Universal Healthcare

People get sick, some more often than others. Whether it’s with the passing common cold or something that could be more serious, people deserve to have healthcare regardless of financial adversity. Although ‘everyone’ pertains to a lot of individuals, all governments must decide on the best way to provide healthcare to its citizens. Putting any law or program into place is a long process filled with hard choices and any later alterations of those regulations can be even more so because people have grown accustomed to those ways.
Economists say, the effectiveness of a successful healthcare system is judged and based on three points: access, cost, and quality of care. Access, meaning how easy it is to acquire healthcare and its benefits. Cost

In the United States, healthcare policies are made through committees of Congress, Interest Groups, and Bureaucrats. Often called the “Iron Triangle”, they work together to weigh out the inherent tradeoffs that can happen between each of the three points. Usually when one or two points are altered, it is at the expense of another. For instance, improving quality of care could result in increased cost or reduced access.
Some countries, like Canada are said to have “free healthcare”. But “free” comes at a price. Canada’s universal healthcare works through a single payer plan, which is essentially a public insurance system that provides healthcare for everyone through taxation. However, the Canada Health Act does not cover prescription drugs, eyeglasses, and dental care therefore Canadians must still pay or for those or otherwise acquire them through a separate supplemental insurance. So even though things appear to be free, the public is still paying for their care directly through higher taxes or

Clinics, private practices, and hospitals are all private firms with the majority owned by not-for-profit organizations. Most households with adults under 65 are covered by private insurance either through their employer or individual policy. There is an inkling of universal care thrown into the mix because the U.S. offers some public insurance programs that are tax-funded. The two largest of those programs being Medicare and Medicaid. Generally, Medicare is for seniors over the age of 65 and Medicaid is for low-income households. Those who are under Medicare make up about 14% of the population and Medicaid about 20% according to the Kaiser Family Foundation’s data in 2015. Like the UK’s socialized healthcare, there are some government run hospitals and doctors but are only for veterans and are a part of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs