Arguments Against Universal Healthcare
On the other side of the issue, one the reigning arguments of the opposition is based in the monetary burden placed upon the nation, both government and people, if universal healthcare should be instituted in the United States. The total cost of healthcare in the US at this time is $3.8 trillion with a projection estimating that costs will rise to $5 trillion by 2022 (Munro, 2014). The US pays 160% more for prescription drugs than the Netherlands, who has a strong healthcare system, but more surprisingly the US pays 36% more than the two countries, Japan and Canada, who follow the US in the greatest amount of money spent on healthcare (Whitacker, 2015). Hospital costs for the United States average at $10,300 per stay and make up 16% of all
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This is out of their own pocket straight to private industry healthcare providers while costs continue to rise and rise. As I spoke earlier in this paper, there are multiple ways to boost the economy and acquire the funds needed to support a universal healthcare system in the United States while lowering the overall cost for the average citizen. I will refrain from reiterating all of the solutions I mentioned previously. First, allowing private insurance companies to continue to exist but as entities that are more regulated by the government. For those who are able and willing to purchase their health insurance through a private company, this would allow them to splurge for extra options and coverages outside of the basic provided package. These individuals who are provided healthcare through the private industry would not be a “burden” on the government provided system, freeing costs for those who need assistance to acquire healthcare. Second, the system of taxation that was outlined earlier in the paper is based on the one currently in place in Korea and has the makings of a fair and equitable system. As a way to avoid “taxing [citizens] to death” the system, to reiterate, is based on what each individual is reasonably able to provide based on their income and property. Those whose income is greater provide more into the system, and those who have only a little will not be unreasonably burdened by the system. No evidence has emerged from the Korean system, or from any other nation with universal healthcare like the Netherlands, that tax-based systems have resulted in citizens losing vast amounts of money or causing them to go bankrupt. Alternately, after Canada implemented it’s tax based system of health care, the average citizen of the nation became gradually wealthier than the average citizen of the United States and studies have shown that this change was a direct
This is out of their own pocket straight to private industry healthcare providers while costs continue to rise and rise. As I spoke earlier in this paper, there are multiple ways to boost the economy and acquire the funds needed to support a universal healthcare system in the United States while lowering the overall cost for the average citizen. I will refrain from reiterating all of the solutions I mentioned previously. First, allowing private insurance companies to continue to exist but as entities that are more regulated by the government. For those who are able and willing to purchase their health insurance through a private company, this would allow them to splurge for extra options and coverages outside of the basic provided package. These individuals who are provided healthcare through the private industry would not be a “burden” on the government provided system, freeing costs for those who need assistance to acquire healthcare. Second, the system of taxation that was outlined earlier in the paper is based on the one currently in place in Korea and has the makings of a fair and equitable system. As a way to avoid “taxing [citizens] to death” the system, to reiterate, is based on what each individual is reasonably able to provide based on their income and property. Those whose income is greater provide more into the system, and those who have only a little will not be unreasonably burdened by the system. No evidence has emerged from the Korean system, or from any other nation with universal healthcare like the Netherlands, that tax-based systems have resulted in citizens losing vast amounts of money or causing them to go bankrupt. Alternately, after Canada implemented it’s tax based system of health care, the average citizen of the nation became gradually wealthier than the average citizen of the United States and studies have shown that this change was a direct