Universal Healthcare For America Essay

Kade Styron
Professor Mosley
English 1101
21 February 2023
Universal Healthcare: Is it For America?
Universal health care in America may sound like a dream, but it would be a flawed system. Universal Health Care is a system in which everyone has equal access to free healthcare without discrimination. Currently, America has a mixed system of health care. In general, healthcare is from private insurance companies, however, we also give government healthcare to people in need through systems like Medicare. America’s current mixed system is a better fit for the United States because of its greater efficiency and lower cost.
A mixed system of healthcare is more beneficial for America than a Universal Healthcare system would be due to its substantial

Every business, including hospitals, is primarily focused on making money. This desire for income drives private hospitals to increase their efficiency and constantly improve their system. If a Universal system of healthcare was implemented in America, there would only be government-owned hospitals that lack the incentive to be as efficient as possible. We can look at the wait time of countries close to America like Canada where “Specialist physicians surveyed report a median waiting time of 27.4 weeks between referral from a general practitioner and receipt of treatment” (Barua and Moir 1). According to Phillip Miller, the vice president of communications for AMN healthcare, in America, where a mixed system is currently used, it “takes an average of 26.0 days to schedule a new patient physician appointment in 15 of the largest cities in the United States” (Miller 2). This shows a difference between the healthcare wait times in America and in a country with a Universal healthcare system. Another fact to note is that this wait is not due to the number of available physicians. The website Health System Tracker shows that the United States has fewer physicians per capita than other comparable countries that have universal healthcare such

“Universal Health Coverage is achieved when everybody receives the healthcare, they need without suffering financial hardship” (The Elders 1). This means that theoretically anyone could receive quality treatment without discrimination of income. However, economists estimate that 85% of tax-paying Medicaid recipients and 66% of tax-paying Medicare recipients would pay more if a Universal Healthcare system was implemented (Baldacci and Moffit 24). This demonstrates how Universal health care would actually hurt the impoverished as they are the ones under government assistance already. A mixed Health Care system is a great compromise that benefits those in need without an atrocious cost. Switching to a Universal health care system is bound to have many costs that come with it. The only real Universal health care plan was made by Bernie Sanders during his 2016 presidential campaign. However, his plan seems unfinished as there is very little talk about how it is going to get paid for. Sander’s office gave a few suggestions including a 4% income tax, a 7.5% tax on employers, and more. However, all of this wouldn’t be enough to cover estimates made by many economists. “The proposal would require combined payroll and income taxes of 20 percent... a vast majority of working Americans would pay more for health care than they do today” (Baldacci and Moffit 23).