet it allows handling the challenges linked to the rapid alterations in the prices for medication and treatment. However, once the specified systems are replaced with the Universal Healthcare model, the prices for health management services and treatment options are expected to skyrocket, making health management inaccessible to a range of disadvantaged groups (Sherrow, p. 17).
One might use the example of Canada as one of the more successful implementations of the Universal Healthcare model. Indeed, the Canadian experience has shown that the specified framework can be used to improve the well-being of citizens. However, it is worth keeping in mind that the political and financial environment of Canada is significantly different from that one of the U.S., especially in relation to the latter’s libertarian policies and regulations. As Naylor explained it,
The consolidated federal health care legislation for cost-sharing (Canada Health Act, 1984) outlaws private insurance for any publicly insured service and penalizes provinces and territories that levy user fees or allow additional charges by physicians beyond the negotiated “Medicare” fee schedules. These restrictions clearly conflict with the libertarian ethos of the United States (Naylor, p. 17).
Therefore, the integration of the Universal Healthcare system would imply that the current framework of managing the financial aspect of delivering healthcare services will be significantly impaired. Namely, the existing infrastructure of financial relationships within the U.S. healthcare system and the democratic principles on which it is based will be incompatible with the provisions of the Universal Healthcare concept. The specified issue also concerns the taxation process, which, as the Brazil example has shown, will cause the decentralization of care (Macinko et al, p. 2177). The following lack of consistency in the management of service quality will quickly lead to its deterioration and the resulting drop in the efficacy of care.
Moreover, the proposed approach toward managing the financial aspect of health issues will imply that healthcare practitioners and nursing experts will have to deal with a drop in their salaries. Namely, the amount of payout that healthcare experts will be able to receive is expected to be reduced due to the necessity to keep eh increasing costs lower for patients. Thus, the single-payer system as it is currently suggested and promoted as Universal Healthcare will be practically unviable in the U.S. context (Sherrow, p. 78). Consequently, from a financial perspective, the introduction of the Universal Healthcare framework is expected to lead to more limited access to healthcare and the relevant services than the existing approaches offer.
Restricted Range of Services
Since the pricing issue is likely to become the main stumbling block for policymakers to overcome when implementing the Universal Healthcare system, limiting the existing treatment options may become one of the main tools for controlling the problem of expenses. Moffit explains that, in an attempt at dropping the range of costs needed to maintain the accessibility of the relevant healthcare options for all patients, the number of opportunities for treatment will be significantly restricted 9.
Another major complication, the increase in the waiting time that the introduction of the Universal Healthcare system will entail is bound to be a tremendous deterioration in the efficacy and quality of healthcare services. With the rise in the number of costs, as well as the need to search for alternative avenues for treatment to reduce the said expenses, healthcare organizations are likely to deliver the needed support at a slower pace. In addition, with the increase in the number of patients per facility and the rearrangement of the roles and responsibilities within the current healthcare system, the nurse-to-patient ratio is going to drop impressively, causing an inevitable decrease in the quality and efficacy of care (Moffit, p. 11). The described obstacle will also create additional complications for nurses and other healthcare experts due to the rise in the extent of workload and the need to change the framework of functioning rapidly. Namely, the process of adjusting to new roles and responsibilities, as well as an entirely redesigned system of collaboration and communication will lead to problems in managing information.
One could argue that the data management issue could be addressed with the reinforcement of the use of Electronic Health Records (EHR) as a single system for handling patient data. However, the incorporation of the EHR approach is also unlikely to cause any tangible effects since it will not contribute to the drop in the levels of workload and the challenges that healthcare experts and nurses will face when having to adapt toward the newly established standards for managing patients’ needs. Specifically, due to the rapid increase in the workload and the array of additional responsibilities and roles that healthcare experts will have to perform, they are likely to become more prone to the development of workplace burnouts, as well as the relevant mental health issues. The latter may range from mild stress to severe depression and cause massive drops in the efficacy of delivered healthcare services, as well as the accuracy of diagnoses (Sherrow 19). Moreover, with the increase in workload, nurses and healthcare staff members will become particularly susceptible to lapses in judgment and the resulting medical errors. As a result, the issues such as misdiagnosing patients, failing to administer treatment on time, and making medical errors will become more frequent, causing a rise in negative treatment effects and increasing the probability of lethal outcomes in patients with severe health issues.
Health Literacy
Although the pricing problem is likely to cause the greatest problems for the immediate consumption of healthcare services, the issue of healthcare literacy levels, namely, the expected drop in the levels of basic health-related knowledge, will have a much more devastating effect. Specifically, the adoption of the Universal Healthcare model will create the setting where people will rely fully on the healthcare system and, thus, will deem it unnecessary to learn about self-management of health issues. As a result, patients will be exposed to the health threats that represent an immediate danger, such as strokes, as well as fail to recognize the factors that may have a slower yet nonetheless deadly effect on their well-being (Macinko et al, p. 2178).
Moreover, the drop in the levels of health literacy will lead to the development of unhealthy lifestyles. Even presently, with greater exposure of the target audiences to crucial information concerning self-management of health, people’s ability to select healthy diets and avoid sedentary lifestyles is highly questionable (Sherrow, p. 118). Indeed, given the gradual increase in the mortality rates in cases associated with CVD and related health concerns, it will be safe to say that the integration of healthy lifestyles is long overdue in the U.S. context. Specifically, according to the statistics provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, heart disease remains the main cause of death, has led to 647,457 deaths in 2017 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). Thus, there are major indications of problems in the current approach toward the promotion of healthy lifestyles in the American community. In turn, since the choices made by American citizens regarding their health management strategies are informed by the availability of data about the factors leading to the development of diseases and disorders, the issue of health literacy appears to remain on the agenda of the U.S. public health.
In turn, the introduction of the Universal Healthcare model will inevitably lead to an even more drastic drop in the rates of health literacy and awareness. With most citizens relying on the Universal Healthcare model, the incentive for taking care of key health-related factors will be lost (Sherrow, p. 53). As a result, people are likely to become less wary of both immediate and long-term threats to their well-being. In the long run, the specified change will entail the loss of basic health management skills and the inability to apply the provided health management information for respective needs (Sherrow, p. 52). Therefore, the introduction of the Universal Healthcare model should be seen as a potential threat to the levels of health literacy.
Therefore, Universal Healthcare cannot be seen as a valid concept due to the multiple detrimental effects that it will have on the community as a whole. While the pricing issue, namely, the need to overpay for the services that were not requested in the first place, will have a negative impact, the drop in health literacy and awareness about health threats is the most dangerous one in the end. Although the Universal Healthcare system does have several advantages, the range of problems that it creates is far greater than the number of solutions that it provides. The fact that the Universal Healthcare model does not eliminate inequality in access to healthcare within the context of American society is, perhaps, the greatest offender and the main factor in defining the Universal Healthcare system as a pointless endeavor. Therefore, despite the few advantages that it offers, Universal healthcare should not be implemented. At the very least, serious modifications will have to be introduced to Universal Healthcare since, in its current form, it is unviable and even harmful.
Works Cited
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Deaths and Mortality.” CDC.com, 2019. Web.
- Macinko, James, et al. “Brazil’s Family Health Strategy – Delivering Community-Based Primary Care in a Universal Health System.” New England Journal of Medicine, vol. 372, no. 23, 2015, pp. 2177–2181.
- Moffit, Robert. “What Is the Best Way to Reform the U.S. Health Care System? A Universal Health Care Tax Credit Is the Solution.” Family Practice News, vol. 37, no. 2, 2007, p. 9.
- Naylor, David C. “Canada as Single-Payer Exemplar for Universal Health Care in the United States: A Borderline Option.” JAMA, vol. 319, no. 1, pp. 17-18.
- Sherrow, Victoria. Universal Healthcare. Infobase Publishing, 2009.
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