One Industrialized Nation Without Universal Health Care
The United States is the ONLY industrialized nation that does not provide health care for its citizens. For over one hundred years the American health care platform is one designed to line the pockets of its shareholders and for-profit organizations.
The history of health care in the US started in the late 19th century in response to the steelworkers. Steel mill jobs were on the rise across the US as were workplace accidents and illnesses. Unions formed to benefit the workers and demanded health coverage in the form of accident and sickness plans. “As a candidate with the Progressive Party in 1912, Theodore Roosevelt campaigned for national health insurance (NHI), and there seemed to be a movement toward a national plan for the next several years” (Geymen 6). Throughout the years, medical costs have continued to rise and the American Medical Association (AMA) was in direct opposition to most medical plans proposed as well as most physicians. It was not until the 1970s that Medicare and HMO were brought about after Kennedy and Nixon worked together toward health care for US citizens. Kennedy did back out of the collaboration and the Watergate Scandal caused all talks and work to cease. The US would continue forth with private sector insurance and continue with this today.
In 2010 the Affordable Care Act (ACA) narrowly passed the House with a vote of 219 to 212. The ACA has brought about significant change to health care coverage including dropping the numbers of those uninsured to nearly half of those previously uninsured. What ACA did not solve is the lack of regulation of insurance companies raising premium costs as much as fifty percent more than previous years. “In 2016, healthcare spending in the United States reached $3.3 trillion dollars, which amounts to $10,348 per person and 17.9% of the United States’ Gross Domestic Product (GDP)” (Khan 81) which is “about one-fifth of its economy on healthcare” (Khan 82). Upon closer inspection of these monies, one can ask themselves where these monies actually go.
Private health insurance companies such as Cigna, Aetna, Humana, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and United Health have seen increases in their individual profits. Physicians on average see better profits in the United States than other countries. Fortune 500 pharmaceutical companies also are not hurting in their profit shares. Corporations have seen raises in profits dating back to the 1970s. More health companies such as hospitals, nursing homes, hospice providers, and home care facilities are for-profit and corporations profits are soaring while citizens are failing in health.
After President Trump took office his first agenda was to repeal ACA however, Republicans could not find a suitable replacement for ACA. President Trump does support insurance companies and their new solve of rising health care costs by the implementation of “market-driven solutions, such as high deductible plans and associated health savings accounts” (Boerner 56). Utilization of these high deductible plans cause users to only seek medical attention in catastrophic type situations and hospitals are seeing fewer visits than years past. Personal medical bankruptcy is on the rise in America following unplanned illnesses and accidents. Universal health care started in some countries as far back as 1883. Below is a list of several countries with universal health coverage for its citizens.
A single-payer system is one in which the government pays for citizens health care costs with the exception of co-pays or a form of deductible and/or tax covered by the insured person. A two-tier system is one in which the government pays for high deductible, catastrophic, or basic coverage and a private policy can be purchased by the insured to stack their coverage. Insurance Mandate is a system in which the government mandates its citizens to purchase health insurance coverage for themselves and the market place has regulations that must be followed by insurance companies whether private, public, or non for-profit.
https://truecostblog.com/2009/08/09/countries-with-universal-healthcare-by-date/
Why would the United States allow another country to gain an edge over the protection and care it provides for its citizens? Universal health care is proven to improve health care costs, personal health, stop medical bankruptcies, cause a boost to the economy, stop fraudulent and unnecessary services, and should fall under basic human rights according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Many American citizens harbor an unfounded fear of a socialistic health care including fear of long wait times for procedures, rationing or limits on choices, quality of health care, and less freedom in health care. All of these concerns are myths or simply ways in which we as citizens have been shown fear tactics to keep our feet planted firmly where they are today. As consumers, we continue to line the pockets of stakeholders in large corporations all while not taking care of our citizens properly. Not one person in this great country should have to decide if they can afford a life-saving procedure due to cost. Not every citizen has equal access to health care and all citizens should have access to a form of basic health care without bankruptcy or financial hardship.
There have been many proposals in regard to universal health care. Roberta Casper Watson is a lawyer that gives a health care reform proposal based on her “more than 40 years as an ERISA lawyer, most of which has been heavily involved with health plans” (9). Watson’s proposal is basic health care coverage for all insured and “the core of the program is a bare-bones basic government option that would be guaranteed to everyone, funded by a payroll tax on employers and individuals” (9). As with the current ACA health care platform, “basic universal coverage” starts with mandated preventative care such as “birth control, prenatal care and well-baby care, and various screening tests” (10). Watson also suggests a form of “public health clinic” in which the primary caregivers and staffing would be “new medical graduates who would have received a heavily subsidized medical education and would have a five-year obligation to serve residencies in the clinics” (11). A proposal of health care for all would also allow for private health care options in which an individual could essentially buy up or stack their insurance policies for a supplementation of insurance coverage. By stacking insurance plans a consumer would have broader insurance coverage for medical events, surgeries, and health care services not covered under a basic insurance plan.
Ideally lining the pockets of large corporations in regard to health care can be regulated to allow for gains for shareholders as well as the insured. Attention can be given to mortality rates in the US, unnecessary and inappropriate treatments, and preventable deaths. “The ACA has not made health care more affordable for much of the population, has not contained prices or costs, will never bring universal access to care, and is unsustainable in the long run” (Geyman 22). Physicians, shareholders, CEOs, and the insured should all come to an agreement concerning health care and realize the current health care platform is in crisis and has been for over 100 years. America is a country with huge advancements, wealth in abundance, technology advancements that surpass many other countries and the same should be said for its health care for its citizens.
Works Cited
Boerner, Heather. “For Single-Payer Plan, Winds May Be Shifting.” Physician Leadership Journal, vol. 5, no. 3, May/June 2018, pp. 54–57. EBSCO, http://union.discover.flvc.org/permalink.jsp?37129151395. Accessed 4 Nov. 2018
Fox, Ashley, Roland Poirier. “How Single-payer Stacks Up: Evaluating Different Models of Universal Health Coverage on Cost, Access, and Quality.” International Journal of Health Services, vol. 48, no. 3, Jul. 2018, pp. 568–585. Sagepub, http://union.discover.flvc.org/permalink.jsp?37130724214. Accessed 4 Nov. 2018.
Geyman, John. “Crisis in U.S. Health Care: Corporate Power Still Blocks Reform.” International Journal of Health Services, vol. 48, no. 1, Jan. 2018, pp. 5–27. Sagepub, http://union.discover.flvc.org/permalink.jsp?37126797413. Accessed 7 Nov.2018.
Khan, Ali S. “Witch Doctors, Zombies, and Oracles: Rethinking Health In America.” Health Matrix: Journal of Law-Medicine, vol. 28, no. 1, 2018, pp. 79–93. EBSCO, http://union.discover.flvc.org/permalink.jsp?37129525669. Accessed 7 Nov. 2018.
Watson, Roberta Casper. “Health Care Reform Proposal.” Journal of Pension Benefits: Issues in Administration, vol. 25, no. 3, Spring 2018, pp. 9–13. EBSCO, http://union.discover.flvc.org/permalink.jsp?37128683344. Accessed 5 Nov. 2018.