There is still 15 percentage of Americans who are currently without any form of health insurance today” (Brux 191). In Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser talks about different employees’ health care benefits and the variance between health insurance companies. Due to the limitation of the economy, fewer people are able to get health care insurance. Different states also have different policies to take care of their citizens. When some people feel sick, they must bear the most cost for their care.
Fortunately, several years ago, many people have supported the idea of Universal Insurance. However, the US government has not implemented the Universal Insurance plan up to now. Why is it so hard to implement the plan? And who should pay for it ultimately? In my research paper, I want to talk about the achievement about Health Care in the United States. I also want to talk about the obstruction that America government meeting.
For me, I support Universal Insurance. Before 1920, doctors at that time did not know much about diseases. Many diseases could not be cured by doctors.Therefore, at the very beginning, doctors did not charge very much.
“When doctors began learning more about diseases and effective treatments, they started charging more - more than most people could afford. They also needed to treat people in hospitals to take advantage of new medical technology, which further added to the costs. Couple that with the start of the Great Depression, and the situation was even worse” (Web, “How did Healthcare”). To help solve the health care problem, one of the hospitals in the United States created a system, which was used to help people pay their hospital bills.The hospital eventually became Blue Cross.
However, as science, medicine, and hospitals grew more sophisticated and more successful, more people turned to hospitals and doctors for care - and costs continued to rise. Everyone has chances to be sick. Without outside help, it would become a big bill for sick people who wanted to be treated in hospitals. Recently, the US federal government passed a law about Health Care.
Gradually, more and more people in the United States got their own Health Care Insurance. In the twenty-first century, Health Care is a hot issue in our society.President Obama especially focused on the Health Care Problem during his time in office. However, it seems that the US federal government meets a lot of impediment to realize Universal Insurance. “According to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, healthcare is broadly defined and includes any care, service, or supply related to the mental or physical health of an individual.
It is also defined as the treatment, management and prevention of illness and the preservation of the physical and mental well-being of a person with the help of medical and allied health professionals.It includes Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security” (Web, What is Healthcare) I think it is a complete definition for health care. From the definition, it indicates that health care plans help people pay for medical care. In my opinion, everyone should have their own Health Care Insurance. No matter what difficulties or disagreements between lawmakers and leaders in government, they have a responsibility to make sure each one has health care. For everyone has the same right to live in the world with a healthy body.
They should be able to go to a hospital when they are ill.And Universal Insurance should become true in the end. Hopefully, the US federal government tries to realize Universal Insurance. The following statistics speak for themselves.
“The total health care expenditures in the United States are projected at $2,555 billion in 2009. This is a whopping 9,025 percent increase over the almost fifty years shown in the table, or an average of 181 percent per year since 1960” (Brux 184). The number is amazing. It shows that the US government expands financial aid to cover Health Care Insurance to more people year after year.In 2013, the total Health Care expense is expected up to $ 2. 7 trillion.
It means the US government spends one sixth of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to realize Universal Insurance. The total Health Care cost is the highest in the world. In the future, the total cost will become higher and higher. From the statistic, we can find that the US government indeed wants to improve healthcare so that they can make sure everyone in America can enjoy the best treatment with low expense. Secondly, I think president Obama is a good president.In his 2013 inaugural address, president Obama said “We must make the hard choices to reduce the cost of health care and the size of our deficit.
But we reject the belief that America must choose between caring for the generation that built this country and investing in the generation that will build its future…We recognize that no matter how responsibly we live our lives, any one of us, at any time, may face a job loss, or a sudden illness, or a home swept away in a terrible storm.The commitments we make to each other – through Medicare, and Medicaid, and Social Security – these things do not sap our initiative; they strengthen us” ( President Obama inaugural address). He vigorously promotes Health Care to America. As we all know, these years the Subprime Crisis and Financial Crisis has a big influence on the United States. The financial deficit brings a big pressure to President Obama. However, in such a bad condition, the big man still pursues Health Care Insurance.
In short-term, many departments may oppose his decision. But in the long-term, he makes a wise decision.He puts his citizen’s welfare first. He aims to protect all of America. Therefore, I strongly agree with President Obama’s decision. Thirdly, in recent years, the US federal government has also made some Health Care Reform.
They want to use necessary reform to make Health Care more efficient. Brux recaps relevant laws concerning the Obama Health Care Plan: “1. Temporary provision of health care coverage to those who have lost their jobs. 2.
Reauthorization and expansion of the Children’s Health Insurance Program. 3. Computerization of the nation’s health care records. 4.Development and dissemination of information on effective medical interventions and soon on.
From these kinds of reform, we can find that government Health Care Insurance pays more attention to poor people and children” (Brux Chapter 8 PowerPoint 40). Wealthy people have the ability to pay for their health care cost. At the same time, most of them have Health Care Insurance. In opposite, poor people and children are vulnerable groups. They need to be protected. At the very beginning of the paper, it shows that 15% of Americans who have not gotten Health Care Insurance.
In the 15% of Americans, more than 90% of them are poor people or children. In addition, US Health Care uses computers and websites to record patients’ her family or personal medical history, which would increase treatment efficacy. Therefore, I think the Health Care reform that US government made is very useful. On the one hand, it will protect more people in The United States, on the other hand, Computerization of the nation’s health care records has ability to improve treatment efficacy.
Compared with America, many countries do not have as good of a health care system.In Cambodia, part of children should work when they are young. “Ai works as a checker, looking for flaws. She claims to check over 10,000 pairs of jeans per day, which seems like an awful lot.
Phoan fills in wherever she is needed. They earn between $45 and $70 per week, depending on how much overtime they work” (Timmerman, 102). The worse thing is that Ai is a victim Child Labor. In Cambodia, Child Labor has no Health Care Insurance. In such countries, people need to work to support their family.
At the same time, they have no money to pay for their health care.What’s more, if children stop working, their income is zero. When they feel sick, they have no money to take care of themselves. It is very unfortunate.
Therefore, in America, even though some people are poor, they do not worry when they are sick, because government will pay for most of money to protect their health. However, even though President Obama and the US government try to protect Americans with universal Health Care Insurance, there are still some opposing views that do not agree to further expand Heath Care cost.Some departments point out that “waste and inefficiency of Health Care is the primary reason why they reject Health Care” (Burx, 187). I have talked about that the United States spends the most money in the world implementing Health Care Insurance. The question is that where is these money go? Even though the amount of money is big enough, why there are still 15% of people getting nothing from it? Now that spending so much of money cannot make every one covered in the Health Care system, give up may be a wide choice.
Maybe the US government can use this money to develop America.For me, I do not agree with them. But still, in a sense, they are right. Defensive Medicine is a typical example.
Defensive Medicine is “an ordering of unnecessary tests and services by health care professionals solely to protect themselves from charges of malpractice” (Brux 188). The United States government spends so much money on Health Care, which also drives up health care cost. Because it has been estimated that one-half of the caesarean-section deliveries performed in the United States each year are unnecessary. For patients, they just need to cost less and get more health examination.For hospital, they can earn more money by check more patients. In the process, the US government is treated as third-party payment.
Citizens are taxpayers. They prefer to make full use of health care insurance to protect themselves. When people feel sick, they want to do a whole health examination to make sure their own health. They do not think about how to help government save money.
This is why Health Care cost increases years by years. Some departments in The United States want to cut Health Care fiscal. They hope to decrease unnecessary waste and inefficiency.If the United States government follows the advice, America would never realize Universal Insurance. In addition, people in the United States have same right to get Health Care. I think government has responsibility to make sure everyone get Health Care Insurance.
All in all, I think the US government should implement universal health care insurance unhesitatingly. No matter what block the United States Government meet, the public health should always be put in the first place. I support Obama’s decision. He tries to implement Health Care to Everyone in America. At the same time, I support Health Care Reform. I hope Universal Insurance would become true in the future.
