Universal Healthcare: An Essay on Awareness

Over and over again we hear that one of the biggest issues facing the United States today is the lack of healthcare being provided to the American people. Today, there are approximately 40 million people in the United States who are without jobs and health care. Considering our neighbor, Canada, and other highly industrialized countries in Europe provide their citizens with a Universal Healthcare System, based on one insurance provider, the question is: would a Universal Healthcare system benefit the United States? What about those who are healthy? Should they have to carry the unhealthy? Do Baby Boomers who are weighing heavily on our healthcare system deserve the coverage they are entitled to receive? Below are some of the pros and cons as to why this may or may not be a good idea for the United States.

It is 2009. Did you know that in the US, health care premiums continue to grow at several times the rate of inflation? Many businesses are simply choosing not to offer a health plan. Or, if they do, they pass on more of the cost to their employees. Right now businesses and individuals who choose to keep their health plans have to pay a higher premiums. Health care is actually preventing the country from making a robust economic recovery because the more money citizens spend on these premiums, the less money they spend on rent, food, and consumer goods.

Let’s take into consideration the people who take care of themselves and are healthy? Should they be burdened with the health care costs for those who have brought about illness due to smoking or obesity? Universal health care means the costs will be spread among all Americans, regardless of individual health or need for medical care. This seems to be fundamentally unfair. However, with a universal healthcare system, patients can focus on preventive treatments instead of re-active treatments. They would be able to have more regular check-ups which could enable them to prevent diseases. In the long run, this could lower costs for the entire country.

Members of the post-World War II era, those born between 1945 and 1965, are the “baby boomers.” Baby Boomers represent the largest group of health care consumers in the country. This group is taxing the American health care system like none before because of raised expectations of health care providers and the sheer magnitude of their numbers. The impact of this group becomes even more daunting when one considers the fact that over 60% of working adults between the ages of 50 and 64 have been diagnosed with at least one chronic disease such as arthritis, cancer, or diabetes.

According to recent reports over 20% of the baby boomer’s have no, or inadequate, health insurance. A large majority, approximately 70%, would like to start to receive Medicare before the age of 65. However, Medicare is currently at the breaking point with many physicians limiting or refusing to take on new Medicare patients due to confusion over the amount of reimbursement by the Medicare system. As it is right now, Medicare is a barely effective mechanism to ensure health care for elderly citizens, and it is likely to be broken by the hordes of baby boomers just now becoming age eligible for participation.

This dilemma becomes even more frightening when coupled with the problems already facing the Medicare system due to the current economic climate. Many of the Baby Boomer’s who are just reaching retirement age no longer have the savings they had 12 months ago because of the recent market collapse. Since the past 12 years of financial gains have been erased in the last 12 months of financial collapse, many Boomer’s simply will not have the money or resources to afford full coverage for health care. All of these factors combine to create the perfect storm of an already battered healthcare system attempting to take on the largest generational population in American history. This is happening at the same time said generation’s wealth and retirement accounts are being depleted to the point that many are now facing a very different reality than they envisioned only 12 months ago.

Another important factor of a universal healthcare system is the systematic record keeping operation for the entire country. Many people spend limitless time filling out their insurance information, medical history, etc every time they see a doctor. In fact, most doctors’ offices tend to maintain separate record-keeping systems. If there was a universal system, every doctor would be able to view a patient’s past records and be able to make a more accurate diagnosis. The one main argument against this database is a privacy issue. Certain insurance providers might deny coverage based on past medical problems. However, if the government is paying for everything, then the record- keeping should never be a problem. This type of data would also assist in liability issues allowing doctors to have total access to a patient’s history. It could also be a tool used by collaborative doctors in order to provide correct and most efficient care for patients. Think of a universal data base as infrastructure. We not only need traditional infrastructure projects such as roads, water, and communication systems, but we must build future infrastructure needs around technology.

A universal healthcare plan would allow us to build one centralized system, where there would be no need for maintaining insurance information or wasting time submitting claims. This would also give doctors more time to actually heal patients rather than worry about insurance procedures or malpractice liability. Doctors currently are taking classes to simply understand all of the insurance plans out there. They are often restricted by insurance practices, such as, what tests are allowed to be ordered. Doctors now must practice defensive medicine to avoid getting sued. Under a simplified universal health system doctors, nurses, and other medical professions would be allowed to simply focus on doing what’s best for the patient.

On the flip side, a universal health care system may not necessarily be beneficial for the United States. Even though the government may say that it is “free healthcare”, we know that nothing in this world is free and the government will have to pay for this healthcare somehow. What good would it do to wipe out a few hundred dollars of monthly health insurance premiums if that means our taxes go up by that much more? Another issue is if the government pays for everything under one plan, a person could, in theory, go to any doctor. However, some controls are going to have to be in place in order to keep costs from exploding. For example, would “elective” surgeries such as breast implants,and Lasik eye surgery be covered too? Although most of these procedures are not necessities it will be important to note who decides what is elective and what is required? People usually get breast reductions due to back problems, people get hysterectomies for fibroid problems, and some people get their nose fixed due to a septum problem caused by an accident. The universal system in Canada forces patients to wait over 6 months for a routine pap smear. Canadian residents often will come to the United States or offer additional money to get the health care they need.

Clearly, something needs to be done to rectify this problem or we will be left with a generation without access to healthcare at the time in their lives when they need it most. A generation that no longer has the resources to provide adequate health care for itself is calling for help. This generation is the victim of an economic storm that is unprecedented in the last eight decades. Perhaps now is the time to drastically overhaul our outdated healthcare system and replace it with nationalized health care, the likes of which is provided in every other first world industrialized nation . This impending crisis may just provide the pressure that we need to look in the mirror and ask the question: why are we the only wealthy nation in the world that does not ensure that all of our citizens have access to adequate health care?