Universal Healthcare Research Paper

646 Words2 Pages

UNIVERSAL COVERAGE Yes, the United States should have universal coverage for its citizens. Universal health coverage would address quality, access, efficiency and equity. The number one cause of bankruptcy in the United States is the cost of healthcare. Universal coverage would eliminate bankruptcies caused by healthcare. It would also reduce overall spending on healthcare and help small businesses. People face catastrophic expenses when they do not have social protection and their care is primarily paid out of pocket. Without discrimination against anyone in the society, universal coverage would give people access to basic healthcare services. Spreading the cost would ensure that everyone gets the basic care they need and it could be …show more content…

Because of this, compared to any other industrialized country, healthcare spending of US is 40% more on a per capita basis. The US consumes 75% of the world’s prescription drugs, although has only 5% of the world’s population. By eliminating the unnecessary care that accounts for about 30% of healthcare spending, the US has enough resources to cover everyone. Dr. Fisher and his colleagues at Dartmouth identified huge disparities between some U.S. counties on spending for patients with results that are just the same between the counties. In a system where supply can drive demand, people are not getting the value that they need for healthcare. For doctors to realize the cost of healthcare, they have to feel the cost of healthcare. So, with a risk sharing agreement with non-profit health plans, doctors feel the financial losses if their patients are not …show more content…

with a view to sharing risk among the population and avoiding catastrophic health-care expenditure and impoverishment of individuals as a result of seeking care." Medical insurance costs have risen dramatically. With the economy in a dire state, many employers and individuals cannot afford health insurance. According to statistics, about 50 million Americans are uninsured. So, adoption of universal healthcare must be one of the top priorities of the government. Having a single payer model would lower the healthcare cost than having multiple insurance companies. As reported by Congressional Budget Office, the United States could save anywhere between $100 billion and $200 billion annually with a single-payer universal healthcare system. It would also reduce the cost on paperwork, which amounts to 24% of healthcare spending in the U.S. Universal coverage would eliminate drug companies’ motive to profit resulting in making only drugs that would benefit most people and not bring unnecessary drugs to increase the overall

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