Introduction
It is important to note that healthcare is an integral part of social wellbeing, which has implications not only on public health but also on the economy, taxation, and governmental involvement. The recent outbreak of COVID-19 and the global pandemic revealed the criticality and vulnerabilities of healthcare infrastructures across the world. ‘Medicare for All’ should become an option for American healthcare in 2022 and beyond because it will eliminate healthcare access inequality, incentivize public health improvement, and make the U.S. more responsive to major health threats.
Medicare for All
Firstly, healthcare inequality is one of the most problematic aspects of wealth inequality brought by capitalism, where middle-class size is shrinking, homelessness is rampant, bankruptcies are prevalent, and the wealthy become even more so. In regards to the upper and lower classes, it is stated that “the gap between the two classes regarding availing health facilities may widen further. This is because the government may focus more on the health of elites than common masses” (Bhattacharya et al., 2019, p. 3779). In other words, it is becoming more difficult for regular people to obtain proper healthcare. Since healthcare in the United States is highly financialized and is dependent on individual monetary input, the financial pressure on Americans is immense. A survey found that “in the first half of 2020, 43.4 percent of U.S. adults ages 19 to 64 were inadequately insured” (Collins et al., 2020, para. 4). Therefore, only around a half of the total population is fully covered, while the other half is still at risk of unexpected needs for medical services, which might not be affordable to them.
The inaccessibility of healthcare in the United States is a pervasive problem that affects people not only in a time of need but also throughout their lives. It is reported that “people who reported problems paying medical bills experienced lingering financial problems including damage to their credit ratings and depleted savings” (Collins et al., 2020, para. 8). In other words, most Americans are either uninsured, underinsured, or financially diminished by the current healthcare system. Governmental programs, such as Medicare or Medicaid, only cover the most vulnerable minorities, such as the elderly or people living in poverty. However, there is a great number of individuals who do not fall under these categories but are still financially impaired by financialized healthcare.
Secondly, ‘Medicare for All’ will incentivize public health improvement. Under the current system, individual health is taken care of by each individual, and there is an incentive to do so, but it is limited to this person. There is only so much an individual can do to protect and take care of his or her health, where social and corporate forces might be counteracting the effort. However, providing universal healthcare will make public health a public responsibility rather than an individual one. Many nationwide public health risks will be better understood and fought against since this will be one unified system. For example, if it is revealed that some corporate entities are harming public health through their unhealthy products, the universal healthcare system might be able to identify the risk factor and prevent its damaging effect.
Another more specific example might be given about sugary drinks, which can contribute to the development of diabetes and cardiovascular issues. A financialized healthcare system benefits from public health issues because it is incentivized by profit rather than public wellbeing. Therefore, preventative actions are not prioritized, but instead, the focus is put on a symptom or disease treatment. Making healthcare a public good will no longer provide an incentive for profit-driven healthcare institutions to only focus on treatment because these will be publicly funded and managed. Since taxpayers will require some accountability in regard to their resources from universal healthcare managers, the emphasis will be put on prevention since the latter is cheaper than treating an already developed disease.
Thirdly, universal healthcare will make the U.S. more responsive to major health threats. COVID-19 is one of the many warning signals about the potential risks carried by diseases, especially viral ones. It is possible that such health dangers might reemerge in other forms and threaten the nation once again. Having a dispersed and non-unified healthcare system makes the response to the threat slow and gradual. However, the universal healthcare system will be unified and responsive to such threats. For example, South Korea was able to quickly contain COVID-19 at a much higher rate than the U.S. because it has a universal healthcare system (Choi, 2020). Therefore, it is possible to build such a system to be able to respond to public health threats with swiftness and effectiveness. Another major healthcare issue is cardiovascular issues, which could also be counteracted through ‘Medicare for All’ because it will be in the institution’s best interest to identify the key factors, which could include some entities from the food industry consolidating with the healthcare industry at the current moment.
Conclusion
In conclusion, universal healthcare will eliminate healthcare access inequality, incentivize public health improvement, and make the U.S. more responsive to major health threats. Thus, ‘Medicare for All’ should become an option for American healthcare in 2022 and beyond. The recent COVID-19 outbreak highlighted the current vulnerabilities, and they can be overcome through the proposed framework, where incentives and approaches will be properly aligned with the public’s wellbeing rather than financial gain.
References
Bhattacharya, S., Pradhan, K. B., Singh, A., Semwal, J., Srivastava, A. K., & Hossain, M. (2019). Inequality and the future of healthcare. Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care, 8(12), 3779-3782. Web.
Choi, J. Y. (2020). COVID-19 in South Korea.Postgraduate Medical Journal, 96(1137), 399–402. Web.
Collins, S. R., Gunja, M. Z., & Aboulafia, G. N. (2020, August 19). U.S. health insurance coverage in 2020: A looming crisis in affordability. The Commonwealth Fund. Web.