Health care in the United States needs reform. An estimated 36 million Americans do not have any health insurance in case of an accident or should any other health problem arise. The 36 million are the ones who need it the most. Some families, who already have insurance, could probably pay one of these staggering bills. What about the 36 million with the same health problems? They could never pay a hospital bill of today. Why? It is because they are too poor to pay an additional cost of insurance let alone the cost of actual care. My point is this - if a person can afford health insurance, they can also afford to go to a doctor for preventative care. People who can barely meet their other bills, and cannot afford insurance, will not go to the doctor until it's absolutely necessary. The low-income patient doesn't usually seek preventative care. They don't contact a doctor at the first sign of illness, and by the time they see a doctor, the illness may have already gotten out of hand.
Let's take a case study. Suppose there is a low-income individual. This individual is a man in his late 40s. He could not afford the added cost of health insurance. If you think you are healthy, you will not gamble your limited money on protection against something that may not happen, when you can instead pay for electricity, water and food. If you cannot pay an insurance bill, you will not have the money to go to a doctor whenever you feel a little under the weather. Instead, you go to work to pay for the electricity, water and food. You hope it's a common cold or something else that will go away with time. This individual gets alone until a problem arises. Let's say he experiences the warning signs of a heart attack, but he ignores them and works instead. Eventually he has the attack, and now the added costs are up to $50 thousand. Let me remind you, he has no insurance. If he could have afforded basic care in the first place, it might not have happened. If he had of had a check-up to find that he had high blood pressure, the cost would have been too low to even compare to this staggering bill that now awaits him. If his condition warrants another visit to the hospital in the future, he may be turned down because of unpaid bills from prior visits. Many people cannot afford decent care. These are not just Medicare and Medicaid recipients, that cannot afford it. There are more and more working Americans who earn too much money to qualify for federal aid, but too little to afford care. The system will not better itself until the government steps in and makes some decisions. This is where it gets complicated. There are many different angles and many different solutions to consider.
I feel that preventative care is the answer. Let's cut down on the amount we are spending, by way of Medicare and Medicaid on such sickneses as the common cold, which there is no cure for. Why should all Americans pick up the bill for someone's cold when they can't afford that good of care themselves? Let's take this money saved and put it toward preventative care for many more Americans. We don't have to spend more money, just spend it more wisely I think these federal programs are good but we need to watch where the money is going.
Should medical expenses be left up to the individual, state governments, federal governments, or the employers? I think many individuals need extra help. I think any regulation should be done on the national level. It is a national problem.
Many people are trying to push the cost of health care onto the private businesses. This is outrageous! It goes against the principle of pay for completed work. Why should a small business have to pay for an employee's daughter's broken arm that she received at school? The employer shouldn't have to pay directly with health insurance or indirectly through a federal payroll tax. This accident didn't happen at the place of employment, nor did it even happen to the employee. This employee did not produce any goods. How can a business keep afloat when money is being spent, but no shipments are going out? Eventually the business will go bankrupt if it is not producing. General Motors spent $3.2 billion on health care in 1990. This is more than it spent on steel. If businesses are forced to provide health care, they will have to cut their own costs. This cut could be met by cutting workers. Of course, this way the unemployed could always collect welfare and Medicaid. I guess eventually, although living unproductive lives, they get their care paid for. That is a sarcastic outlook, but many people feel this way.
The government could give more of the federal money paid to graduate medical education to the students who plan to practice primary medicine. This would give us more general practices that would cost less than hospitals.
There is a lot of waste and fraud in health care. Doctors rune extra tests in order to clear their liability just in case of a malpractice suit. The courts could put a limit on the amount a person could receive from the courts for pain and suffering.
The truth is health cost will not go down until something is done. The U.S. spent $671 billion on health care in 1990, which is twice the amount spent eight years ago. I think we ought to work for preventative, good, long-term health care. I feel the way to do this is through a national insurance plan It would provide a basic care to all individuals. Not only this, but the government could weed out unnecessary costs and outrageous charges.