America is known for democracy, freedom, and the American Dream. American citizens have the right to free speech, free press, the right to bear arms, and the right to religious freedom to name a few. The Declaration of Independence states that American citizens have the rights including “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” America promises equality and freedom and the protection of their rights as outlined in the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. But with all the rights and freedoms that American citizens enjoy, there is one particular area where the United States seems to be lacking. That area is health care. The United States is the only industrialized nation that doesn’t have some form of legal recognition of a right to health care (Yamin 1157). Health care reform in the United States has become a major controversy for politicians, health care professionals, businesses, and citizens. Those in opposition to reform claim that health care is not a human right, therefore the government should not be involved. Supporters of reform believe that health care is most definitely a human right and should be available to everyone in the United States instead of only those who can afford it, and that it is the government’s responsibility to uphold that right.
Out of all the industrialized countries in the world, the United States is the only one that doesn’t have a universal health care plan (Yamin 1157). The current health care system in the United States relies on employer-sponsored insurance programs or purchase of individual insurance plans. Employer-sponsored coverage has dropped from roughly 80 percent in 1982 to a little over 60 percent in 2006 (Kinney 809). The government does provide...
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US NGO Physicians for Human Rights Manual. Washington D.C.: US NGO Physicians for Human Rights, 2001. Print.
Due to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act signed into law on March 23rd, 2010; health care in the US is presently in a state of much needed transition. As of 2008, 46 Million residents (15% of the population) were uninsured and 60% of residents had coverage from private insurers. 55% of those covered by private insurers received it through their employer and 5% paid for it directly. Federal programs covered 24% of Americans; 13% under Medicare and10% under Medicaid. (Squires, 2010)
The facts bear out the conclusion that the way healthcare in this country is distributed is flawed. It causes us to lose money, productivity, and unjustly leaves too many people struggling for what Thomas Jefferson realized was fundamental. Among industrialized countries, America holds the unique position of not having any form of universal health care. This should lead Americans to ask why the health of its citizens is “less equal” than the health of a European.
According to editorial one, universal health care is a right that every American should be able to obtain. The author provides the scenario that insurance companies reject people with preexisting conditions and that people typically wait to receive health care until it's too much of a problem due to the extreme costs. Both of these scenarios are common among Americans so the author uses those situations to appeal to the readers' emotions. Editorial one also includes logical evidence that America could follow Canada's and Europe's universal health care systems because both of those nations are excelling in it.
On a global scale, the United States is a relatively wealthy country of advanced industrialization. Unfortunately, the healthcare system is among the costliest, spending close to 18% of gross domestic product (GDP) towards funding healthcare (2011). No universal healthcare coverage is currently available. United States healthcare is currently funded through private, federal, state, and local sources. Coverage is provided privately and through the government and military. Nearly 85% of the U.S. population is covered to some extent, leaving a population of close to 48 million without any type of health insurance. Cost is the primary reason for lack of insurance and individuals foregoing medical care and use of prescription medications.
The United States spends vast amounts on its healthcare, while falling short of achieving superiority over other developed nations. One cannot overlook that the deepening recession has left many without jobs and therefore lacking health insurance. According to Fairhall and Steadman, (2009), even though the recession is hard on all, it is worse on the uninsured due to health care and insurance cost rising faster than incomes. Nevertheless, even those with jobs are lacking in health insurance due to employers, who provide insurance, are increasingly dropping their sponsored insurance. Many find that purchasing a health policy or paying for medical care out-of-pocket is cost prohibitive. “Since the recession began in December 2007, the number of unemployed Americans has increased by 3.6 million,” (Fairhall & Steadman, 2009). In 2009 it was stated that approximately 46 million Americans were uninsured, however not all of that number is due to the inability to afford coverage. According to a 2009 story written by Christopher Weaver of Kaiser Health News, 43% of that number should be classified as “voluntarily” uninsured. This subset of uninsured Americans consist of nearly half being young and healthy; therefo...
In recent years, the number of Americans who are uninsured has reached over 45 million citizens, with millions more who only have the very basic of insurance, effectively under insured. With the growing budget cuts to medicaid and the decreasing amount of employers cutting back on their health insurance options, more and more americans are put into positions with poor health care or no access to it at all. At the heart of the issue stems two roots, one concerning the morality of universal health care and the other concerning the economic effects. Many believe that health care reform at a national level is impossible or impractical, and so for too long now our citizens have stood by as our flawed health-care system has transformed into an unfixable mess. The good that universal healthcare would bring to our nation far outweighs the bad, however, so, sooner rather than later, it is important for us to strive towards a society where all people have access to healthcare.
Health care is an uprising issue today in the United States. I believe in order for health care or the medical field to succeed in the future that social contract should be enforced. By enforcing social contract, it will allow health care to be more efficient by allowing individuals to assume responsibility for their own healthy by having the ability to ensure health. According to The Enduring Democracy book, " from the philosophy of Jean- Jacques Rousseau, an agreement people make with one another to form a government and abide by its rules and laws, an in return the government promises to protect the people’s rights and welfare and promote their best interest"(Dautrich, 7). In other words, if people came to an agreement about health care being available for all American citizens, the government will uphold this idea and will make sure all American citizens have the right to health care.
is the wealthiest country in the world and yet it is the only major industrialized country in the world that does not guarantee health care as a right to its citizens. Around 45,000 uninsured Americans die each year(What The U.S.). As a nation built upon the ideals of “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness” and the idea that the government is responsible for protecting it’s people’s basic rights, it is a great source of shame that the U.S. does not have universal health care. It is the government’s job to ensure it’s citizens’ rights, not make a profit off their suffering and the denial of one of their basic rights. Universal health care could save lives and ease suffering, physically, financially, and emotionally. It would take away a great financial burden off of each individual as well as the nation and government as a whole by not wasting all the per capita that we currently waste without universal health care. It would even be beneficial to capitalism because people would be more willing to take risks without the fear of having to go medically uninsured (Why The U.S.). By allowing its people to suffer and die, especially just to make a profit that will be needlessly wasted anyway, the U.S. government is committing a great immorality. Are not human lives more important than allowing greedy independent companies make a profit off of their suffering and deaths? As a country that is even willing to go to wars to protect the basic rights of foreign peoples,
Reese, Philip. Public Agenda Foundation. The Health Care Crisis: Containing Costs, Expanding Coverage. New York: McGraw, 2002.
More than one-third of Americans who are between the ages of nineteen and twenty-four are uninsured. This is because most insurance is provided through a person’s job, and entry-level jobs which isn 't available for all young students. In addition, healthcare costs are currently rising faster than inflation, which means that salary increases cannot compensate for the higher prices of health care. Government regulation and a universal system could help keep costs affordable. A universal system would guarantee that everyone could receive health care regardless of preexisting conditions. Consequently, more people would be able to seek preventative services, like checkups, to maintain good health and detect problems early. Too frequently, people avoid taking preventative health measures until something is too late because of how expensive it is. While there 's a debate over how the U.S. should pay for a universal healthcare system, a good idea is to study the ways several other countries have successfully implemented such a system. Europe has a system in which all residents pay into a common fund that creates a pool of money and provides benefits to all. We must figure out a way to effectively adopt a universal healthcare system that provides care to all
As I began watching Reinventing Healthcare-A Fred Friendly Seminar (2008), I thought to myself, “man, things have changed since 2008.” And as the discussion progressed, I started to become irritated by how little had changed. The issues discussed were far-reaching, and the necessity for urgent change was a repeated theme. And yet, eight years later, health care has made changes, but many of its crucial problems still exist.
The U.S. healthcare system is very complex in structure hence it can be appraised with diverse perspectives. From one viewpoint it is described as the most unparalleled health care system in the world, what with the cutting-edge medical technology, the high quality human resources, and the constantly-modernized facilities that are symbolic of the system. This is in addition to the proliferation of innovations aimed at increasing life expectancy and enhancing the quality of life as well as diagnostic and treatment options. At the other extreme are the fair criticisms of the system as being fragmented, inefficient and costly. What are the problems with the U.S. healthcare system? These are the questions this opinion paper tries to propound.
Weijer, C., Skelton, A., & Brennan, S. (2013). Bioethics in Canada. Don Mills, Ontario: Oxford
The US health system has both considerable strengths and notable weaknesses. With a large and well-trained health workforce, access to a wide range of high-quality medical specialists as well as secondary and tertiary institutions, patient outcomes are among the best in the world. But the US also suffers from incomplete coverage of its population, and health expenditure levels per person far exceed all other countries. Poor measures on many objective and subjective indicators of quality and outcomes plague the US health care system. In addition, an unequal distribution of resources across the country and among different population groups results in poor access to care for many citizens. Efforts to provide comprehensive, national health insurance in the United States go back to the Great Depression, and nearly every president since Harry S. Truman has proposed some form of national health insurance.