Healthcare in America

Healthcare in America

Healthcare in America is estimated as being twice as expensive as the cost in any picked developed country like Australia or Canada. Suppose the 3 trillion dollars United States healthcare industry was ranked separately as a country, it would occupy the fifth position in world economy rankings (Boudreau, 2017). The high cost of care in America is attributed to administrative costs, drug costs, defensive medicine, the expensive mix of treatments and many other factors (Gaffney, 2018). Universal health care has been suggested as a financing model that could save the country trillions of US dollars in the American health care sector (Gaffney, 2018). Universal health care system is considered cheaper and ensures that all citizens have access to high quality and affordable medical care. Universal health care plans are offered by the federal governments to all people regardless of their ability to pay. Of all the 33 developed countries globally, the United States is the only country that lacks comprehensive universal health care, and this has been attributed to the astronomical costs of health care and inaccessibility to some sections of the population (Boudreau, 2017). This paper makes a case for why America should adopt a universal health care system.

Thesis

As America goes through another familiar cycle of high health spending and a global pandemic of the coronavirus, the country will again be debating how it can reform the delivery and financing of health care to reduce the skyrocketing costs and improve on access and quality. This argumentative paper takes evidence from developed countries which shows that an effectively implemented universal healthcare system reduces health care spending, improves access to health care and improves equity in health care financing.

The argument for Implementing Universal Health Care System

The cost of healthcare in the United States does not need to be expensive as it is currently. Evidence from the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Australia and Taiwan show that the first vital condition for implementing an effective and comprehensive universal health care system is a collective commitment from all the stakeholders to achieve it (Ghebreyesus, Fore, Birtanov & Jakab, 2018). All of the countries mentioned have decided that health care is something that all citizens should have access to regardless of their economic status and social standing, and that the government should play the most significant role in guaranteeing the same (Gaffney, 2018). Healthcare coverage should not be enough. Governments should strive to ensure that all people get affordable and high-quality medical care. The essence of universal health care coverage, as observed from the Taiwan system, is to ensure that everybody in the country regardless of their geography, age, gender, religion and social status should have the right to access high quality and affordable healthcare (Gaffney, 2018). These aspects of healthcare make it a human right, as defined by the World Health Organization. Most American citizens find it extremely difficult to come to terms with the idea of social justice. At the same time, some 35 million people, a majority of whom are employed or depend on someone who is employed lack basic health insurance coverage, which means they lack access to primary healthcare (Ghebreyesus, Fore, Birtanov & Jakab, 2018). Evidence from the developed countries which have developed different forms of universal health care systems shows that it helps in reducing the healthcare costs advances accessibility and makes financing more equitable with the vibrant and healthy people also paying their share.

Lowers Health Care Costs for the Economy

In 2019, America spent more than 3.5 trillion dollars in healthcare (Crowley et al., 2020). The average cost of healthcare per American is 11,000 US dollars (Crowley et al., 2020). As it stands, the country spends 18 percent of its gross domestic product on healthcare up from 5 percent in 1960 (Crowley et al., 2020). By 2027, it has been projected by the Centres for Medicaid and Medicaid Services that the cost of health care will skyrocket to 6 trillion US dollars and will constitute just about 19 percent of the GDP (Crowley et al., 2020).

Why is this a problem? High spending in healthcare is not necessarily a bad thing, especially if the outcomes are better health. However, this is not the case in America. When looking at the health metrics, America is still lagging behind other developed nations despite these astronomical figures in healthcare spending. For the American federal government, the best strategy to bring down the high costs of healthcare is to implement a single-payer system of universal health care coverage. The government is directly in control of the prices through regulation and negotiation, which makes the cost of healthcare come down significantly. With universal healthcare coverage, the governments will be dealing with lesser administrative costs which means the overall cost of healthcare is brought down considerably.

Physicians and Health Care Organizations are forced to provide the same standard of care at low costs.

Access to quality medical care should not be determined by an individual’s ability to pay or social status. The WHO recommends that access to high quality care should only be determined by a person’s need and not their ability to afford the high-cost medical services (Salisbury, 2016). The universal health care coverage promotes equity. Affordable and quality care is provided to all citizens, whether they fall within the employment bracket or not. Access to healthcare is also made to be free at the point of service, which makes the whole thing even better, especially for older people who are not capable of working and getting private insurance. People who need medical treatment should not be overwhelmed by the financial pressures on top of their health concerns. People should not be resigned to poor health because they are weak or unemployed. The universal health coverage plan seals all these loopholes. In a country of great wealth and economic growth, universal healthcare coverage should be considered a debt yet to be paid. All Americans will benefit significantly from the financial shields universal healthcare coverage will offer.

Reducing administrative costs by eliminating the need of citizens to deal with private insurance

Private insurance is not only expensive to patients but also healthcare providers. The billions of dollars spent each year in administrative costs associated with private insurance is nearly unbelievable. Universal health care coverage comes with the benefit of lowering administrative costs as the physicians and healthcare organizations only have to deal with a single government agency. Any person who interacts with the American health care system is likely to come across instances of unnecessary administrative complexity- from filling out duplicative intake forms to transferring medical information between different providers to sorting out numerous insurance bills.

The administrative complexity comes with sky-high costs which is most times cited as one of the primary reasons why America nearly spends twice the amount per capita on health care compared with other developed countries. Annually, healthcare providers and payers in America spend almost 500 billion US dollars on billing and costs related to insurance (Boudreau, 2017). As the costs of healthcare continue to increase, the most logical point of reference should be the potential savings likely to be made when such wastages are curbed. One way to reduce these wastages is by adopting a universal coverage system where providers only have to deal with one government agency instead of the multiple providers.

The country’s workforce is likely to be healthier and more productive.

The growth of the economy is vital for America. To achieve economic growth, the working population must be healthy and productive. Universal health care coverage guarantees a healthier and more productive society. Studies have indicated that preventive care minimizes the need for expensive usage of emergency departments (Ghebreyesus, Fore, Birtanov & Jakab, 2018). Without access to proper preventive care, more than 45 percent of emergency department patients went because they did not have any other place to go (Ghebreyesus, Fore, Birtanov & Jakab, 2018). As a result, they use the emergency department as their primary care physicians. Such super increased emergency department visits cause a vast health care inequality which is translated into the increasing costs of medical care.

Once universal health coverage has been entrenched in the country, health-related barriers to productivity and education will be significantly brought down and allow more Americans to become economically active (Salisbury, 2016). With universal health care coverage comes a greater emphasis on preventive healthcare which implies that the workforce will live for longer and become more productive (Salisbury, 2016). A healthy and productive workforce is a vital element of sustainable economic growth and development, and it has been demonstrated that investment in universal healthcare gives considerable financial returns that go beyond the cost of implementing it.

Conclusion

Opponents of universal health care system have always cited the fact that healthy people will be forced to pay for other people’s medical care cost. Countless studies have shown that despite the fewer limitations that the universal system could be having, it presents the best opportunity for the country to address the ills of its health care system. With the increasing costs of health care each year, adopting global experience can be vital and instructive in constructing a better health care system where Americans find it more comfortable, more affordable and cheaper to access the highest quality of care. Perhaps the United States can borrow models being used in Canada, Australia or the United Kingdom to come up with a better universal health care system where everyone is adequately protected. The focus should be to reduce the sky rocking costs of healthcare in the country, improve affordability and work on making preventative care easily achievable, especially for the American workforce.