How To Mend Healthcare
Over the past year or so, one of the hottest topics between politicians and the public of the United States has been the healthcare system and what to do about it. To many, the system of healthcare that is in place now is not functioning well and needs reform. However, healthcare is one of the most complicated issues that has ever been brought before the government. There are so many sides to the issue that solving it will be extremely complicated. The issue involves a very large amount of money and a bill that has swollen to over one thousand pages. With this much money at stake and a bill this complicated, it is no wonder that the issue has been in discussion for so long, and that people have distorted many of the facts about the bill. Although many people are pushing strongly for universal health care provided by the United States government, this proposed solution would not work for this country for a few different but very important reasons.
One of the largest problems of the current healthcare system in the United States is that healthcare from private insurance companies is simply too expensive for people who make low yearly incomes. As one reader states after giving rough estimates about their income and costs of living, “I now have $720 for the whole year to buy food, clothing, and any incidentals. That comes to $60.00 a month. Could you manage on that amount?” (Universal Health Care). This is a valid argument and is certainly something that needs to be fixed so that our healthcare system is better for everyone. Even though the numbers of uninsured people in the United States have been exaggerated by politicians and other rumors, the numbers are still staggering. “About 8.2 million Americans, not 45 million, are chronically uninsured and low-income. And they are the working poor. They have jobs but, because of the high cost of insurance, no coverage” (Gratzer).
To help with the debate and to settle some rumors that have been spread about the proposed bill, CBSNews.com posted an article describing some of the issues of this argument. In this article, the author, Stephanie Condon, addresses 10 common myths of the healthcare reform debate. For each one she tells the issue and explains where it originated from. Then she goes on to cite politicians and agencies to discuss why these stories about the bill are misled. Although all of the issues talked about in the article are significant, some are more important than others. The first of these is the myth that Americans will be able to keep their current plans. Although President Obama assures everyone that they will be able to keep their plans if they like them, this is not entirely true. With the implementation of this bill, plans would have to meet certain requirements set by the government. This would not be fair to the people who already have policies that they like and it would be wrongful for the government to force this upon those people. Another big issue is that of how this healthcare plan will be paid for. The plan is expected to cost around one billion dollars, however Obama has assured the people that it will not add to the federal deficit over the next decade. There is virtually no way to create a plan that will be deficit-neutral for that time period, not to mention after that, and although the lawmakers are looking at ways to cut costs, the fact remains that if the government takes control of the health care system, it will just add that much more to the budget each year. A further issue discussed in the article is whether the American people actually want this or not. In a recent poll, sixty-six percent of those surveyed said that they want a government provided plan. However, House Minority Leader John Boehner makes an excellent argument in saying that “Americans want lower health care costs- not a trillion dollar government takeover of health care that increases costs and lets Washington bureaucrats make decisions that should be made by doctors and patients” (Condon).
With healthcare as such a major issue right now no one really has a perfect solution to the problem at hand. Obviously something has to be done to fix the issues that people are having as of now. However a universal healthcare plan would not be the best course of action for this country. Although that type of system may work well in other countries, such as Cuba, it would be completely impractical for the United States for two major reasons among others. These reasons are the cost of the program and also the backup that it would cause in the healthcare industry. If the government were to run this program it would add a whole other category to the national budget and to the national debt as well. In addition to the monetary issues, if everyone had access to health care, many people would abuse the system and go to the hospital for minor injuries that are not very important. This would cause an overcrowding of already crowded hospitals and it would also prevent doctors from giving care to those patients who have dire need of it. On the other side of the issue, however; the healthcare system in place today is already one of the best in the world even though people complain about it so much. One major indicator of this fact is the average life expectancy of people in this nation: 80 years for women and 75 for men according to the World Health Organization (WHO Data and Statistics). So even though there are some people who complain about it, there is no need to rush and try to fix something that is obviously doing its job. If changes are to be made they need to be thought about for a long time so that the country does not unwillingly fall into an even worse plan than there is now.
With an issue as complicated as the one going on over health care right now, there can be no easy solution that will make everyone happy. Although many people throughout the nation agree that the current healthcare system needs to be revised, if the government rushes into a decision it will likely create a system that will be worse in many ways than it is currently. The legislators of our country will need to work out a great compromise the like of which has not been seen in many years to construct a health care system that will be an actual improvement and will benefit as many people as possible. However, as this is such an important issue, the public needs to know as much as they can about this bill and their choices so that they can make the most out of what will eventually be implemented by the government. Even though a universal healthcare system might not be a good solution for this country, the fact that politicians are considering it is a great confidence booster to the American citizens because it shows them that the government recognizes the problem and is trying to remedy it.
Works Cited
Condon, Stephanie. “10 Health Care Reform Myths – CBS News.” Breaking News Headlines: Business, Entertainment & World News – CBS News. Web. 23 Nov. 2009. <http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/08/05/politics/main5215880.shtml>.
Gratzer, David. “Article | What Health Insurance Crisis?” Manhattan Institute. Web. 24 Nov. 2009. <http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/_latimes-what_health.htm>.
“Universal Health Care, Good Idea or Bad Idea?” Greensboring :: There is no cure for curiosity. Web. 24 Nov. 2009. <http://greensboring.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=7428>.
“WHO | Data and statistics.” Web. 23 Nov. 2009. <http://www.who.int/research/en/>.
I strongly agree! In your paper you have a few different points against healthcare that i didn’t know about. Your paper made me disagree with the healthcare reform even more.
I agree with this paper because its ture to the fact that most insurance companies are way to expensive. Its seems like the companies make it where people with low income are just left out from healthcare. This problem is way to big to be solve in a short period of time but need to fixed faster then what it realy is.
At first your paper was a little bit unclear but once you get past the first paragraph it was good. You clearly stated your opinion and had facts to support them. Parts of your paper seemed to flow very well.
I remember reading your paper and it was really good. Your eassy was clearly stated and your position was supported quite well. Good Job!
Your paper is very good. Your beginning is very clear. I for one agree that something has to be done about this health reform as well.
Almost all of our insurance companies are too expensive and they they make things better by declining a special medical procedure that you absoultely need. I enjoyed reading your paper, but at the begining I was unsure on you opinion untill the first paragraph. Other than that, it was a well thought out paper.
I do agree with your opinion that we need reform, but not in the form of universal care that other nations have established. I was slightly confused as to your stance at first but I believe i grasped it by the end of the paper. Good job.