Preview

Should Governments Provide a Universal Healthcare System?

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1054 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Should Governments Provide a Universal Healthcare System?
Should Governments Provide a Universal Healthcare System?

Universal health care is the provision of medical services by governments that are usually either free or subsidised. Many countries around the world provide this type of service to their citizens including the UK, Canada, Spain and most Nordic countries. The UK’s National Health System, for instance, was founded over 60 years ago with the promise of caring for the British people ‘From Cradle to Grave’ (Adds 1998). Europe has some of the world’s best hospitals and has made great progress in medical research, but the concept of universal healthcare is often debated. It is an important issue to consider because there are many differing opinions about how healthcare can be funded to make it fair, effective and accessible. Many believe that a free healthcare system is unfair and that people should take responsibility for their own wellbeing. However. This essay argues that governments should provide a universal healthcare system by considering two main points: equality and the cost of healthcare, and patient behaviour and preventative healthcare. Findings show that universal healthcare is an equitable and long-term solution.

An initial area of discussion relates to equality and the funding of national healthcare. Many argue that universal healthcare is never free it is funded through taxation. Young (2010) contends, “Providing free healthcare through taxation is unfair to those who are healthy and have little use for medical care”. Another common objection to free healthcare is that many people have enough money to pay for their own medical expenses or to purchase private health insurance “Medical insurance removes the burden of responsibility for healthcare from the government to the individual” (Sam 2003). These arguments; however, fail to consider the true cost of healthcare. Many people, especially those in low-income jobs, or the elderly cannot afford the cost of private insurance.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Best Essays

    The purpose of this paper is to review and discuss the current level of national healthcare expenditures and to determine if we as Americans are spending too much on healthcare. The author of this paper will provide examples and solutions where we as a nation should add or cut from the healthcare expenditures. This paper will also detail how the general public's healthcare needs are being paid for, the biggest economic healthcare challenge, why the challenge should be addressed, and how this challenge to be financed.…

    • 1633 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Bibliography: Champlin, Dell P., and Janet T. Knoedler. "Universal Health Care and the Economics of Responsibility." Journal of Economic Issues 42.4 (2008): 913-38. Print.…

    • 1960 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sick Around the World

    • 281 Words
    • 2 Pages

    If your latest battle with your health insurance has you pounding your head with frustration, “Sick Around the World” on PBS may spur you to more drastic action, like leaving the United States altogether. In this “Frontline”, the Washington Post reporter T. R. Reid travels to five countries Britain, Japan, Germany, Taiwan, and Switzerland that manage to provide some form of universal health coverage to their populations. In each nation, he reports, insurance premiums are significantly lower than those in America (in Britain there are none), and the waiting time to see a doctor is either tolerable (in Britain) or nonexistent.…

    • 281 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    [ 13 ]. Michael D. Tanner “A Hard Lesson about Socialized Medicine” http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=6293 September 23, 1996…

    • 4761 Words
    • 20 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Best Essays

    1. Introduction In 1948, the health Minister, Anuerin Bevan, established the national health service (NHS), which is a free and comprehensive health care service that available to the entire population of the UK. The NHS has enlarged significantly, improved technically and clinically, and changed in many aspects during the past 60 years or so (Lister, 2008). Life expectancy has been rising and infant mortality has been falling since the NHS was established (NHS choices, 2013). In addition, According to the Commonwealth Found (2010), compared with six other developed countries (Australia, Canada, Germany, Netherlands, New Zealand and USA), The NHS was the best healthcare system regarding efficiency, effective care and cost-related problems in comparison with six developed countries.…

    • 3508 Words
    • 15 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    The United States has a unique system of health care delivery. It is unlike any other health care system in the world. Most developed countries have national health insurance programs run by the government and financed through general taxes. Almost all citizens in such countries are entitle to receive health care services. Such is not the case in the United States, where not all Americans are automatically covered by health insurance. (Shi & Singh, 2008)…

    • 532 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Most developed nations have universal health coverage. Why doesn’t the United States have universal health coverage? In that health care issues in the United States have been a hot topic for some years, many involved in the discussion have compared the successes and failures of other developed countries’ healthcare policies as a model to integrate universal health care to into American society (Marrow, 2012). It has been suggested by experts that while the United States may well be in need of an improved health care system, universal healthcare, such as the Canadian or British models currently have, is not necessarily a remarkable fit for American society (Woodlander, et.al., 2003) .…

    • 1358 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The United States has the most expensive health care system in the world and some 45 million Americans are uninsured under the current health care system, and these numbers continue to grow. However with universal health care coverage everyone could enjoy equal access to health care, as a right afforded to them as American citizens. In a country as wealthy as the United States, there is no justifiable reason why Americans should go without health care and/or die needlessly due to lack of health insurance coverage. In this paper I will explore several reasons why our nation is uninsured and how using the utilitarianism approach of a single-payer system will solve this ethical problem within our society. Next I will apply the contrasting view of the ethical egoism perspective regarding health care as right to all citizens in America. Finally I will choose between the utilitarianism and the ethical egoism perspective to revel which of the two is closest to my own views regarding this emotionally charged ethical issue.…

    • 3650 Words
    • 15 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Healthcare in the United States has been a debatable issue and will always be until a fair solution for all economic classes is found. According to Mary S. Koithan (1992) who is the president of the Nevada Nurses Association, “today more than 60 million people, or about 22 percent of the entire U.S. population, are either uninsured or underinsured, this fact alone cries out for health care reform” (para. 1). Looking at these numbers makes you think about how serious this issue really is. Yet, in other countries like Australia, Canada, and United Kingdom healthcare is provided to its’ citizens for free. However, funds to cover the highly costs of healthcare have to come out of somewhere; and all the citizens of that country must pay for it. The United States does not provide healthcare for free, thus making it seem as it is not a right for us but a privilege.…

    • 388 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    It makes me angry that this country could be so wealthy and yet so poor. I am a disabled U.S. Army Veteran and I am one of those Americans without health insurance because of previous existing medical conditions. How sick is that? I feel it is unfair to put a price on a human being. Too many Americans die each year simply because they do not have health insurance. And the reasons for not having health insurance are not the person’s fault but that of the insurance companies who deny claims and insurance policies based on ridiculous reasons. Denying someone health coverage is unethical. It is a crisis we must do something about. I feel very strongly about universal health coverage and feel this paper would be an excellent way to express my thoughts and…

    • 717 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Managing Financial Resource

    • 2385 Words
    • 10 Pages

    The pursuit of equity of access to health care is a central objective of many health care systems. Yet, financial incentives can influence patients because, although the UK system is essentially ‘free at the point of use’, there are charges for specific services including eye tests, dental check-ups, and dispensing of prescription medicines. Charges can act as a deterrent to patients and as a barrier to access. The impact of user charges affects different socio-economic groups in different ways. For some groups, access may not be compromised by a co-payment, while for others the charge may represent a significant deterrent. The impact depends on the size of the co-payment and crucially depends on the patient’s ability to pay (and therefore directly links with equity considerations). The insurance market (and social insurance-based schemes such as the UK) essentially removes most of the financial barriers to access so that patients do not face the full cost of care. This in itself, of course, creates an incentive, where patients may over-consume services. Where this occurs, other patients with more pressing needs may have problems accessing services (waiting times will become longer and patients who require urgent care may be displaced). Furthermore, it is argued that insurance-based systems create a further problem, which is known as ‘moral hazard’, whereby individuals fail to take full responsibility for their own health because they do not face the full costs of any ill health associated with their behaviour (for example, smokers might not smoke if they had to pay the full costs of cancer treatment). Thus, insurance systems take away barriers to access and this may lead to inappropriate utilisation of services, or may lead to excess demand for services and the subsequent problems…

    • 2385 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Pros And Cons Of Obamacare

    • 1384 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Marmor, puts forth a comparison of the healthcare systems of Germany, Canada, England, Japan, and France to the United States. “Each, as distinct from the United States, has created a universal health care program fundamentally based on the idea that medical care is a merit, not a market good. The equal access standard does not, of course, mean ideal practice, but care is more equally distributed as a result” (Marmor p.569). This is now what ObamaCare seeks to do by imposing on the health care system that is seen to be run by private-profit companies, whose bottom line is money and not health. This idea of medical care being a “merit” and having more equally distributed care are two factors entailed in ObamaCare. This is where the elements of democracy - freedom, equality and solidarity once again come into play. Healthcare becoming more equally distributed directly deals with equality which is directly linked to solidarity and the sense of belonging or acceptance as those previously without healthcare are now in the…

    • 1384 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Do people believe the United States should prove free health care to everyone? Some people believe that the United States should provide a health care plan. People believe the health care should be affordable for everyone. That vaccinations should be affordable for everyone to purchase. The United States should provide a right to health care plan.…

    • 756 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    A widely debated topic in current political discussions is the issue of access to basic healthcare. Specifically, Liberal Egalitarians and Libertarians have immensely varying view points on the issue. Healthcare is a moral right. To deny humans access to lifesaving measures and preventative care is inhumane and is an archaic and obsolete way of thinking. The current state of healthcare in the United States solely caters to the wealthy and those who have obscenely expensive private insurance policies.…

    • 2324 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Universal Health Care

    • 419 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In the article, Where in the World Can You Get Universal Health Care?, Park informs the reader about the countries that the governments provide health care to their citizens. Park develops the article by listing the countries and giving general details about them. Park's purpose is to provide information about countries where people can get health care in order to make the reader to consider how universal health care can change our nation in positive ways. By using concise and short sentences, the author is writing to a person who wants to know briefly about countries with health care.…

    • 419 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays