Argument Against Universal Health Care in the Us
Jacob Nieuwenhuis
Contemporary Issues
MSR
10 March 2010
Universal Health Care in the United States
“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep. His cupidity may at some time point be satisfied; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.”
–C.S. Lewis (1898 – 1963)
The issue of universal health care taking over the present health care system has become a heated topic all over America. With President Obama’s promise to pass a bill that will give government coverage to all Americans, most people were happy that health care would become more affordable for them. But is this the case? There has been a stiff opposition to the passing of any bill of this kind throughout the entire process, but the longer a bill stays in circulation the more time people have to form an opinion on the issue. With the law in effect now the issue now turns to if this will be better off for America in the long run, and if there is any good to such a system. History has a lot to say about socialized medicine. There have been many countries, not only socialistic countries which have used a public method of offering medicine. A few of these countries are Great Britain, Canada, France, Australia, and also the European system. These systems will be analyzed from their roots up in order to see whether they were successes or failures.
The National Health Service (NHS) of Great Britain, which was created on July 5, 1948, is the world’s largest publicly funded health service ever. As can be seen on the diagram, the NHS is divided into two sections: primary and secondary care. Primary care is the first point of contact for most people and is delivered by a wide range of independent service providers, including
Contemporary Issues
MSR
10 March 2010
Universal Health Care in the United States
“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep. His cupidity may at some time point be satisfied; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.”
–C.S. Lewis (1898 – 1963)
The issue of universal health care taking over the present health care system has become a heated topic all over America. With President Obama’s promise to pass a bill that will give government coverage to all Americans, most people were happy that health care would become more affordable for them. But is this the case? There has been a stiff opposition to the passing of any bill of this kind throughout the entire process, but the longer a bill stays in circulation the more time people have to form an opinion on the issue. With the law in effect now the issue now turns to if this will be better off for America in the long run, and if there is any good to such a system. History has a lot to say about socialized medicine. There have been many countries, not only socialistic countries which have used a public method of offering medicine. A few of these countries are Great Britain, Canada, France, Australia, and also the European system. These systems will be analyzed from their roots up in order to see whether they were successes or failures.
The National Health Service (NHS) of Great Britain, which was created on July 5, 1948, is the world’s largest publicly funded health service ever. As can be seen on the diagram, the NHS is divided into two sections: primary and secondary care. Primary care is the first point of contact for most people and is delivered by a wide range of independent service providers, including
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