Lack of Health Care in the United States

Even after all the debate conserning ObamaCare, the United States still lacks a health care system that provides insurance for all citizens. With an economy that is weak, and a high rate of unemployment, this represents a serious problem. In other countries, where insurance is mandatory, medical bill are rarely paid by the average citizen. Healthcare in the United States is must be given to everyone, but it’s the matter of affording to pay the medical bills, and being accepted by an insurance company that is the main issue. In the video Sick Around the World, it introduces five countries and how their health care works, while the video Sick Around America emphasizes the problems with our health care system, and shows individual stories of those impacted.

The video Sick Around the World (2008) interviewed five countries on their health care policies, how they worked, and if the general population of that country was in favor of it. In England, the best component of their health care system was that the people did not have an insurance premium, co-pay, and never have to pay a medical bill. In Japan, there are fixed prices set every two years for each procedure. In addition, an insurance company cannot turn down someone with a specific disease or disorder. In Germany, doctors do not have to pay to attend medical school. Taiwan’s best components are that each patient has a smart card with their medical history to make it easier when they go to the doctor’s office, and they do not allow the rich to opt out of insurance. In Switzerland, everyone must have insurance, and if people refuse they are automatically assigned to an insurance company.

“47 million U.S. residents have no health insurance, and the numbers keep growing. America’s workers struggle to pay higher premiums, deductibles and co-payments. Working families are experiencing increases in the costs of health insurance, more out-of-pocket costs for doctor visits and skyrocketing prices for prescriptions, forcing many to delay getting needed medical care or words“(2012). The video Sick Around America introduced many issues with the United States health care system. The biggest problems in the United States is medical underwriting, if you lose your job that provides health insurance, you lose the health insurance.

According to healthinsurance.org (1994), medical underwriting is “when you apply for individual health insurance, the health insurance company uses a process called underwriting to look at your age, sex, and health history to decide whether it will cover you and how much it will cost to provide you coverage.