Health Insurance Debacle
Over the last year one of the very controversial problems in TV and in campaign was affordability of health care and I was interested in that problem and I would like to discuss my opinion about pros and cons of that issue. Should health care be free for people that can’t afford it? I will try to cover this question in two parts. First I will examine the costs and negative consequences of covering those who cannot afford health insurance. Then, I will look at benefits and arguments in favor of this coverage.
One of the problems that comes to my mind, is that covered people will want to have this kind benefit too, and they will modify their behavior to become eligible for this insurance. They migh start working and earning less, and the consequence is that everyone will be worse off. If coverage will be free, people might also squander it, for example by doing lots of unnecessary health checks, and as a result everyone will be worse off because of overuse of limited medical facilities and resources. In addition, the affluent people will feel resentment because most of the cost of extending the coverage will fall on them. These people will not qualify for such coverage, and they will not benefit from it, but they will pay for it. Their resentment might materialize into political action that will eventually hamper extension of health insurance to those who cannot afford it.
Next problem is that there might be some free riders, such as Wall Mart. These free riders will push their workers to become a public burden.
Another concern is that government will spend more from its outlays and tax subsidies for health care institutes and take money from schools and other social programs. Government protects our borders, provides security in the country, and finances our schools, libraries and scientific experiments, and so on.
Last, but not least foreigners will come to US to get free and quality healthcare and they will not pay any taxes, this will prove extra burden for all US citizen who will get hardly anything tangible in return.
However, there are many benefits, too. The most important to remember is that the health care has a profound human dimension to it. Without health care people will die sooner and in greater numbers. Also, the current health system in the US puts hard-working middle class people in tremendous disadvantage relatively to everyone else. They are not poor enough to get Medical, yet medical costs can still bankrupt them. These people have to make very hard choices when they select the right balance between coverage and amount of premiums.
Part of the reason is that health insurance programs do their best to limit coverage. So, People have to pay thousands of dollars per year if they do have insurance. I think it would be fair to admit that these people also should have an access to same coverage as the most poor people. Without that even small illness can many this people bankrupt and leave them in poverty for good.
One of responses to arguments against extending coverage to those who cannot afford it is that most uninsured people are working families. Working families are heart of our society and most of them are young families raising: children. Children are very disadvantaged because they do not vote and they are not visible in media and Government has to take special care of them.
Also people that can’t afford health insurance will not work in risky jobs like - rescuing someone from the fire or water; curing someone with bad diseases and medical conditions; building houses and bridges; riding tracks for a long distance. Providing this protection to everyone will assure people to live happier and more productive lives.
Although free insurance for some people does come into conflict with ideals of free market, lack of it might damage lives and prospects of too many people. So, I think Government has fundamental responsibility to provide free healthcare for people that can’t afford it. In my opinion Healthcare should be affordable for everyone and every person should be able to get professional health check and care. It is not right to put responsibility on uninsured people; health care is a basic human right.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhis/earlyrelease/insur200806.htm
http://ebri.matrixgroup.net/publications/ib/index.cfm?fa=ibDisp&content_id=3975
http://www.nchc.org/facts/coverage.shtml
http://www.onlyfinance.com/Health-Insurance-News/12754889-Can-you-afford-to-retire.aspx
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Consumer-Watchdog-Obama-Open-Medicare/story.aspx?guid=%7BDDDF83CF-62F2-4018-B313-10B764EB68E8%7D
http://www.epi.org/content.cfm/bp175
