Basic Health Care Should Be Free for All Americans

Basic Health Care Should Be Free for All Americans

Bauchner, Howard. “Health Care in the United States: A Right or a Privilege. JAMA Network, vol 317, no. 1, 2017, pp.  29. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2595503

Bauchner argues that the Affordable Health Care Act has done more for Americans and thus needs to be modified to accommodate more people. Also, there are many uncertainties of how health care will evolve in America. Health care should not be free, but legal acts can help in providing affordable health services.

Blumberg, Yoni. “70% of Americans now support Medicare-for-all—here’s how single-payer could affect you.” CNBC, 2018. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/28/most-americans-now-support-medicare-for-all-and-free-college-tuition.html. Accessed April 12, 2020.

With many Americans in support of a universal health plan, some critics argue that it would increase taxes and give the government too much power and control over health care. It is better to have an insurance system than free medical care.

Case, Ann & Deaton, Angus. “How Healthcare Costs Hurt American Workers and Benefit the Wealthy.” TIME magazine, 2020. https://time.com/5785945/health-care-problems-america/. Accessed April 12, 2020.

The pharmaceutical industry benefits from the health care plan that currently exists. Physicians are the single profession in the 1% of wealthy Americans, operating a private business that gives them a lot of money. Insurance companies benefit from the system. Such a system makes it hard to change to a universal health care system that will benefit the citizens.

DPE. “The U.S. Health Care System: An International Perspective.” DPE, 2016, https://www.dpeaflcio.org/factsheets/the-us-health-care-system-an-international-perspective Accessed April 12, 2020.

The cost of new technologies and drugs and chronic diseases such as obesity has made the cost of health services go up. Also, health care administrative costs have made health care expensive. This makes it hard, if not impossible, to implement free basic health care.

Gaffney, Adam. “America’s extreme neoliberal healthcare system is putting the country at risk.” The Guardian, 2020. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/mar/21/medicare-for-all-coronavirus-covid-19-single-payer. Accessed April 12, 2020.

Coronavirus has shown weaknesses in the health care of different countries. According to Joe Bidden, universal health care did not protect Italy from the outbreak, and there needs to be better ways for the provision of health care other than Medicare for all.

Interlandi, Jeneen. “Why doesn’t the United States have Universal Health Care? The Answer has Everything to do with race.” New York Times Magazine, 2019. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/universal-health-care-racism.html, Accessed April 12, 2020.

Looking back at American history, Interlandi sees it impossible to provide basic health care for free, and the main reason is race. Racial health disparities have made it impossible to provide free basic health care, and federal policies can not eradicate racial disparities.

Johnson, Ross. “Report: Public health funding falls despite increasing threats.” Modern Health Care, 2019. https://www.modernhealthcare.com/government/report-public-health-funding-falls-despite-increasing-threats. Accessed April 12, 2020.

Over the years, the government has been reducing the public health budget impending the ability of public health centers to offer services and prevent risks in time. This makes it impossible for universal health care in America.

Merelli, Annalisa. “A history of why the US is the only rich country without universal health care.” Quartz, 2017, https://qz.com/1022831/why-doesnt-the-united-states-have-universal-health-care/. Accessed April 12, 2020.

The health care system has a market worth $ 3 trillion. This gives the drug firms, health technology companies, and medical providers a reason to maintain the system they benefit from rather than having free basic health care where they have to negotiate with the government.

Obama, Barrack. “United States Health Care Reform: Progress to Date and Next Steps.” JAMA Network, vol. 316, no. 5, 2016, pp. 525-532. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2533698

The former president that the best affordable way to quality health care is by Americans having medical insurance. The nonelderly adults unable to afford the insurance decreased after the Obama care act. Obama claims that insurance is the best way to go with health care, for both basic and severe cases.

Sanders, Bernie. “Health Care Is a Right, Not a Privilege.” HuffPost, 2017. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/health-care-is-a-right-no_b_212770. Accessed April 12, 2020.

According to Senator Sanders, an average American spends $7, 900 per year on health care, twice as much per every American individual as any other country. With such high costs, to provide quality health care will involve doing away with health insurance and use a public-funded Medicare that is single-payer. The problem is politicians changing the act.