Universal Healthcare

Universal Health Care
Many would argue that here in the United States, we have the best healthcare in the world. People from all over the world come to the U.S to use the most up to date medical resources. Is the reputation that the U.S holds warranted, and if so, what is the cost? The average annual cost per U.S resident is $7,681.These costs rank us among the highest of industrialized nations (Lundy 2010). According to the National Scorecard on U.S Health System Performance (2008), the U.S compared to nineteen other industrial nations, came in last in in preventable mortality. High quality and less expensive healthcare can be achieved with universal health care.

A universal healthcare system would not only provide healthcare for all, it would also help decrease our healthcare spending and better health issues among Americans. The U.S is the only industrialized nation that does not have universal healthcare (Hohman, 2006). The following are a dew countries that view healthcare as a right; France, the United Kingdom, and Canada. Each of these countries have healthcare guaranteed for each and every citizen. They have different ways of providing that right, but have the same results.

A National Health Service is used by the United Kingdom. It is owned and controlled by the government, and most practitioners are also employees of the government. Taxes cover 80% of the cost and the rest is paid by employee and employer contributions. The citizens of the United Kingdom don't have to pay for visits to their physician or hospital stays. They can also choose which provider they want to visit. I a recent pole, 79% of United Kingdom citizens "agreed that the NHS provided them with good service"(Health Science Journal, 2009)

France's healthcare system is viewed by many as ideal. This was validated when the World Health Organization ranked it number one in overall healthcare (WHO, 2000). Their way of covering the cost is a multi-payer system which has both citizen...