Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Health Care Reform Policy in the 21st Century

Is health care a human right, or a market commodity? Regardless of one’s opinion about the morality of health care, many informed Americans agree that the current heath care system of the United States is on a fast downward spiral. There is urgency in the unified call for future American policy makers to tackle the fundamental problems of the current system and implement real reform. This system is running out of room to slap on the “feel-good-now” band-aids which incrementally and temporarily fix and cover up the visible problems without ever really addressing the fundamental issues.
What would fundamental reform look like? That question depends on how long it will take the universal health care supporters and private health care supporters to realize that neither one of them are going to come out on top. If politicians really want to save the health care infrastructure of this country, then they must cooperate and embrace mediation. The following proposal is a carefully studied reform plan which attempts to promote as many benefits from both private and universal thought as possible while keeping opportunity cost at a minimum. The plan incorporates a system of checks and balances between the government and the private realm of health care while ensuring that every citizen has coverage and access to emergency and primary care. Before discussing the proposal, it is vitally important to understand why the current system is failing. Most health care policy experts consider these 3 areas of criteria of high importance when evaluating health care systems: access, cost, and quality (Jost, 11).
The criteria of access begs the question, is health care available to all those who need it? According to 2005 U.S. Census Bureau estimates, 47 million Americans lack health insurance. This does not include the millions more with very poor coverage or those who are inconsistently insured (Jost, 17). The American tendency toward stereotyping leads many to assume that the uninsured are unemployed, lazy, unhealthy due to lifestyle choices, poor financial planners, or a combination of all of these. In reality, 80% of the uninsured are employed or live in the household of the employed. They are mostly low wage, part time, seasonal, or work for small businesses (Gawande). Interestingly, 17% of the employed uninsured make more than $75,000 a year; evidence that the coverage crisis does not only affect the poor (Jost, 33).
Incremental or “band’ aid” solutions involve state sponsored programs like the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) which is supposed to insure that all children receive good medical attention. The problems associated with SCHIP are similar to the problems with Medicaid; many are eligible, but few are enrolled for numerous reasons that the programs have little or no control over. There are bureaucratic barriers; lack of enrollment education efforts on the part of the states because they lose money; the Deficit Reduction act of 2005 requires proof of citizenship (apparently Congress is okay with the discrimination of children); and some states require a child to be “desperately poor” which excludes many children of the struggling working class. SCHIP leaves an estimated 21 million American children with significant access problems (Estes and Harrington,408)
The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act ensures public access to emergency services regardless of ability to pay or insurance coverage. However, the patient will still be billed the expenses and the Act does not extend to preventative, primary, or chronic care. Sixty percent of the uninsured are not receiving primary care and waiting until their condition worsens to the point where they require a visit to the emergency room (Estes and Harrington, 44). Sadly, the mostly poor uninsured is the most likely group to need medical attention. An alarming 2005 study by the Institute of Medicine reveals that nearly 18,000 adults die prematurely per year because they lack insurance (Jost, 23).
The insured do not escape the coverage crisis. Insurance companies exist to make profit, not to heal the sick. Companies deny thousands coverage because their fine print include rules about pre-existing health conditions, exclusion of certain high risk occupations, hidden fees, large coverage gaps, complicated networks of hospitals and providers, and other schemes to weasel out of paying (Messerli).
A man writes on an online message board concerning American Health Care policies:

On a personal note, my wife and myself have no access
because of pre-existing conditions, which make insurance premiums unaffordable.
As a result of our situation, my Russian born wife is presently in Russia
receiving needed medical care which is not available to us in America. The
uninsured try many different approaches to secure medical access, Many times
with little or no success. My wife cannot comprehend this situation, simply
because in Europe medical access is a right, not a privilege as it is in
America. If this crisis is allowed to continue, we will be on the verge of
insanity when we speak of health care reform in America. There is absolutely no
excuse for such injustice in a country that prides itself on human right issues
around the world. (Maintenance Professional in North Carolina. " The Health Care
Problems Archive: A Collection of Problems with the U. S. Health Care ")

Insurance companies are failing the American people. Free markets are supposed to serve the best interests of the public. Instead, they are making access to health coverage nearly impossible for millions of Americans and rigging the system which their customers buy into; all in the name of profit.
The second criterion of cost is the force behind the downward spiral of health care in the United States. Policy experts ask if the cost of healthcare is reasonable given the country’s resources. The price the United States pays for health care is approaching $2 trillion a year; 16% of the Gross Domestic Product (Jost, 23). The U.S. spends more on health care than anything else and more than any other country in the World (Estes and Harrington,46). All the new and frequent advancements in medical research and technology have caused prices to rise at a ridiculous rate of 7.9% per year (Jost, 23). High prices encourage investments into new technologies which have dramatically improved people’s quality of life. On the down side, the rising costs are the insurance companies’ excuse for their sky rocketing premiums and increased restrictions and the government’s inability to keep up with its Medicare and Medicaid programs. As the Baby boomer generation prepares to retire, the burden of the rising costs of health care will fall upon subsequent generations (Cohn).
The sky rocketing costs can most clearly be seen in the dramatic decline of employee sponsored coverage while public sponsored care has not increased fast enough. Employee benefits are useful because the employer is able to purchase health care for its employees much cheaper than the individual worker could on his or her own (Jost, 43). Due to the sky rocketing cost of health care, many employers can no longer afford to offer their employees top notch care or follow through on health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs) which are smart individual accounts for health care (Gawande). Increasingly, Americans are depending less and less on their company to provide adequate coverage and are having to invest in the non-group market (individual) or decline to participate in health insurance altogether (Jost, 44). Meanwhile, funding for public programs like Medicare and Medicaid are being dried up by the booming costs the government has to pay to support the entire health care infrastructure and all its waste (Gawande).
Most non-group markets have extremely high premiums and co-payments, no mental, prenatal, or maternity coverage. In some states, an individual is better off uninsured than investing in these flimsy plans. The popular and most affordable Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) and Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) plans leave serious coverage gaps and have many restrictions. Two in five insured Americans experience a huge financial burden in the case of a medical emergency. Some have their credit ruined, house taken away, and aren’t able to rent apartments or purchase cars because of their ruined credit. (Jost, 44)

Breann LaManna is your typical 11-year old little girl; she loves Hannah Montana
and playing with her friends and little brother. At first glance, no one would
ever be able to tell that this little girl has been through an ordeal that most
people will never have to incur; Stage III Hodgkin’s disease, a rare form of
childhood cancer. She has been through agonizing chemotherapy and radiation
treatments, long hospital stays, and in many ways she has had to grow too soon.
It all began when nine year old Breann’s parents Maria and Chris took her to
see a doctor about a persistent and worsening cough due to what they believed
were allergies. A chest X-ray discovered a 13-centimeter mass on her aorta,
without any time to spare, she was admitted to Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer
Center in New York and administered seven rounds of chemotherapy and fourteen
rounds of radiation. Her father reminisces, “that’s where the whole roller
coaster began. People can't really relate unless you actually go through that
experience. It's terrible, and also with the health insurance that just denies
and denies." The LaManna’s insurance company at the time, AETNA, denied any
coverage of the treatments, stating that Sloan-Kettering wan not in their
network of coverage. Sloan-Kettering is one of the best hospitals for Breann’s
condition. Her parents were not going to put money and their insurance’s network
rules over their daughter’s chance of survival. As a result, the LeMannas
acquired over $140,000 in medical bills. Her mother tearfully explains, "When
you're thinking you can lose your child, the last thing you're worrying about is
a preapproval (to a hospital), Breann was stronger than I was. You feel like the
world is closing in and she'd make you laugh. She was definitely a fighter.”
Little Breann beat the cancer and she has been cancer free for over a year now.
Currently, the LaMannas have been working with legislators to establish Breann's
Law, which forces insurance companies to provide the funds for the treatment
center that provides the best care for a child battling a catastrophic or
potentially fatal illness. "We're trying to rattle the cage and make people
aware of it. I couldn't understand how she could do it because I couldn't do
it," said Chris. "She's really an amazing individual. The health insurance
company destroyed us financially, but we won because we have Breann here. We
want to help the next family so they can worry about the welfare of their child
without worrying about how they're going to pay for it.”( Michels)


The LaMannas are not alone in their ordeal. Hard working American families with medical debt the size of an average home mortgage are not hard to come by. In fact, about half of all bankruptcies in the United States are primarily due to medical debt. After such a difficult ordeal, why should these families have to carry such a financial burden? Especially since many have invested in the American health insurance market and have been denied. As more and more health insurance horror stories like the LaMannas family’s comes to light, it becomes apparent that health insurance in the United States is a gamble, not an investment for “peace of mind” as it should be.
The third criterion of quality, asks whether or not the country provides acceptable care which achieves the best possible outcomes and whether it keeps avoidable medical errors to a minimum. 44,000 to 98,000 Americans die every year from medical errors (Goodman and Fisher). More people die from medical malpractice in the United States then from AIDS or Breast Cancer (Jost, 51). The U.S. lags behind other developed countries in implementing electronic health information that would allow health care providers to better organize and keep track of patient information. Privacy issues often thwart attempts for a shared electronic health database. Comparatively, the United States does provide excellent care to many people and many other developed countries struggle just as much with medical malpractice (Goodman and Fisher). Some of the best doctors in the world are trained and practice in the United States and people from all over the world come to the States to receive life saving treatment.
The United States ranks relatively high in other criterion considered such as; freedom of choice, respect given to patient in their ability to make decisions and their right to privacy, and innovative research into medical problems and cures. However, based on all of the criteria, the United States ranks 15th out of 25 countries; hardly the “best in the world.”( Jost, 59) Here is the outline of a plan that contains the potential to carry the United States health care system to the number one spot where it belongs:
Implement a private and public sector of heath care much different from the ones in current existence. The private sector would be available to those who do not wish to participate in government run health care. This will accommodate the expectations of the rich: short waiting times and comfortable accommodations. Similar to parents who choose to send their children to private schools, yet still pay taxes for public education; those who buy into private healthcare will still pay taxes that go toward public health care.
The public sector will be based off of France’s socialized health care system. Income level will be ignored so that every citizen will be given a basic coverage plan by the government funded by a new social security fund. The basic coverage plan will cover emergency and primary care for everyone. Depending on tax brackets, the coverage will extend to other areas such as pharmaceuticals, dental, vision, and specialists. The exception to this is America’s children who will receive full and complete coverage no matter what financial background they come from. Also, to inspire more people to enter the nursing and doctoral professions (which there is a severe shortage of) the government can provide a program where they pay for medical/nursing school in exchange for a certain amount of years spent working in the public sector of healthcare.
In order to keep competition flourishing, the government should invest in private healthcare companies and pharmaceuticals in exchange for their commitment to follow certain regulations in promoting fairness within their coverage plans, open networks, and to keep premiums reasonable (Shimkhada, Peabody, Quimbo, and Solon). Those who are in higher tax brackets must take the initiative to purchase private insurance for the coverage that the government will not extend to them outside of primary and emergency. This may not seem fair, but private insurance allows for nicer facilities, more freedom of choice in health care provider, and more personal attention. Public facilities outside of primary and emergency care will be monitored by unions to ensure competent health care providers are giving adequate care. Primary and emergency public care facilities will be top notch and co-operated by private providers to ensure quality.
A collaborative and all inclusive electronic patient health record will also be implemented to avoid the abuse of prescription drugs, enable health care providers to provide the best course of medical action to the patient, and avoid errors.
Cost control and funding the new system will be tricky, but a lot of wasteful spending will be eliminated by fundamental changes within the system and getting rid of a lot of the profit making. Taxes may need to increase (the conservatives will throw a fit), but it is not a bad price for a healthier America which is more productive and beneficial for society and the economy anyway.
Public health initiatives and research into alternative therapies should receive more support from the government. Alternative and complementary treatments are less expensive and often times come with less risk and side effects then contemporary medications and procedures. Also these treatments consider the whole person: mind, body, and spirit. Other countries like India and China use traditional medicine just as much as contemporary and citizens often rely and trust the traditional more. Outreach programs to educate and equip citizens against harmful activities to their health such as tobacco, unprotected sex, and obesity have been shown to have a positive effect.
This is a plan that satisfies universal health care supporters by mandating that the government provide basic emergency and primary care for all its citizens while also satisfying those favoring private insurance by not doing away with the health care market and profit motivation and competition. The most important aspect of the plan is that it provides care for every citizen regardless of social class or situation.
The United States is the only wealthy industrialized country without a universal health care plan. A universal system of health care allows health care providers to concentrate on healing patients rather than insurance procedures and fillings. It opens doors and opportunities for those who could not afford to practice preventative medicine and wellness before. Another benefit is that universal plans close the health and care gap between the wealthy and the poor because a person’s life and welfare should not come with a price tag. Negative aspects of a universal system include the well known inefficiency of the federal government, the end of profit motives and competition which drive better services, research, and technology. Universal health care does not mean “free” healthcare; it will come out of the public’s pockets one way or another which means that people who take good care of themselves will have to pay for people who make poor health decisions. A complete transition from the United State’s current system to a universal system will create too much loss because of the magnitude of the industry. A lot of people will lose their jobs; there will be disorganization, lost files, and much confusion. Finally, where is the accountability for health care providers? To whom will negligence and malpractice lawsuits go? (Messerli)
Privatized health care when allowed to run on its own with no government interference will inspire competition which sparks better services, technology, efficiency, comfort, and choice menu. The trouble is that this system without any checks seems to make the rich obscenely rich and exploits the working class. A very large gap develops between the quality of life saving care received by the poor and by the rich. (Messerli)
When coming up with a reformed plan which lies somewhere in the middle of socialized care and private care, policy makers need to avoid making the mistakes of the past. When Bill Clinton attempted to push his health care reforms through Congress, there was very little bipartisan cooperation and he failed. (Estes and Harrington, 39)
Although, Gallup polls since 1937 show Americans in favor of greater government role in healthcare. (75% of public in 1992), (Estes and Harrington,31) our government has failed in creating intense long lasting reform. The American democratic system is one of the hardest to promote change. At times, congressional rules can call for as much as a 60% senate approval of reform legislation, not to mention it only takes one senator to filibuster a piece of legislation. Also, the medical./industrial/insurance complex appears almost too strong for the government to tackle. They are heavily involved with and pour tons of money into lobbying, advertising, campaign donations, and public relations. (Gawande) The private sector of health care will not go away anytime soon.
The United States needs a president who will work with both parties so that change can happen. Policy makers and legislators need to give up their stubborn opposing stances and compromise with each other to obtain the best comprehensive plan for health care possible. Some analysts predict that if no action is taken by 2013, 56 million Americans will not be insured and the United States will be spending a whopping $3.36 trillion a year on health care. (Jost, 102) The American people must back political candidates who are willing to mediate and compromise for a healthier America.

Works Cited


Cohn, Jonathan. "What’s the One Thing Big Business and the Left Have in Common?" The New York Times 1 Apr. 2007. 23 Apr. 2008 http://www.nytimes.com.
Estes, Carroll L., and Charlene Harrington. Health Policy Crisis and Reform in the U.S. Health Care Delivery System. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett, 2008.

David C Goodman, Elliott S Fisher. (2008). Physician Workforce Crisis? Wrong Diagnosis, Wrong Prescription. The New England Journal of Medicine, 358(16), 1658-1661. Retrieved April 23, 2008, from ProQuest Nursing & Allied Health Source database. (Document ID: 1464139441).

Gawande, Atul. "The Obama Health Plan." The New York Times 31 May 2007. 22 Apr. 2008 http://.nytimes.com/.

Jost, Timothy S. Health Care: At Risk a Critique of the Consumer-Driven Movement. Durham and London: Duke UP, 2007.

Maintenance Professional in North Carolina. " The Health Care Problems Archive: A Collection of Problems with the U. S. Health Care " HelathCareProblems.org. 10 Sep. 2005. 21 Apr. 2008 http://www.healthcareproblems.org/.

Michels, Chelsea. "Chiropractor to Raise Funds for Local Girl's Medical Bills." APP 17 Apr. 2008. 22 Apr. 2008 http://www.app.com/.

Messerli, Joe. "Should the Government Provide Free Universal Health Care for All Americans?" Balanced Politics. 17 Apr. 2008. 22 Apr. 2009
Shimkhada, Riti, John W. Peabody, Stella A. Quimbo, and Orville Solon. "The Quality Improvement Demonstration Study: An example of evidence-based policy-making in practice. (Research)(Report)." Health Research Policy and Systems 6.5 (March 25, 2008): 5. Academic OneFile. Gale. Clemson University. 23 Apr. 2008 .

Thursday, April 17, 2008

rough draft in outline form

i) Health insurance officially began in Dallas, Texas in 1929. Justin Kimball created Blue Cross as a way for local teachers to pay a hospital 50 cents each month, so that when they later got pregnant and went to the hospital to give birth, they wouldn't be charged hospital fees. This hospital maternity plan eventually evolved to include sickness and injury care as it does today.
(a) On a personal note, my wife and myself have no access because of pre-existing conditions, which make insurance premiums unaffordable. As a result of our situation, my Russian born wife is presently in Russia receiving needed medical care which is not available to us in America. The uninsured try many different approaches to secure medical access, Many times with little or no success. My wife cannot comprehend this situation, simply because in Europe medical access is a right, not a privilege as it is in America. If this crisis is allowed to continue, we will be on the verge of insanity when we speak of health care reform in America. There is absolutely no excuse for such injustice in a country that prides itself on human right issues around the world.
ii) Outline
2) Introduction
a) Anecdote
b) Define problems with current system and define terms
i) Most health care policy experts consider these 3 areas of criteria:
(1) Access- is it available to all those who need it?
(a) 47 million lack health insurance (2005 census beuroue estimates)
(i) This # isn’t counting those with terrible coverage or those who take gap years of being uninsured
(ii) 80% of # are employed or in household of employed—many are low wage, part time, seasonal, or work for small businesses. Most would rather not pay the workers premium
(iii) 17% make more then 75,000 a year
(iv) Young adults
(b) Employee sponsored coverage has declined dramatically while public sponsored care has not increased fast enough
(c) Medicaid and SCHIP program (kids) (depends on state)
(i) Many are eligible, but aren’t enrolled—beauratic barriers, minations, and lack of enrollmenteducation efforts on te part of the states
(ii) Deficit reduction act of 2005 requires proof of citizenship
(iii) Some states require you to be “desperately poor”
(iv)
(d) The issue at hand is access to health care and the uninsured, public and private insured have different experiences
(i) Medical debt and bills from being uninsured and higher income
(ii) Employee coverage often has no requirements for vision or dental, pharmasutical, HRA account on the decline because of rising prices
(iii) Non-group market (individual) have high premiums and co-payments, no mental, prenatal, or maternity coverage…in some states you are better off uninsured
(iv) HMOs and PPOs have serious coverage gaps, but are most affordable.
(v) Insured often experice a huge financial burden in the case of a medical emergency (2 in 5 Americans) some have their credit ruined, house taken away, aren’t able to rent apartments…
(vi) About half of all bankruptcies are because of medical expenses..most of these are uninsured
(vii) The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor act make it possible for the uninsured to have access to emergency care (won’t be denied) but it is not free, but most forgo it.
(viii) Hard to get preventative, primary, or chronic care with no insurance 60% of uninsured report not getting it
(ix) Uninsured (mostly poor) are more likely to need medical care
(x) Institute of medicine 2005 study said nearly 18,000 adults die prematurely because of no insureance
(2) Cost- reasonable cost given the resources of the nation?
(a) Cost is approaching $2 trillion 16% of GDP
(b) Spend more on health care then we do anything else, and more then any other country
(c) 7.9% increase/year
(d) You can’t put a price on the newest expensive technologies that save life…newer technology requires more money
(e) High prices encourage investement in new technologies which have dramatically improved people’s quality of life and lifespan
(f) Costs are a direct cause of employers decline in offering health and retirement benefits
(g) 45% of health care is payed by United States—hurting public programs medicare and Medicaid cost increae
(h) As baby boomers retire, the burden to pay the rising costs will fall on the working class at the time
(3) Quality – acceptable? Achieve the best possible outcomes? Avoidable errors kept to a minimum?
(a) 44,000 to 98,000 Americans die every year from medical errors
(b) Lagging behind in implementing electronic health info that would allow health care providers to
(c) Malpractice more die form it then aids or breast cancer
(d) Other countries have these high rates as well
(4) Other criterion- freedom of choice, patients treated with respect- decision making and privacy, innovative research on medical problems and cures
c) Define what is being argued: health care reform (specific kind) due to the fact that both extremes of the argument have pros and cons
3) Part 1-The reformed plan
a) Have a private and public sector of heath care much different from the one we have currently. The private one can be for those who wish to not have government interference in the type of health care they get and be subjected to health care providers that are not employed by the government. This will accommodate the expectations of the rich and their value for the dollar: short waiting times and comfortable accommodations. The public sector will be based off of France’s socialized health care system. Also, to inspire more people to enter the nursing and doctoral professions (which there is a sever shortage) the government can provide a program where they pay for medical/nursing school in exchange for a certain amount of years spent working in the public sector of healthcare. This way the theory that health care is a privilege to those who can afford to stay well can dissolve. We will have to overcome the opposition of interest groups that profit from the current system—insurers, small businesses, the pharmaceutical companies, and organized medicine. Insurance and pharmasuetical companies will have to compete with the government so they will be forced to offer good plans of coverage. Middle class citizens can have a mix between public and private. In extreme catastrophic instances, they can go to public healthcare, in other routine instances they can over limited private plans that cover visits.
4) Part 2 – The pros and cons of Universal
a) Care for every citizen regardless of social class or situation
b) Illuminates wastefulness in current system—all the paper work and profit making
c) Development of centralized national database which will make it easier for health care providers to diagnose and treat
d) Doctors can concentrate on healing patient rather then insurance procedures and filings
e) Open doors and opportunities for those who could not afford it before to practice preventative medicine and a good well being
f) Cons: Beurocracy plain and simply sucks: all the red tape, slowness, lack of faith in,
g) Profit motives and compititoins have always been shown to lead to higher efficiency, better services, and the drive for better and newer technologies
h) It is not “free” health care. Like all other social program it will come out of taxes
i) Healthy people will have to pay for those who make poor choices like smoking, and poor diets
j) Complete transition from private to socialized will cause all sorts of chaos and loss
k) People could sue the government for malpractice (reformed policy would implement a govt. subsidized malpractice insurance for doctors. Lawsuits against the government could only happen in certain instances where the fault was not with the individual doctor.
5) Part 3- The pros and cons of Private
a) Competition sparks better services, technology, and efficiency
b) Comfort and choice of menu
c) Causes financial burdens because cost is so extremely high
d) A very large gap between quality of life saving care received between rich and poor
6) Part 4- who the system screws over the most, the evils of insurance companies, ways to support reform, incorporating alternative medicine in reforms
a) Profit and competition are a drive to provide the best, but insurance and pharmaceutical companies neglect its customers severely
b) Obama’s plan for reform
c) Encouragement to read literature about current issues with health care and to study all perspectives of the situation in order to make an intelligent plan
d) Government should look more into alternative and complementary treatments because they are less expensive and often times come with less risk and side effects then contemporary medications and procedures. Also these treatments consider the whole person: mind, body, and spirit. Other countries like India and China use traditional medicine just as much as contemporary and citizens often rely and trust the traditional more. The government should not ignore these alternative treatments
i) St. John’s Warts is prescribed frequently in Germany to treat depression.
7) Part 5- perspective of health care providers, patients, health insurance companies
8) Conclusion
a) By 2013 some estimate 56 million Americans will not be insured if nothing is done
b) Cost will be $3.36 trillion a year

Works Cited


Estes, Carroll L., and Charlene Harrington. Health Policy Crisis and Reform in the U.S. Health Care Delivery System. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett, 2008.
Jost, Timothy S. Health Care: At Risk a Critique of the Consumer-Driven Movement. Durham and London: Duke UP, 2007.

Maintenance Professional. North Carolina. September 10, 2005. Statement 10065.
http://www.healthcareproblems.org/Patients/NC/Statement10065.htm
The Health Care Problems Archive: A Collection of Problems with the U. S. Health Care SystemCopyright © The Health Care Problems Archive 2006 Site Last Modified July 27, 2006
http://www.balancedpolitics.org/universal_health_care.htm
http://www.pbs.org/healthcarecrisis/
http://www.medscape.com/resource/healthcare-reform
http://content.nejm.org/current.shtml

Monday, April 14, 2008

Mediation Brief

Thesis: The United States Healthcare policy needs to be altered so that it can accommodate the citizens of this country that cannot financially afford healthcare, if their situation deems necessary. It does not need to allow for Universal Healthcare because it is not realistic to give ‘free’ healthcare to a country, when in reality someone has to be paying for it. A improved program, such as Medicaid, would be an appropriate solution for the situation to allow the less financially stable to be able to insure themselves and their families.Reason 1: There is no such thing as a ‘free lunch,’ nor should their ever be. In the United States, programs such as Welfare have given some of the population the idea that it is acceptable to live off of their government and not strive to better their lives with the opportunities for advancement offered. This is America: the land of oppurtunity! If people decide not to take advantage of all the opportunities this country has to offer, than why should reap the benefits, such as health care, also? If a Universal Healthcare plan was implicated, where it was only funded by the tax dollars of citizens, it would only further this ideology and hurt our nation. Universal health care, or socialized medicine, is not simply “free”, it is paid by the people’s tax money. That implies that people who have decent jobs will be paying for the insurance of people that do not have enough money to provide health care for themselves or for their families. There will also be a tax cut in things such as education and defense. In America everybody has an opportunity to have an education and to get a job that offers insurance, some people just choose not to take advantage of it. Also, if you look at Canada and Britains Universal Healthcare program, it is obvious that it is not a realitic solution to the healthcare problem. The Canadian Supreme Court has even admitted that "access to a waiting list is not access to health care." In Britain, 20 percent of potentially curable lung cancer patients became terminally ill while on the waiting list (Source 1). Reason 2: It is not realistic to believe that everyone follows this ideology stated above; and some people really are just in a bad situation where they cannot obtain healthcare. This is especially true for the elderly, disabled, and youth of the United States. Statistics show that a whopping 21% of the uninsured are below the age of eighteen (Source 2). There should be a form of Universal Healthcare, such as a revised Medicaid program, that can cater to the needs of the helpless. Just because someone’s parents may have made mistakes in their lives which led them to not have healthcare, doesn’t mean that their children should have to pay for it by bearing the problems caused by no healthcare. By allowing assistance for people when they are truly struggling or in a time of need only, it would allow a good approach to helping the general welfare of the United States, yet would be fair to those whom work and can afford healthcare. Yet, the Medicaid program needs improvement, so that these people can receive adequate care. For example, Swanson, a practitioner from Mesquite said: “If I accepted even 10% Medicaid, I would have to close my office. Pediatricians make very low margins. I am barely in business. ... It breaks my heart I can't treat Medicaid patients because I took care of them when I was a resident" (Source 3).' It is not the responsibility of doctors to accept a health care program that does not provide them the means of financial stability, but it is the responsibility of our government to provide a health care that will benefit the general welfare of the public. There are also many nonprofit organizations, such as St. Judes Hospital, who provide health care for situations where families cannot afford it. Reason 3: One of the biggest problems with healthcare in the United States is that insurance companies only work for the profit they receive and not the general welfare of the public. When people have taken the appropriate steps to achieve healthcare, they should not have to worry about their claims being considered ‘invalid,’ and then being denied. An infant was turned down by its insurance for cerebral palsy rehabilitation because the skill of walking was not a previous learned skill (Source 4). Incidents such as this one are reasons why the government should step into the world of health insurance and make laws regulating their prices and their claims that they reject. This would allow for everyone that makes a reasonable income to be able to afford insurance and benefit from the health care that it is supposed to provide. This is a problem that the United States government should step into and make regulations about so that these companies cannot keep hurting the United States public. This would greatly improve the healthcare system in the United States.Conclusion: Overall, I think a Universal Healthcare would not be the best answer to the crisis over healthcare that is happening in the United States right now. I feel that a modified version of Universal Healthcare, such as a revised Medicaid program or some other program that assists in helping people pay for healthcare that are unable to do so, should be applied. In the end, giving a country’s citizens free healthcare will hurt them in regard for what they strive for in life, whereas an assistant program would ultimately be a fair option to help benefit the general welfare of the United States.Source: 1.http://www.lexisnexis.com/us/lnacademic/auth/checkbrowser.do?ipcounter=1&cookieState=0&rand=0.0925361173135385&bhcp=12.LAURA SHOULD HAVE THIS!3.http://www.lexisnexis.com/us/lnacademic/results/docview/docview.do?risb=21_T3468447733&format=GNBFI&sort=RELEVANCE&startDocNo=1&resultsUrlKey=29_T3468447760&cisb=22_T3468447759&treeMax=true&treeWidth=0&csi=8291&docNo=24.http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/06/30/BUGOPQOIJT1.DTL

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Brief ~Stance for Universal Health Care in the United States~


We the people of the United States, in order to form a more
perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the
common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

There should be a universal healthcare system in the United States. This is the preamble of the United States Constitution. Sometimes, the problems in today’s world seem so complicated that we lose ourselves in trying to come up with a solution or answer. This is when we must return to our roots and rediscover our purpose and our values. The Preamble eloquently reveals the purpose and basic values of the United States Government; a government for the people and by the people. One such purpose and value that I wish to draw attention to is, “promote the general welfare.” In order to form a more perfect union we the people who are the government (too often Americans separate government from themselves, but we are the government; we are a democracy are we not?) must promote the general welfare. What is meant by general welfare? The American Heritage Dictionary defines “general” as, “concerned with, applicable to, or affecting the whole or every member of a class or category.” It defines “welfare” as, “the good fortune, health, happiness, prosperity, etc., of a person, group, or organization.” Therefore, it is safe to say that it is the duty of the United States Government to promote the good health of every member of society. How it, then, that 45.8 million; one out of every six Americans do not have health care insurance? This isn’t even counting the millions more who have very poor coverage. The stereotype is that only lazy people who have made very poor choices in their lives are not insured. The question is then asked, “Why should I have to pay for other people’s mistakes.” Well first of all, I’ve already established that “we the people” have a responsibility to the general welfare. Secondly, statistics show that a whopping 21% of the uninsured are below the age of eighteen.

This may come as a shocker, but the United State’s health care system is not the best in the world. In fact, the World Health Organization in 2000 ranked it 37th. The facts are these:

  • Almost every other major industrialized nation has universal health care. Although a U.S. patient will never be denied treatment in an emergency room, many studies have shown that people without insurance postpone treatment until a minor illness becomes worse which risks their own health and ups the cost in getting well.

  • The U.S. ranks near dead to last in the gap of disparity between rich and poor citizens. Americans with below-average incomes are much less likely than their counterparts in other industrialized nations to see a doctor when sick, to fill prescriptions, or to get needed tests and follow-up care.

  • A universal health care system would be more cost efficient than our current system.

In conclusion, the world’s most powerful economy should be able to provide a health care system that really is the world’s best and the way to do that is by making health care a right, not a commodity and by fulfilling our patriotic pledge to promote the general welfare.