Category: Health Care Reform

It is said that the United States is the land of freedom and opportunity, but it is rarely ever mentioned that it is also the land that has the most expensive healthcare system in the world. By which, many cannot possibly afford. Many countries have been transitioning to free healthcare systems, but the United States seems to not be following that lead any time soon. I believe that government should provide free health care to everyone in the United States because it is a human right, it could potentially save a lot of lives, and reduce overall healthcare spending.

Ironically, America is a country in which citizens have a constitutional right to bear arms but not a right to universal health care. It praises death, not life.

Almost 50 million Americans are uninsured. Many of which happen to live in poverty. According to Thomas J. Papadimos from BMC, “Employment, education, income, and race are important factors in a person’s ability to acquire health care access”. That is because the United States is one of the few countries that does not have universal health care. Most of the country’s health care is provided by private organizations. Making it unaffordable to many people, whether black or white, poor, uneducated, and so on.

Barack Obama signed a law in 2010 called the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, whose main goal was to make health insurance available and affordable to more people. However, the issues are far from fixed. Private organizations are still capitalizing as much money as they possibly can from people because it is viewed as a luxury and commodity. The system remains inequitable. Leaving people with a difficult choice of either having health care or being able to survive by paying rent and food is completely immoral. It is immoral to allow people to die simply because they can’t afford health insurance.

For instance, many Americans are refusing to get tested for the global pandemic of Covid-19, also known as the coronavirus, because of the lack of health insurance. Out-of-pocket costs for doctor visits can be dear, but the real issue is the Covid-19 treatment, which, according to NPR, can range from $2,000 all the way to tens of thousands of dollars. And even if an uninsured person tests positive but isn’t at risk of complications, affording sick leave is not always accessible to everyone. 1 in 10 Americans do not have paid sick leave. People can’t even afford to get sick.

The fact that money decides whether or not someone lives says so much about the US as a country. The virus has uncovered many of the flaws in the American healthcare industry. Health care should not be a market when human beings are involved, everyone should have the right to live healthy. Everyone is equal, and everyone should have the same opportunities when it comes to health care.

The most obvious benefit of why the government should provide free health care to all is the possibility of saving lives. Those who are uninsured have a much higher risk of death, and according to Harvard researchers, “Lack of health insurance is associated with as many as 44,789 deaths per year, which translates into a 40% increased risk of death among the uninsured”. Those are over 44,000 preventable deaths if only the country provided free health care. When compared to a country with free health care such as Italy or Canada, it is evident that there is a trend in deaths and health care coverage. There is a much lower mortality rate when the health coverage is higher.

Although free health care would benefit the impoverished, it would also greatly benefit those who are able to afford the current health care prices. That is because research shows that more extensive health coverage could potentially improve the quality of health care. Ironically, the United States is the country with the most expensive health care per capita, but it is also poorer quality compared to other developed nations. The infant mortality rates and life expectancy would decrease because of the decrease in drug-related and illness cases.

A prime example of a country saving lives with free health care is Cuba. Cubans maintain good health and have small chances of chronic diseases due to their access to free health care because their doctors are abundant and focus on preventative medicine and preventative spread of illnesses and disorders. Cuba has one of the smallest low infant mortality rates in the world and a higher life expectancy rate than the United States.

Free health care would encourage people to stay healthy, practice healthy eating and fitness habits, reduce overall illnesses, etc. The percentage of people dying from preventable causes will greatly decrease. Therefore, the government should provide free health care for everyone.

The United Kingdom National Health Service refers to the government-funded medical and health care services that everyone living in the UK can use without being asked to pay the full cost of the service. Starting in 1946 as part of the Post-war consensus, it was very popular although some criticisms. They are 4 NHS, one for each constituent country of the UK. The 1948 leaflet sent out to people when the NHS started said: “Everyone – rich or poor, man, woman or child – can use it or any part of it. There are no charges, except for a few items. There are no insurance qualifications. But it is not a “charity”. You are all paying for it, mainly as taxpayers, and it will relieve your money worries in time of illness.”

The United States is the only developed country devoid of a government healthcare system and the most expensive in terms of health prices. A big percentage of Americans pay high premiums and deductibles for low reimbursements, another 15% is uninsured. The Healthcare situation is a big source of stress for the American people. Being highly sick can trigger a double tragedy: health and finance. The healthcare system has Four Exceptions part of the government programs: Veterans receive full insurance, Congressmen have excellent government-provided healthcare, the Poor receive MEDICAID and the Elderly over 65 get MEDICARE. Besides, the health field mainly belongs to private and for-profit companies that cut costs, increase prices and reduce services. Thus, lots of people don’t go to the doctor but to the pharmacy where they find many over-the-counter remedies. Moreover, emergency rooms are often full, and doctors sometimes find themselves asking “Which insurance do you have?”. Those insurance companies are very profitable, their profit represents 16% of the US GDP. Nevertheless, insurance is not a supply and demand market and the health of a human, of a nation, is incompatible with corporations’ goals of profit.

In 2010, President Obama presented the Affordable Care Act better known as Obamacare which consisted in healthcare reform. It aimed at reducing costs and expanding insurance through subsidies and tax credits. It planned to expand MEDICARE and state programs, stop denial of coverage for some pre-existing conditions, ban lifetime limits by restricting annual limits, pool risk among companies to cover riskier patients, allow young adults until 26 to stay on parents’ plans and mandate a fine to people not buying private insurance.

The project received criticism. The organization Generation Opportunity created a series of anti-Obamacare ads to turn public opinion against a national healthcare system. Creepy Uncle Sam, for instance, is a shocking and offensive political ad claiming, “Empower Yourself by opting out of Obamacare”, whose pedagogic purpose is to show the reform should be resisted. Besides, a poster entitled This is going to hurt affirms ““Obamacare creates more IRS jobs than doctors. So how do more IRS agents keep you healthier than a doctor?”. The message is that the government would replace doctors.

At that time, polls were organized to know if people were for Obamacare or the Affordable Care Act. People were answering for the second one without knowing it was the same thing. Obamacare was seen as political control and government intervention. The lesson to be learned is that everything in communication is about framing. Although Obamacare was very developed and researched, it was presented as a policy while it should have been presented as values. “You like the details, so you should love the package.” Yes but “Government takeover…loss of choice….loss of freedom.” During the electoral campaign, Obama tried to change the campaign’s name into “Obama cares”, but it was too late, people had already embraced the name “Obamacare”.

Despite Obamacare and some improvements, the US still has no universal government healthcare system. Yet, NHS is not what Obamacare Reform would have created. With Trump elected and Republicans getting the majority in Congress, it is close to death.