The popular idea of universal health care is not as easy as President Barack Obama makes it seem. In actuality this system should not even be proposed as it is something that simply should not function in the United States.
President Barack Obama said “…It will be hard. But I also know that nearly a century after Teddy Roosevelt first called for reform the cost of our health care has weighed down our economy and the conscience of our nation long enough. So let there be no doubt: health care reform cannot wait it must not wait and it will not wait another year.”
Universal health care is a major issue today. People are often bickering over whether universal health care is the right way to go to keep health care the way it is or even to apply a new health care plan to improve what we have now. Universal health care makes care accessible to all eligible residents and usually covers medical dental and mental health care. Costs for this care are generally covered by government-funded programs.
By contrast private insurance is insurance that pays for medical expenses and when used more broadly can also cover disability treatment or long-term nursing care. It can be provided either through a government-sponsored social insurance program or from private insurance companies. It is either purchased on a group basis by companies or by individual persons. By paying co-pays or premiums consumers protect themselves from expensive or unexpected health care expenses. Also other benefits within the current system include expenses being paid for through social welfare programs funded by the government.
Obama believes that the best way is universal health care and some of his policies have already been implemented through the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization (CHIP) Act and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).
According to the White House CHIP provides quality health care to 11 million kids – 4 million of whom were previously insured. ARRA provides health coverage for 7 million Americans who have lost their jobs and invests $19 billion in computerized medical recorders which will help reduce costs and improve quality and privacy of patients.
These do seem like potentially great ideas. However one must ask where President Obama is going to come up with the kind of money needed to fund his plan and ideas? We are in an economic recession with $1.6 trillion in debt and we have other expenses looming on the horizon
The president seems to think that the way to take care of this is to put heavier taxes on the families or individuals who earn $200000 or more a year. But this is not fair. To put it simply: Just because a certain percentage of the American public happens to fall in this higher income bracket it is not their responsibility to carry those who do not. Those who make this amount of money have worked hard to earn it and deserve every penny they make. These people have spent the time and effort to go to school have become educated and have taken advantage of every opportunity that has been offered to them to improve their situation so that they can have a better life. To be taxed further than what they already are is both senseless and unreasonable.
Republicans in Congress have come up with an alternate proposal: The Patients’ Choice Act of 2009. The focus of the proposal is to push for a guaranteed choice of coverage in the private market through federal-state partnerships now known as health insurance exchanges. The Patients’ Choice Act of 2009 would effectively end tax breaks for employers who provide health coverage to their workers and would instead give a $5710 tax cut to families and a $2290 cut to individuals to help them pay for health insurance coverage. This is a wiser approach to the issue because although it would be a change it would not be extremely drastic and therefore it is more prone to work.
Overall even though universal health care has a kind motive to help those who cannot afford health care one must look at the big picture and see that its overall affect would not benefit the American society. Doctors would lose drive to shine in their field of work and many without jobs may continue without jobs due to reliance upon the government’s aid in one way or another.