The United States Government should be able to perfect socialized medicine and provide it to all American citizens regardless of financial stature. There are many reasons for socializing medicine in the United States, and they are, but not limited to: the right to health care, decreasing costs and boosting economic productivity, and last, but not least, lowering the percentage of medically related bankruptcies per year. America is one of a few countries that does not guarantee health care to all its citizens. Socialized medicine has been around a long time and it is about time America steps up and perfects it for every citizen. All Americans should have a right to health care.
There are very many reasons that makes this program almost a must have program. It is true that there are flaws in the existing programs but that should not be the reason for not adopting it. As it has been pointed out, there are very many advantages for finally introducing this program in America. Various studies show that financial benefits for both the government and the individuals are the main reason why this program needs to be adopted. Apart from the aforementioned reasons, there are multiple others that should make the program favorable especially now that we are facing financial difficulties (Derickson 19).
First of all, this program should be put in place sooner rather than later for the very many people who are uninsured. The number of an uninsured Americans has been on the rise for the last few years. Currently, the number stands at a staggering forty five million people. This means that close to fifteen percent of the American population is not insured, although this number also includes the illegal immigrants. With the health care premiums continuing to grow several times the rate of inflation, a sizable number of businesses are not in a position to offer health insurance plans to their workers, and if they do, they tend to pass more costs to the workers. Many of the people who find themselves in this position are choosing to steer clear of the health coverage (Hunnicutt 47).
Lack of business insurance cover has far reaching effects than one would expect. It in some ways affects the economy of the country. For instance, due to the continued health insurance premium growth, people have less money to spend on unnecessary consumer goods. The money that they have is concentrated on the basic needs and health. This translates into less money being pumped back into the economy meaning that there is slow recovery or growth in the long run. A government controlled health care program will help reduce some of this cases and also help in recovery or growth of the economy. This will also make sure that the premiums do no keep on increasing due to the costs incurred by people who are not insured (Kirkwood 14).
Adopting socialized medicine in the United States will help eradicate inefficiencies and waste. Some of the inefficiencies include claim approval, duplicate paper, and insurance submissions. Many are the times when one has been forced to fill out the forms, and answer the exact same questions over and over again. The same applies when it comes to filling out the insurance paperwork. Through all these flaws, our current system only helps in creating an enormous amount of overhead. Imagine a health care system that does not have claim submissions and approvals, checks mailing, patients receiving co-pay bills, and those other formalities that one has to go through every time one visits a doctor. Wastefulness is largely contributed to by the fact that every doctor’s office has to maintain its own record-keeping system (Hunnicutt 78). The adoption of a universal health care program will go a long way in helping us set up one centralized system. With this, it means that we do not have to maintain records in each and every office, which translates to saving time as one does not have to keep submitting claims.
The other advantage that this program will bring is that the medical professionals will be more focused. This is because they do not have to think about insurance procedures but rather will afford the patients all the attention they need. First of all, there will be no more classes for doctors as they do not have to understand everything to do with the numerous insurance plans out there. This means that they can perform any medical test as there are no more restriction in place. Secondly, no doctor will have to conduct defensive medicine for fear of being sued. It will also help eradicate some of the problems that are making some of the physicians to leave their profession. A universal health care system will help the nurses, doctors, and all others in the medical profession to concentrate on what is the best for the patient (Kotlikoff 34).
The other advantage that would make it necessary to adopt this program is that it will enable patients with pre-existing conditions to get access to health care. Currently, the biggest problem that Americans are facing if you have been diagnosed with a chronic disease, is that it will be very hard for one to get affordable health coverage. Numerous individuals have been denied health coverage by some insurance companies due to their medical history. There are others who have been lucky to receive an insurance plan, but on the condition that their past diagnosed medical condition will not be insured. This more often than not, leaves the patient in a dilemma. This is because the patient has to use a lot of funds or they may opt to leave the medical condition unattended. With the adoption of universal health care, this will not be a bother anymore as it will open the doors for everybody to be treated equally. This means that one can even change jobs without fear of losing health insurance (Kotlikoff 50).
Universal medicine will help the patients practice preventive medicine. This is because people will not be afraid to go see a doctor as there are no costs incurred in doing so. This will help the doctor diagnose any problem while it is still light thus reducing any chances of further complications. It is very worrying because currently, a lot of people are not in a position to do so all because of charges. Lack of medical insurance and the high deductibles are the causes for many Americans not practicing preventive medicine, or they forego doctors’ visits. This means that very many health cases that could have been cured or prevented earlier end up being major health cases. If thing as cheap as routine physicals, HIV tests, and mammograms could be available more cheaply than they are right now, it would go a long way in preventing major illnesses (Relman 87). Practicing preventive medicine will not only affect the health of a patient, but will also help in lowering the cost of the system as preventive medicine costs less than a full blown disease. A universal health care system will help in removing the obstacles that hinder patients from visiting medical professionals.
A universal health care system will help develop a centralized country-wide database which will make diagnosis and treatment easier for doctors. The fact that every doctor in America has to maintain a separate record-keeping system causes a lot of delays. This is because one has to fill out lengthy forms whenever they have to pay a visit to a new physician. This procedure may be deemed redundant for numerous reasons. First of all, it is a waste of both money and time. Secondly, in most cases, many of the patients are not able to give the exact history of their previous medical problems, may forget, or they may lie about them. This makes it very hard for doctors to treat the patients as they can only do so if the information provided is accurate. The last challenge posed by this method of record-keeping, is that it makes it very hard and unnecessarily lengthy for the data to be analyzed at the national level. A universal health care system, which would have a centralized database, will help us in analyzing the data previously deemed impossible to analyze (Relman 114). With proper data analysis, we will be able to more efficient diagnosis as well as leading to medical advances. The only shortcoming associated with this is that insurance companies may deny coverage in case of unreported previous medical problems. This however, should not be a cause for concern if the government is solely funding the whole program.
In addition to all the others, universal health care will also benefit individuals. This is because they will be able to start their own businesses or work as part-time employees if the health insurance is taken care of. Health insurance has limited the mobility of working Americans, for they fear losing out on it if they move jobs (Gratzer 14). This immobility can be likened to modern day slavery since people with kids, chronic diseases, or potentially expensive health conditions cannot move easily from their current job. Many people in America would love to experience new challenges in life. Some would love to have more time to spend with their families. Others may opt to do part-time jobs, so as to enhance the chance of furthering their education. A lot of people with great business plans have definitely been put off by the costs of starting a business, and especially if you include the health insurance plans. With the introduction or the adoption of this program, one has a leeway to do this as it provides such opportunities (Relman 127).
Universal health care is a big deal to the United States. This is because it will help us to maintain a much healthier population. This in turn will mean that our economy will grow at a faster rate as people will be able to work for longer ours. Universal health care has been reviled in many political and business circles. However, the benefits far outweigh the disadvantages of adopting the program. America is a great nation and it is surprising that even today not all her citizens can afford health care. It is true to say that the program is not faultless. However, we could learn from mistakes made by other countries in their implementation of universal health care. This would help us improve on what they currently have and come up with a better system.
Works Cited
Derickson, Alan. Health security for all: dreams of universal health care in America. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005. Print.
Gratzer, David. "Where would you rather be sick." The Wall Street Journal 12.1 (2006): 24. Print.
Gladwell, Malcom. "The Moral-Hazard Myth." The New Yoker 25 Aug. 2005: 19. Print.
Hunnicutt, Susan. Universal health care. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2010. Print.
Kirkwood, R. Garth. Socialized health care reform. United States: R. Garth Kirkwood, 2010. Print.
Kotlikoff, Laurence J.. The health care fix: universal insurance for all Americans. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2007. Print.
Relman, Arnold S.. A second opinion: rescuing America's health care : a plan for universal coverage serving patients over profit. New York: PublicAffairs, 2007. Print.
