Shirley Wang
Statement - Main Question: Should United States’ health care system be controlled by the government (command economy) or by private businesses (market economy)?
In my opinion, the United States’ health care system should be controlled by the government. Different from the Health Care Systems of Canada, France, Britain and Cuba, the private businesses take control of the Health Care System in the U.S. In fact, the majority of people consider the system as a broken one because poor people do not get the treatment that they need. The private companies care more about their own profit rather than the health of the U.S. citizens. If the system is controlled by the government, there will be better rules and benefit people …show more content…
who are in need more. Paragraph 1 - Identify and explain one NEGATIVE externality that you can identify from Private Health Insurance Companies in the documentary. Ensure to use specific examples from the documentary.
Instead of trying to bring maximum benefits to clients, Private Health Insurance Companies always only care about their own profits. In order to save money, the companies deny the clients who really need the money for treatment, which cause many people’s deaths. As a result, people lose their lives and there are fewer people who will contribute to the U.S.’s GDP.
In the documentary, Dr. Linda Peeno quit her job as a medical reviewer for Humana because she did not agree with the company’s way of doing business. She stated that the company required them to keep a 10% denial rate when they were reviewing cases. In addition, the company would give a bonus to the doctor with highest percentage of denial. Medicine has an inelastic demand which means that when the companies raise the price a lot, the quantity demanded will decrease very little. Since then the private companies can make the price of medicine very high in order to maximize their profit. From the example, we can find that the private insurance company only cares about the profit they can make. Because of this, many people have to move to small houses so that they can have the money to purchase the expensive medicine. It is a very sad situation because citizens in the U.S. do not believe in the private companies anymore because they think that buying the insurance does not help at all. There will be fewer people buying the insurance, therefore the demand of the insurance will go down. As more and more people get sick and are not well treated, the United States will have fewer labors. The supply of labors will go down.
Paragraph 2 - Identify and explain one of the main issues with U.S government in its policies towards health care in the U.S. Ensure to use specific examples from the documentary.
The main issue with U.S. government in its policies towards health care in the U. S. is that the Health Care System in the U.S. is not universal. Most of the health care facilities are owned by private sector businesses. In the United States, citizens pay little taxes and they have to pay a lot of money for treatment when they get sick. In the video, there was a woman been dumped off in the curb because she was unable to pay the hospital bill. About 37 million Americans are without protection against catastrophic illness. The policies made by the U.S. government strongly affect the poor’ lives. It is a fact that Americans live shorter than people in other developed countries. However, it is very difficult for the U.S. government to make the health care system universal because the country has to provide job opportunities to the Americans. Once the country starts to take control of the health care system, the private drugstores, private insurance companies and other facilities will be affected, which means that fewer labors are needed. This is going to increase the unemployment rate in the U.S.
Paragraph 3 - Summarize one of the other Health Care Systems that you saw in the documentary (Choose ONE of Britain, France or Cuba). Is it better or worse than the U.S Health Care System? Ensure to use specific examples from the documentary.
The Health Care System of Britain is better than that of U.S.
In Britain, the Health Care System is controlled by the government. The drugstores charge different medicines for the same price, which is 6.65 pounds. Also, medicine is free for people who are under 18 and over 60. In the state-run hospital operated by National Health Service, people do not pay for seeing a doctor because they are nationally insuranced. Additionally, in the cashier's office, patients can even get their transportation fees from the hospital (government). In the documentary, Moore interviewed a woman who is pregnant in NHS. She told Moore that she got 6 months off paid and she took 6 months off unpaid. She does not need to pay any hospital bill for testing and treatment. It sounds impossible for people living in U.S. In conclusion, the Health Care System in Britain is much better than U.S.’s Health Care System because people in Britain can get the medicine they need for a very low price and they can get their treatment free and in time. People in Britain are much healthier than people in the United States, and they enjoy their lives better. They will be willing to spend money in Britain and help the country’s economy to grow. The country will develop better and demand more job opportunities and
labors.
Paragraph 4 – Conclusion: Should the United States try to move more towards a command economy in terms of the Health Care system? Include two specific reasons to support your answer.
In conclusion, the United States should try to move more towards a command economy in terms of the Health Care system. Firstly, the private insurance companies in the U.S are not trying their best to help patients. They deny the patients who will cost them huge amounts of money which cause the death of some of the patients. From the course, we know that a command economy means the government controls prices and what goods are sold. The health care system controlled by the government will provide better services for the citizens. The prices made by the government will be fair to the poor and the medicine sold will have better quality. The demand of the medicine will increase as people are now able to afford the medicine. Secondly, having a developed health care system controlled by the government means a bright future of America. For many Americans, the health care system nowadays seems to be a mass. People doubt their home country and think that the country is abandoning its citizens who have an absolute trust over the country. If the government can move towards a command economy in terms of the
health care, its people will be more confident and work harder for the country. The demand for private insurance companies will also go down.