Background Universal Health Care System
One of the most long-standing health care systems was originated in Germany in 1889 by Otto von Bismarck’s social legislation. Its included bills were the Health Insurance Bill 1883, Old Age and Disability Insurance Bill of 1889, and Accident Insurance Bill of 1883. The National Insurance Act of 1911 in Britain covered most people employed. It also financed dependents if families had contributed for at least five years. This coverage lasted whether families worked or not. This Act was amended in 1948 with the National Health Service revised the act to secure only legal residents to benefit from this plan. Many universal health care systems originated after the 2nd world war. During this period, governments wanted to safeguard their populations with a healthcare system assessable to everyone. Every country collaborated to sign The Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 where the United States refused to “ratify social and economic rights in Article 25’s right to health” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_health_care#History).
It is horrible that a lot of individuals in America are uninsured. Many begin to wonder who is at fault. People have begun giving up hope because the health care plan isn’t what it should be and they can’t find a health care plan they can afford. Other countries are using the Universal Health Plan that has been proven to be more successful than the current US system; in fact, dollar for dollar, some countries outperform the U.S. by 500% or more.
In Germany you will find all working individuals pitching in 8% of their earnings to the health care system. Germany provides on-call 24-hour doctors which means no long waiting periods or discrimination for those...
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...an Recovery and Reinvestment Act ties into this by investing $2 billion in community health centers. Further assistance has been included to promote the development of health care providers by providing loan forgiveness and community service exchanges for nurses, doctors, and miscellaneous other providers.
Works Cited
http://healthcarereform.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=003725&print=true
http://www.health-insurance-carriers.com
http://www.whitehouse.gov/health-care-meeting
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_health_care#History
Report (untitled) on the estimated budgetary effects of the March 2010 health care reform laws, www.cbo.gov, Mar. 20, 2010
The Impact of Health Reform on Health System Spending," www.americanprogress.org, May 2010
http://www.whitehouse.gov/files/documents/health-reform-states/affordable-care-act-immediate-benefits-nc.pdf
On a global scale, the United States is a relatively wealthy country of advanced industrialization. Unfortunately, the healthcare system is among the costliest, spending close to 18% of gross domestic product (GDP) towards funding healthcare (2011). No universal healthcare coverage is currently available. United States healthcare is currently funded through private, federal, state, and local sources. Coverage is provided privately and through the government and military. Nearly 85% of the U.S. population is covered to some extent, leaving a population of close to 48 million without any type of health insurance. Cost is the primary reason for lack of insurance and individuals foregoing medical care and use of prescription medications.
One of the most controversial topics in the United States in recent years has been the route which should be undertaken in overhauling the healthcare system for the millions of Americans who are currently uninsured. It is important to note that the goal of the Affordable Care Act is to make healthcare affordable; it provides low-cost, government-subsidized insurance options through the State Health Insurance Marketplace (Amadeo 1). Our current president, Barack Obama, made it one of his goals to bring healthcare to all Americans through the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010. This plan, which has been termed “Obamacare”, has come under scrutiny from many Americans, but has also received a large amount of support in turn for a variety of reasons. Some of these reasons include a decrease in insurance discrimination on the basis of health or gender and affordable healthcare coverage for the millions of uninsured. The opposition to this act has cited increased costs and debt accumulation, a reduction in employer healthcare coverage options, as well as a penalization of those already using private healthcare insurance.
It 's called universal health care, and it 's a system followed by nearly every modern nation in the world and even some not-so-modern nations. In America the practice medicine is pretty awful, the health care system is very corrupt system, the politicians get richer (including Hilary Clinton), and the American people (middle class and poor) get the worst of it. You see a young mother who was diagnosed with cancer and she has to travel to Canada to get the medicine that she needs; she has to lie to get her medicine once she is in Canada, but she is willing to do it instead of continue to be denied here in the U.S. If I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in the early or late 1990’s; I definitely would not receive health care coverage or my co-pay and the cost of my MS medicine would have sky
The United States spends vast amounts on its healthcare, while falling short of achieving superiority over other developed nations. One cannot overlook that the deepening recession has left many without jobs and therefore lacking health insurance. According to Fairhall and Steadman, (2009), even though the recession is hard on all, it is worse on the uninsured due to health care and insurance cost rising faster than incomes. Nevertheless, even those with jobs are lacking in health insurance due to employers, who provide insurance, are increasingly dropping their sponsored insurance. Many find that purchasing a health policy or paying for medical care out-of-pocket is cost prohibitive. “Since the recession began in December 2007, the number of unemployed Americans has increased by 3.6 million,” (Fairhall & Steadman, 2009). In 2009 it was stated that approximately 46 million Americans were uninsured, however not all of that number is due to the inability to afford coverage. According to a 2009 story written by Christopher Weaver of Kaiser Health News, 43% of that number should be classified as “voluntarily” uninsured. This subset of uninsured Americans consist of nearly half being young and healthy; therefo...
Healthcare professionals want only to provide the best care and comfort for their patients. In today’s world, advances in healthcare and medicine have made their task of doing so much easier, allowing previously lethal diseases to be diagnosed and treated with proficiency and speed. A majority of people in the United States have health insurance and enjoy the luxury of convenient, easy to access health care services, with annual checkups, preventative care, and their own personal doctor ready to diagnose and provide treatment for even the most trivial of symptoms. Many of these people could not imagine living a day without the assurance that, when needed, medical care would not be available to themselves and their loved ones. However, millions of American citizens currently live under these unimaginable conditions, going day to day without the security of frequent checkups, prescription medicine, or preventative medicines that could prevent future complications in their health. Now with the rising unemployment rates due to the current global recession, even more Americans are becoming uninsured, and the flaws in the United States’ current healthcare system are being exposed. In order to amend these flaws, some are looking to make small changes to fix the current healthcare system, while others look to make sweeping changes and remodel the system completely, favoring a more socialized, universal type of healthcare system. Although it is certain that change is needed, universal healthcare is not the miracle cure that will solve the systems current ailments. Universal healthcare should not be allowed to take form in America as it is a menace to the capitalist principle of a free market, threatens to put a stranglehold on for-...
In recent years, the number of Americans who are uninsured has reached over 45 million citizens, with millions more who only have the very basic of insurance, effectively under insured. With the growing budget cuts to medicaid and the decreasing amount of employers cutting back on their health insurance options, more and more americans are put into positions with poor health care or no access to it at all. At the heart of the issue stems two roots, one concerning the morality of universal health care and the other concerning the economic effects. Many believe that health care reform at a national level is impossible or impractical, and so for too long now our citizens have stood by as our flawed health-care system has transformed into an unfixable mess. The good that universal healthcare would bring to our nation far outweighs the bad, however, so, sooner rather than later, it is important for us to strive towards a society where all people have access to healthcare.
The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation (2011). Health care spending in the United States and
Universal healthcare: a term feared by many politicians due to the communist connotation, but is it really all that bad? Over 58 countries have some sort of universal health coverage, such as England and France which have single payer healthcare meaning the government provides insurance for all citizens and pays for all healthcare expenses. The United States of America has insurance mandated healthcare meaning the government requires all citizens to purchase insurance, usually provided through their jobs. In America, over 45 million people are uninsured, 20,000 of which will die by the end of the year compared to England or Frances were all residents, legal or not, are covered.
Out of all the industrialized countries in the world, the United States is the only one that doesn’t have a universal health care plan (Yamin 1157). The current health care system in the United States relies on employer-sponsored insurance programs or purchase of individual insurance plans. Employer-sponsored coverage has dropped from roughly 80 percent in 1982 to a little over 60 percent in 2006 (Kinney 809). The government does provide...
More than one-third of Americans who are between the ages of nineteen and twenty-four are uninsured. This is because most insurance is provided through a person’s job, and entry-level jobs which isn 't available for all young students. In addition, healthcare costs are currently rising faster than inflation, which means that salary increases cannot compensate for the higher prices of health care. Government regulation and a universal system could help keep costs affordable. A universal system would guarantee that everyone could receive health care regardless of preexisting conditions. Consequently, more people would be able to seek preventative services, like checkups, to maintain good health and detect problems early. Too frequently, people avoid taking preventative health measures until something is too late because of how expensive it is. While there 's a debate over how the U.S. should pay for a universal healthcare system, a good idea is to study the ways several other countries have successfully implemented such a system. Europe has a system in which all residents pay into a common fund that creates a pool of money and provides benefits to all. We must figure out a way to effectively adopt a universal healthcare system that provides care to all
Health Care Reform There has been a lot of talk and debate lately over Health Care Reform, as people are trying to answer the question – Should a universally accessible health care system be implemented in the United States (US)? This ongoing highly debatable issue remains a hot topic among US citizens from all walks of life, from the very poor to the very wealthy. Health Care Reform affects everyone. The vast majority of the US population is very dissatisfied with the current state of health care.
Millions of Americans are without health insurance in the United States due to many factors such as unemployment, the cost of insurance and insurance companies denying coverage due to pre-existing conditions. The United States does not provide health care to its citizens the way the rest of the industrialized world does. Instead of providing coverage for all it institutes market-based options, in which some receive coverage from their place of employment, another options are purchasing individual plans and some can obtain coverage through public programs like Medicaid. The United States is the only westernized industrial nation without a universal health care system.
The History of Medical Insurance in the United States. (2009). Yale Journal of Medicine & Law.
Healthcare is the maintenance or restoration of health by treatment from trained and licensed professionals (Webster). The American people faced many issues with the way the healthcare system is split up. There are four basic healthcare models the United States usescurrently. First, PBS describes that the Beveridge model, covered/ran by the government, through tax payments. This is the only model used in Great Britain but in America it only covers veterans and soldiers, in Great Britain everyone in the country has coverage by it . Another system model the US takes up is the Bismarck model,it helps people to buy their own health insurance through their employer (Healthcare Economist). Three main countries that use this model are Japan, Switzerland, and Germany whose ex-leader, Chancellor Otto Von Bismarck, created the Bismarck method of health care. Which not only covers 90% of their country but allowsthe rich 10% opt out (Reid&Palfreman). An Americans third model option takes of the ideas of both Beveridge and Bismarck and its name is the National Health Insurance (NHI), which Taiwan operates with. The NHI allows private providers to become a choice even though citizens. These four systems have been used for decades and President Obama has put a bill together to propose a change in America'shealthcare. The Affordable Care Act [Obamacare], will give coverage through employers, help people find their own insurance, or government coverage through Medicare for the elderly, and Medicaid for a 1/3 of others (KFF). Medicaid is offered for those with low income, but only states with governors and legislators who approve for this one actually benefit the KFF (Kaiser family foundation) explained. Those who don't have or want health insuranc...
“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.