Introduction
That the inadequate healthcare system needs a significant an immediate overhaul is undeniable. Health care professionals understand the problems associated with the failing system more so than anyone and are the first to voice their concerns. Americans of all political ideologies agree too many individuals and families are uninsured or underinsured and that health care costs are higher than necessary but Republican and Democratic lawmakers disagree on the solution. The country faces many difficult problems today. Healthcare is one of the most pressing and is certainly the issue making the most headlines lately and most likely will for months to come.
Background
Harry Truman (D) was the first President to try for universal health care back in the 1940’s. Republicans at that time claimed it would lead the U.S. on a slippery slope to socialism. Lyndon Johnson (D) tried again in the 1960’s and was able to provide care for senior citizens in the form of Medicare. Few Republicans supported even that but today would never suggest Medicare be abandoned as it would be political suicide. Bill Clinton (D), more specifically Hillary, tried yet again in the 1990’s but yet again the legislation was swiftly snuffed out by Republicans. Now, President Obama (D) is making another attempt at universal health care. The Democratic leadership in Congress is now trying to fashion a bill that would attract the voted needed for passage. The ‘public option’ now hotly debated nationally is actually a compromise for what most Democrats actually favor, a ‘single payer’ system, otherwise referred to as universal health care, a more efficient system that covers everyone, essentially emulating a similar approach employed by Britain, Canada, Cuba, Brazil, Russia, Japan, western European countries and many other nations.
How Does the U.S. Rate?
Most Americans identify the health care crisis is one of the main concerns facing the nation as evidenced by the amount of rhetoric allocated to this issue in the current presidential debates, at least on the Democratic side. The majority of Americans concurs with the majority of the world’s population in that a society has the responsibility to care for its sick and injured without regardless of their financial status. That more than 45 million Americans do not have health insurance is widely acknowledged but those who are insured often cannot afford the medical care they require. (Presse, 2007). According to the latest polling more than three-quarters of Americans want the public option, the watered down version of universal health care, the system that is offered the bulk of the ‘civilized’ world. (Stein, 2009)
Opposition View
Republicans are rightfully concerned that a multi-trillion dollar program would have a negative effect on the National Debt. The country just recently spent whose knows how many billions or trillions bailing out the financial industry and hundreds of billion on a stimulus package. Prior to all this spending the country was already experiencing a crippling debt. If the National Debt is allowed to continue on its path of projected growth, deficits will eventually result in the lower standards of living caused by a sustained stagnation of the economy. Citizens will also be deprived of various government programs such as those targeted at the economically disadvantaged – a state many more people will experience if the current trend is not reversed. Other government funded interests such as education, military and infrastructure will suffer greatly as well.
The Costs of Health Care
In September of 2006, in a report by the Kaiser Family Foundation, it was shown Americans paid an average of $11,500 for family health care benefits through their employer (Leonhardt, 2006). This is a 7.7 percent rise from the previous year. Benefit cost have doubled since 1999 but wages and corporation revenues, which heavily subsidize insurance, have risen only fractionally. The term spiraling and healthcare costs have become conjoined in common language usage and this is creating an economic crisis for both employers and employees. (Sappenfield, 2002) According to David Leonhardt (2006), the average person spent just under $100 a year for health care benefits or the equivalent of $500 in today’s dollars in 1950. In 2005, the average person spent close to $6,000.
Costs in Perspective
Medical bills were of little concern to families in the 1950’s but the medical technology seems archaic by today’s standards. Half a century ago, a person’s lifespan was approximately 68 where today, it is a decade longer. Those in their 40’s today can reasonably expect to see their 80th birthday. Most, presumably, would prefer to spend more money to live longer which is what has happened. From this perspective, healthcare could be considered a good return on an investment. The benefits and costs of healthcare are not unrelated yet many do not understand why they have to pay more than they did equivalent to the 1950’s or even to 1999. People generally consider healthcare costs to be a commodity in the same way they think of electricity or gasoline where price has little bearing on the quality of the product.
Universal Health Care Works Elsewhere
The vastly contrasting societies of the U.S., Cuba and Japan were compared by the study to illustrate this finding. The gross domestic product (GDP) was balanced against the average life span in each country which proved higher incomes did not necessarily equate to healthier citizens. The GDP (per person) in the U.S. is $34,000 while the life-span averages about 77 years. Cuba’s GDP is $5200 but the life expectancy is the same. The Japanese GDP is $25,000 and the life expectancy, the highest in the world, is better than 81 years (Bhattacharya, 2004). Social status, which is not automatically dependent upon financial status, determines the level of happiness and self-worth which translates into improved health outcomes. (Bhattacharya, 2004).
Conclusion
Currently, the U.S. is the only industrialized, ‘civilized’ country that allows its citizens to be refused health care due to their inability to pay. This embarrassing circumstance would be eliminated by implementing universal health care and the government would save hundreds of billions every year. Other than insurance and pharmaceutical companies, all would benefit from health care reform. Individuals would profit both financially and medically and government on the state and federal level could divert the monies spent now on the broken health care system to social programs that would further benefit society as a whole. Patients would not be forced to choose from a list of doctors unlike the current system and would not have to rely on a bean-counting to decide to what extent or if their condition will be covered by insurance. We need health care reform, to continue the status quo would be to cause much more human misery and cost overruns. Neither scenario is acceptable or should be tolerated yet again.
Works Cited
Bhattacharya, Shaoni “Higher status leads to a longer life.” New Scientist. (2004). Web.
Leonhardt, David. “The Choice: A Longer Life or More Stuff.” New York Times. (2006)
Presse, Agence France. “U.S. Health System Ranks Last Compared to Other Countries” (2007). Web.
Sappenfield, Mark. “More states flirt with universal healthcare” The Christian Science Monitor (2002).
Stein, Sam “77 Percent Support ‘Choice’ Of Public Option” Huffington Post (2009).