A universal healthcare system facilitates the provision of quality medical care to the citizens through an initiative that is affordable to all. In such a system, funding of healthcare is mainly by the federal government, and services are provided to the individuals independent of their ability to pay for them. Many countries in the world including Germany, Canada, France and Australia have rolled out policies for universal health coverage with great success. However, the debate for a universal healthcare system in the United States has existed for a long period but there has not been any form that has provided medical care for all. Health services still remain expensive to majority of the citizens. Healthcare in the United States is still not a right for everyone despite the introduction of Obamacare in 2010.
Access in the United States is not a fundamental right but rather based on a pay-per-use policy. Majority of the service seekers pay out of the pocket through an insurance coverage that is run mainly by private companies. Insurance covers are either employer sponsored, depending on whether an individual is an employee of the government or of the private sector. The U.S government spends a considerable amount of money on healthcare insurance in programs such as Medicare and Medicaid but not all members of the population are beneficiaries of these schemes ( Klotz et al, 2018) . Medicaid targets individuals with low income and is sponsored by both the national and state administrations. Another program known as Tricare covers healthcare costs for individuals in the military, veterans and their families. Presence of different types of healthcare insurers means that there is no single system that covers all individuals. Squires and Anderson (2015) explain that t his depicts a fragmented system of healthcare in the United States whose policies do not indicate fundamental access for the whole population.
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In countries like France, Germany, Canada and Switzerland, a universal cover pays for every individual. This is not similar to Obamacare that only aimed at offering subsidies to insurance proprietors. A universal health care cost coverage reduces expenditures on health services in an economy since the government regulates the costs of these services as wells as the medications. Additionally, it eliminates the running costs for multiple insurance companies. For the users, a universal healthcare prevents catastrophic spending makes and makes services more accessible. Treatment for those individuals with chronic illnesses that would require a long-term financial plan is also made affordable to patients. Since quality healthcare becomes available to all, a universal healthcare creates a heathier workforce that is able to steer economic growth (Rice et al, 2014).
A universal coverage has its own disadvantages. Individuals might misuse the emergency services and the availability of doctors leading to unnecessary expenditures. Additionally in universal healthcare systems, the waiting time for elective procedures is quite long, which is a detriment to those who may need urgent healthcare services (Popescu, 2014). This has been experienced in countries like Canada and Australia. The government might also become overwhelmed with the healthcare costs, which drains the national kitty for other running other functions such as education and development of infrastructure (Rice et al, 2014). In an effort to limit expenditure, the government may abandon coverage for rare conditions thus disadvantaging individuals with such illnesses.
In conclusion the fragmented healthcare system in the United States has impacted negatively on majority of healthcare seekers. This has led to high individual spending on healthcare services and medications making it unbearable for low and middle income earners. A universal healthcare system, which has worked for some European countries is an affordable system that has availed services to majority of the population, and has helped prevent catastrophic spending. However, universal coverage leads to increased spending by the government limiting the funds available for other developmental projects.
References
Klotz, S., Bielefeldt, H., Schmidhuber, M., & Frewer, A. (2018). Healthcare as a Human Rights Issue: Normative Profile, Conflicts and Implementation.
Squires, D., & Anderson, C. (2015). US health care from a global perspective: spending, use of services, prices, and health in 13 countries. The Commonwealth Fund , 15 , 1-16.
Popescu, G. H. (2014). Economic aspects influencing the rising costs of health care in the United States. American Journal of Medical Research , 1 (1), 47-47.
Rice, T., Unruh, L. Y., Rosenau, P., Barnes, A. J., Saltman, R. B., & van Ginneken, E. (2014). Challenges facing the United States of America in implementing universal coverage. Bulletin of the world health organization , 92 , 894-902.
