my paper on health care

Reforming a Broken System:
Healthcare in the United States
When a person is sick, has a broken bone, or needs yearly tests done, why do they cringe at the fact that they have to go to the doctor? Because chances are they are part of the one-third of American adults that do not have a regular doctor. They are probably also part of the 46 million people that do not have health care in the United States or about 15% of the entire population. The U.S. is one of the most industrialized countries in the world, yet the healthcare system is one of the worst in the world. In 2005 over 600 billion dollars was spent on healthcare, yet 46 million do not have healthcare insurance of any kind. To show how much 600 billion dollars is, it was roughly one-fourth of the federal budget in 2005. Clearly there is a problem here. Reform is needed in this aspect of the U.S. because people are dying or avoiding getting serious help because they can’t afford it.
More and more people are dying each year from the lack of healthcare. Growing up my mother did not work for a number of years, and it was just my mother, brother, and I. she used to pay privately for health care at roughly 1000 dollars per month with a co pay of 15 dollars per office visit and a 1000 dollar deductable. Most people cannot afford to pay 12,000 dollars per year for healthcare, especially in inner cities and for older people. Even if one pays just themselves that is still approximately 333 dollars per month for just one person. Since then my mother has insurance through her work for her and myself. She now pays roughly 200 dollars per month for her and I, which is a substantial decrease from what she paid when I was younger. Before she was able to gain insurance through her work, she was paying 95 dollars for me through young adult blue with a 1000-dollar deductable and 20-dollar co pay. During this time I was rushed to the emergency room and then had to stay in the hospital for 4 days. This roughly cost my mother 3500 dollars because it was not covered by the insurance. Yes there was some type of payment plan, however most people could not pay this on their own. Here in lies the problem. Insurance costs are way to expensive for the normal person without insurance, or with some insurance that does not cover everything. Fortunately I had some type of health care but for others that is not the case. I wish to explore why people can’t afford coverage or why people choose not to have coverage based on their need. I also want to know first hand what goes through people’s minds within the system itself.
Is a universal healthcare of sorts the right step towards reform? Some say yes, because of the rising number in uninsured Americans. The opposition typically believes that it is not the government’s duty to provide insurance for all and that insurance for all is a step towards socialism. The reason most are opposed is because of the country to the north of the U.S. Canada. They currently have a universal health care system, and the opponents of reform see that system as broken. They also do not want to pay taxes for other people’s health care. Opponents believe if the costs were lower, that more people could afford it, and that government need not step in. Another belief associated is competition. Competition typically drives the cost down; right now in our current system competition is only within each state. However, if it were competing nationally instead of states, then costs would be lower. Finally, some opponents believe that taxing others who can afford it for people who can’t is not right and is a violation of America’s policies. I wish to further get information on people, which are for or against a healthcare reform. The people who are for I want to find out what exactly they wish to reform and how they would go about reforming it. For the opposition I wish to gain insight if they believe that there is no reform needed, I must get answers as to why reform is not needed. If the opposition feels reforms are needed, then again which reforms and how would one go about reforming.


i welcome any and all feedback thanks.