Iana McGuire Lima
Johnston
English 1A (1,378 words)
April 7, 2007
NOW is the Time for Universal Healthcare
About two million Americans lose health insurance, at least temporarily, every month. This lack of coverage is usually due to job loss or switch, student status, retirement, or entry-level, service industry, or small business jobs. Cost controls have put a lid on federal spending into the public health budget, so doctors, hospitals, and insurance companies have shifted their costs to employers. In just six years (from 2000 to 2006) employer-sponsored insurance premiums rose 87%, but the inflation rate was just 18%. Because health costs are rising faster than incomes, more and more employers are being forced to drop what coverage they do offer.
With the average family premium at $11,480- a year, health insurance now costs more than the yearly salary of a minimum-wage worker. Most working families without job-related healthcare benefits just can’t afford these outrageously priced insurance plans. Even “at three times the federal poverty level ($60,000- for a family of four), health insurance is still expensive… it’s not feasible to have someone spend 20, 30, or 40 percent of income on health insurance.” states Jonathan Gruber, a professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
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The many recent state proposals of universal healthcare coverage plans show that the US is ready for change. Simmons, of the National Coalition on Health Care, contends that “we don’t think that any single state, no matter how large,” can accomplish universal coverage of its residents “without major federal policy changes.” States don’t have steady, reliable financing or the legal flexibility needed to provide coverage to all of their residents. This explains why mostly all of the proposed plans have required individuals to pay (along with limited state-funded subsidies) for private health insurance. About 45 million Americans (15% of the US population) lacked health insurance in 2005, and because healthcare costs to employers and individuals are rising faster than wages and inflation (and have been for the past 45 years), the number of uninsured is only going to rise; therefore, the US government should enact a 5% income tax and use the money to fund a universal healthcare plan that would cover medical care and medicine for all children and taxpaying residents residing in the US.
Many Americans agree when they argue that “social (universal) insurance for health would unite the entire population into a single risk pool and serve everyone’s long-term interest,” states Thomas Bodenheimer, professor of community medicine at UC San Francisco. “ Though younger people would pay for older people, and healthy people for sick people, this would even out in the end since the young will one day be old and the healthy injured or sick.” Access to healthcare would not depend on one’s job, education, age, or health status and could, therefore, be ensured. Families could utilize preventative and rehabilitative care as needed, versus either receiving neither due to being uninsured
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or having insurance policies that do not cover these important aspects of health maintenance. Americans would have the security of knowing that if the need for emergency medical services were to arise, they would get the needed care and would not go into debt (as many uninsured do) over it. Retired citizens on fixed incomes could count on receiving needed services, instead of spending any savings on insurance to supplement Medicare (which offers limited services).
Others maintain that health insurance should remain a voluntary purchase and should continue to be managed by private companies. The fact of the matter is: this current system just isn’t working. There are too many people who want, but can’t afford, health insurance. There aren’t enough people paying into private insurance pools, causing the premiums for the insured to keep rising. Because just over 15% of the US population is uninsured, those who do pay for healthcare are already paying too much in order for hospitals and medical workers to compensate for treating people who don’t pay for services. The government already allows billions of taxpayer dollars to be used for just this purpose. Let’s not overlook that “US healthcare costs are the world’s highest because of insurers high administrative and marketing costs and because American doctors and medical suppliers enjoy higher profits and salaries than their counterparts in other industrialized countries.” States Marcia Clemmit, a writer for Congressional Quarterly Researcher. Insurance companies have thousands of different policies linked to hundreds of different healthcare plans. Paul Menzel, a professor at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington and Donald Light, professor of comparative healthcare at the
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University of Pennsylvania argue that “The billions of dollars paid annually for managing, marketing, and profiting from the current fragmented system could be drastically cut” if insurers had to take all applicants rather than carefully maneuvering their policies, premiums, and marketing strategies to attract only the healthiest, lowest-risk buyers. Getting everyone covered under uniform benefit packages would create huge, immediate savings, but it would also take major federal intervention.
Many feel that mandating another tax increase isn’t fair and that the government would secure too great a role in the medical field. I would argue that a 5% tax for everyone (which would, therefore, guarantee healthcare for all) makes more sense that asking individuals to pay up to 40% of their salary for limited services. Requiring individuals to pay into a health fund would relieve many employers struggling to pay the rising worker premiums (many either drop workers or benefits). Unless everyone participates, no functioning healthcare system can develop. And, unless the government requires participation, this won’t happen. People need to realize that the government already has an influence over the practice of medicine. Where employer-sponsored coverage has waned and policies offer less coverage for more money, the government has had to pick up as much slack as possible. There is no way to separate government from the healthcare system. In fact, every democratic contender for the 2008 presidential nomination advocates universal healthcare coverage. “There is no alternative to pushing forward with universal insurance.” States Harold Pollack, professor at the University Of
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Chicago School of Social Service Administration. “The current system is no longer able to accomplish important things we expect from our healthcare.”
Many worry that the quality of healthcare would decrease if universal insurance was initiated. Let me reveal some startling truths: According to the World Health Organization, the US is ranked 37th in overall quality of care (based on adult and infant mortality rates) and 24th among industrialized nations in life expectancy. These are unnecessarily low rankings for the country spending billions more than any other on healthcare. I argue that the quality of care would get better if universal insurance was mandated. Uninsured individuals rarely receive appropriate care at the appropriate time. According to a recent study by the consumer advocacy group Families USA, “uninsured children admitted to a hospital due to an injury are twice as likely to die and 46% less likely to receive rehabilitation after hospitalization.” Working-age uninsured patients eventually enter the health system sicker than they would have been had they been insured. With universal coverage, everyone would be ensured access to the care needed as needed, and care would be based on need rather than insurance status.
According to a University of California at San Diego study, if health premiums continue rising at their current rate, about 56 million Americans are predicted to be uninsured by 2013. The increase will cause 4,500 additional unnecessary deaths per year and $16 to $32 billion in lost economic productivity. Because of this, the government should enact a 5% income tax and use the money to fund a universal healthcare plan that would cover medical care and medicine for all children and taxpaying residents. In
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review of the information regarding the current healthcare crisis in the US, I believe my proposed plan of universal healthcare insurance would be a great leap ahead into a more nurturing and physically healthy society. Former governor of Oregon John Kitzhaber (an emergency-room physician) eloquently states my feelings on health best when he says that good health “is the first rung on the ladder of opportunity…the cornerstone of a democratic society, allowing people to…be productive and to take advantage of the opportunities of upward mobility.”