United States Healthcare free essay sample

The big question is should we change our healthcare as we know it today. The United States is proposing a universal healthcare system to help alleviate people who don’t have medical care and the cost of medical today. Do we really want a government who can’t seem to run the offices they have now running our universal healthcare system? What makes the United States think that they can do a good job at running Universal Healthcare, when other countries can’t seem to get it right either? Maybe we need to look into other ways to better our healthcare system before we dive into Universal Healthcare ran by the government. One of the disadvantages to Universal Healthcare in the United States is that the United States government will be running the healthcare system. The United States government is currently having trouble running their offices. How is the government going to be able to run universal healthcare, if they are having trouble running other government run systems? Currently, there are two systems run by the government that are on the verge of going bankrupt today, Medicare/Medicaid and Social Security (TW). Can you think of any government office that  runs efficiently? There isnt one  government office that can run United Healthcare more efficiently than the private entities do. (Messerli). The proposal that the government currently has for Universal Healthcare shows the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) running the Universal Healthcare system (Messerli). Do we really want the IRS to run the healthcare system? The government wants to give the IRS the authority to determine who needs medical care and who don’t. As an individual or family you would need to indicate on your tax return whether or not you have acceptable insurance. You would be required to submit a form similar to your W-4 to prove that you have acceptable insurance. If you do not submit this form the IRS has the ability to fine  you. They will also be the ones to determine how much you have to pay for your insurance  (York). This is just another way our government can control us and take more of our money. Our rights are being taken away little by little, until one day we wont have any more rights. Our government cant’ handle running social programs like universal healthcare (TW). One of the issues is how Universal Healthcare will be funded. The money has to come from somewhere. The money to pay for a system this large is most likely going to be coming from our taxes. The government will either raise taxes or do some cutting elsewhere. The unfortunate thing is how much more in debt is our government going to become. Are we going to go bankrupt as a nation? (Messerli). Instead of increasing our government spending, maybe we need to focus on the issues of poor health in the United States. We need to realize that we are all responsible for our own health. Quite a number of our healthcare problems are self inflicted. Some of the leading causes of death are self inflicted, such as obesity, heart disease, stroke, cancer, and diabetes. Most of these are preventable through exercising, diet, not smoking or drinking, and living a healthy life. We need to look at many aspects before diving into a government controlled healthcare reform (Mackey). Another issue is how much flexibility are we going to have under this system? At first you might think universal healthcare will increase your flexibility. In all actuality some controls are going to have to be put in place in order to curtail cost. You are not going to be able to choose any doctor you want to. Surgeries like breast implant, hair restoration, and Lasik eye surgery won’t be allowed. It’s all going to come down to political issues. Whenever you have the government controlling something politics come into play. Every medical procedure is going to turn into a battle between one party and another. In the end it will control and limit patient options (Messerli). How much is the government going to step in? Are we going to be able to make any decisions ourselves? Will the government not treat people, because maybe they feel they are not worth saving, or that they don’t have as long of a life expectancy as someone else. The government will determine when people can see their doctors. There will be rules put into place as to when doctors will be able to give expensive tests or certain medications. The government’s involvement is only going to make things worse. It will lead to poor patient care as well as a decrease in doctor flexibility (Messerli). Before diving into government run healthcare we need to determine if there are other things we can do with our current healthcare system. What can we do to save the system we have now? One idea is by having an HSA (Health Savings Account). HSA’s help lower you medical care costs. You put money into an account before taxes. Another way is to have a higher deductible. You wouldn’t be paying so much for insurance (Mackey). Another way to help our system now is to enact a Medicare reform. Currently Medicare is heading toward bankruptcy. We need to have a reform that will create patient choices as well as responsibility. You need to fix the systems we currently have before implementing another system. Who’s to say that system won’t have problems in the future, and then where will we be? We also need to do something about how much money these doctors pay out for malpractice insurance. If we do something to stop the costs doctors pay out for their overhead, then they wouldn’t charge us so much. This country is lawsuit happy and at the drop of a hat we cry lawsuit. Ending lawsuits that are not necessary will help lower the cost of healthcare. Maybe we need to change some the IRS benefits for health insurance. Currently employer health insurance benefits are fully tax deductible, but individual health insurance isnt. Everyone should have the same tax benefits. The government needs to make things fair for everyone, not just one person. We can also repeal the laws that prevent insurance companies from competing across state lines. We should have the right to purchase health insurance from any company no matter where we live (Mackey). All of these things add up and get passed down to us through the cost of healthcare that we pay. There are so many things we can fix with our current health system, before we dive into universal healthcare. Fix what we have first. We should also take a step back and look at other countries Universal Healthcare systems. Are they as good as what we think? Do they run efficiently? You will find that everything is not greener on the other side. Many countries like the UK and Canada have long wait times to see specialists or even regular doctors. In England there is a long waiting list, in order to be admitted in the hospital or receive treatment, which are 1. 8 million people long In Canada, the long waits for seeing doctors have sent many individuals to private care. It takes 22 months for residents of Saskatchewan to get an MRI. There are about 57% of Canadians that report having to wait a month to see a specialist. Due to the wait times many individuals obtain private insurance in order to get the medical care they need (TW). In Canada and the UK there are no rights to healthcare. The government tells the citizens what healthcare treatments they are eligible to receive and when they can receive them (Mackey). As you can see from some statistics other countries are struggling with universal healthcare currently. There is no sure fire way to implement universal healthcare and still have the rights we currently have. We all really need to take a closer look on healthcare reform. Is this really what we want? It is important and essential to a long and healthy life, but it is equally important to have choices and say-so in matters of health. No matter what kind of reform is enacted they need to make sure that they be financially responsible for it and give us the ability to choose the doctors and healthcare services that best suit each person’s unique lifestyle choices. We are all responsible for our own lives and health. All of us should take our responsibility seriously and use our own freedom to make the choices that will be suit our health.