Healthcare in the United States: A System that Underserves the American People

By: Connor Copeland

In the United States, health insurance is regarded as a privilege rather than a right. Millions of poor Americans do not receive essential medical care due to a lack of insurance. Unlike most modernized countries, the United States uses a mixture of private and public insurances. This system leaves millions of Americans uninsured every year. In 2018, 27.9 million people did not have health insurance and this figure is rising by the millions annually.

The United States healthcare system is composed of a mixture of both private and public sectors. Most healthcare is provided by the private sectors and most hospitals are run by non-government organizations. While these hospitals are non-government owned, 70% are non-profit organizations. Hospital stays are very expensive, even more so for those who are not insured. Due to these large costs, the US healthcare system is failing a large number of people. In 2007, 116 million people didn’t access available healthcare due to the threat of medical debt. There are two main government-funded health forms of insurance: Medicare and Medicaid. Medicare is federally funded and Medicaid is individual to each state. The majority of elderly and disabled citizens receive Medicare; however, Medicaid provides insurance to low-income families and individuals. A single parent who makes minimum wage is considered above the poverty line and cannot receive insurance. This also applies to most single adults. Medicaid does not provide the care that those under the plan need, with most still paying large copays and costs.

The Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare, was created in 2010 in order to lower healthcare costs and provide access to those who were ineligible to receive health insurance from their jobs. Obamacare only operates if regulations, individual mandates, and subsidies are balanced. If not, the entire program would collapse. The Affordable Care Act has a guaranteed issue, meaning that anyone eligible for the program will not be denied coverage, regardless of their health. There is also a similar cost for all people who are presently sick so they will not have to pay more fees like regular insurances. The main problem with Obamacare is that only sick people would purchase it due to the fact that healthy people could just buy private insurance if and when they need it. This issue would cause premiums, the amount of money someone pays for an insurance plan, to skyrocket. To combat this a penalty was introduced for those who didn’t buy Obamacare, this is $95 or 1% of their income. This is known as the Individual Mandate and it requires citizens to have healthcare, those who cannot afford to get a tax credit in the form of subsidies. Obamacare has helped millions of Americans get access to affordable and better quality healthcare. But, it has created more fees for the American people to pay (ie higher taxes, premiums, and individual mandates), that cause those who belong to private plans, common people of the middle class to see their expenses rise.

The Trump Administration has vowed to repeal Obamacare, particularly the Individual Mandate. Many people did not believe that the Affordable Care Act would be successful for a myriad of reasons. The most prominent issue was the penalty for those who did not have health insurance - the individual mandate. Some Americans believed they should not have to pay for insurance if they don’t want it, but if this happened the entire program would be void. This meant that healthy people who only bought insurance when they needed it were at a disadvantage, due to the fact that they would be forced to pay additional expenses. People also believed that it put too much control over people’s lives in the hands of the government. But, many Democrats thought it was too far off from a fully government-funded program that they wanted. In 2017, the House of Representatives voted to replace most of the Affordable Care Act with the American Health Care Act. This act repealed Obamacare’s tax increases, subsidies, penalties, and individual mandates, therefore causing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to become very hard to maintain.

By implementing a universal healthcare system, every American would have access to health insurance and receiving the care they need. Socialized health care systems, common in countries in Europe like Sweden, would save the government from spending additional money and offer better care to our citizens. People opposed to universal healthcare argue that they shouldn’t have to pay for someone else’s medical expenses; but in reality, they already do. Private insurance uses the money that people pay monthly to allot it to other payers with medical expenses. Universal healthcare would not be free to Americans, as we would all have to pay a tax-based fee on our individual income. There are two ways that this could be implemented: a single-payer system or a pluralistic system. A single-payer system would be government-run and would cover everyone based on their ability to pay. It brings lower hospital administration costs and better quality and access; however, it restricts spending which could lead to a shortage of services, delays in treatment, and less freedom to choose. The second option, a pluralistic system, would involve the government, private, for-profit, and non-profit organizations. This system would guarantee everyone coverage and government subsidies. Although neither of these ideas are perfect, they could be much more beneficial to the citizens of the U.S. than the current system. Either of these systems would be effective for the US and could provide needed medical treatment to underprivileged people.

Universal Health Care is necessary for the United States in order to produce a better quality of life and allow everyone to have access to the care they need. We are in a 1st-world country, yet thousands of people die every year because they can’t afford insurance. People should not have to die because of this. Medicaid is supposed to provide for the poor, but it undercuts millions of people every year due to its strict guidelines. Rich politicians are contributing to this system because they are too selfish to make a program that would support everyone. Many of the former presidential candidates were in favor of reforming and expanding health coverage, but they all dropped out. President Trump has been strongly against proposals that would expand health care and support immigrants. He has pushed an agenda of spreading lies about our healthcare system and ways a socialized system would benefit us. He has said that a socialized system would be expensive, but other countries that follow this represent a cheaper model, such as the United Kingdom.

The United States government is failing millions of Americans every year, and we need a change. The wealthy should not be the only ones that can afford to get sick. Americans shouldn’t be denied a fundamental right.

Edited By: Austen Wyche and Khushi Patel

Posted June 3, 2020

Recent from The Teen View: