Why We Need Universal Healthcare
According to a 2015 Harvard University study, medical debt is the number one reason people file for bankruptcy in America.(1) Imagine the heavy internal dilemma families must weigh in order to make a decision between paying bills or seeking medical attention for their children or themselves. Over 130 countries on Earth have the right to universal healthcare(2), and out of 37 members of the Organisation for Economic, Co-Operation and Development (OECD), the United States in the only one who does not guarantee or protect healthcare.(3) Yet, the United States, purportedly the greatest nation, can’t get it together to figure out a better way than the one in which 44 million people are an accident away from destroying their lives and livelihood. We need universal healthcare to improve the lives of everyday Americans, bolster the economy, and eliminate the insane pharmaceutical monopolies.
The average American is one unexpected $500 expense away from total financial meltdown.(4) A broken leg without insurance in the US will run you $16,000 if you’re lucky, or as much as $35,000 if you’re less blessed.(5) A ruptured appendix in your young child will run you on average $33,000.(6) These are examples of unpredictable health events that would send most Americans into crippling debt. When you remove these costly barriers to care, citizens can instead focus on work, education, participating in the economy, and so much more.
When your population is healthy and not in debt because of it, it benefits everyone. An individual who has affordable access to medical care is likely to miss fewer working days than their uninsured counterparts. When you are able to work consistently, you earn more and become a more reliable employee. A reliable employee climbs ladders. When you earn more, you have the ability to spend more and invest in the economy. Money is not happiness, but having enough of it means stability, comfort and ease, which are sorely unattainable to millions of Americans.
This unattainable lifestyle is perpetuated by pharmaceutical companies who charge outrageous amount for common medications. Take for example the cost of albuterol, a medicine for asthma, comes in around $50 to $100 dollars which may not seem like much but when you consider it was only $15 dollars a decade ago(7), you have to wonder why in creation the exact same drug would cost more (while wages have stagnated). You can thank “big pharma” and our government. Pfizer, a leader in the pharma industry, grosses 53.7 billion dollars last year.(8) Greed, lackadaisical laws and the lobbyists funded by pharma companies to ensure those laws stay that way or worse in order to keep raking in the dough are the biggest hurdle in adopting a universal healthcare.
There are plenty of countries we can look to for example if we are in need of it; Canada is a great one. In the above video, Dr. Aaron Carroll of YouTube channel Healthcare Triage, explains how misconceptions and myths villainize healthcare in the US. Wait times are not longer, doctors don’t wish they were in the US instead of Canada, and they make about the same salaries still. Universal healthcare, or single-payer as it is also called, is not a dream. We currently use a single payer system for Medicare. That means accessible healthcare is a real, attainable system that we are already familiar with but that we must actively put in place for everyone.
