Health Care in the United States

The United States in one of the richest, most populous and most powerful countries in the world and plays a central leadership role in the world. On the world stage, the U.S. often challenges other countries about their records regarding human rights. Yet the United States is failing its own citizens by not granting every citizen access to basic health care. Many citizens in the United States needlessly suffer and die each day due to the inequities of the health care system in the U.S. This is a horrible national catastrophe! The United States needs to provide universal health care to all of its citizens and legal residents. While the issue is very complex and touches many people and institutions, it is a problem that can and must be solved.

The United States has one of the worst health care systems in the world and is the only developed democracy without a universal health care system. France has a universal health care system that is funded by taxes from income, from pharmaceutical companies, and health harming products such as tobacco. There is a co-payment for certain services, but every citizen is entitled to health care. France spent 10% of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on health care in 2000. Denmark, interestingly enough, has a universal health care system that is free to all citizens. It is government funded, 82.2% by taxes. Citizens are required to pay for procedures such as cosmetic surgery if it is not for a health purpose. Denmark spent 8.4% of GDP on health care in 2000. Australia also has a universal health care system that spent about 8.5% of GDP on health care in 2000 (Health care systems). The United States government spent 15.3% of their GDP on health care in 2003. In the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), an organization of developed countries around the world, 15.3% is more than any other country spends. The average is 8.2%. The United States also spent $6,500 per capita on health care, which again is more then any other country in the OECD. In comparison, the average for spending per capita is about $4,940 in 2003. The shocking and poignant truth is that the U.S. spends more than any other country for health care and twice as much as the OCED average and yet many people are uninsured and do not have access to even basic health care services (Public Agenda).

This indicates staggering inefficiency. In countries in the OECD, government revenues cover 72% of health care spending. In the majority of the countries that were listed above, Australia, Denmark, and France, the main funding comes from taxes paid to the government. In comparison, the United States government only finances 44% of the health care program. The government and employers are the primary sources of health care funding in the United States. In Denmark the government pays for 100% of health insurance; it is considered free as long as you are a citizen even without being employed. Some countries have a Medicaid system that covers the poor; Australia, within the last five years, has developed a Medicare system that will cover all the uninsured and is government financed. In other countries, employers account for at most 30% of health care funding, if even any funding at all (Health care systems).

Because the United States spends the most on a health care system, one would think that most people in the U.S. would be healthy. This is not the case. Surprisingly, the United States does not have a particularly high life expectancy rate. Switzerland, Japan, Iceland, Spain and Australia are the OECD countries with the highest life expectancy rates. From the years 1960 to 2002, the U.S. life expectancy has increased about 7 to 8 years while Japan’s has increased about 14 years. The average life span for OECD countries is 77.8 years while for the U.S. it is 77.2 years. Another significant health factor in the United States is the obesity rate, which is the highest in OCED countries; about one-third of the population is considered obese. For a country that spends 2 trillion dollars on health care, these numbers are hardly impressive. A universal health care system would benefit the United States by positively impacting all of these statistics and eventually bringing the U.S. into better health compared to the rest of the world (United Health Foundation).

There are many people in the United States who are not covered by health insurance. In 2002, 31.4% of the people ages 18 to 24 were uninsured and 11.2% of the people who were under 18 were uninsured. Also in 2002, 44.2% of the families living in poverty had children who did not have health insurance. When families are in poverty without health insurance, they end up being charged the full amount for medical care. They are further stuck in poverty, having to pay for the hospital bills, any prescription drugs, and any follow up appointments. This is a vicious cycle that inadvertently keeps people without health insurance in poverty. When people are sick and cannot afford to visit the hospital, they then could miss work, get fired, or not be able to search for a job. Universal health care would eliminate this destructive cycle by providing basic health care for all without regard to income level (Public Agenda).

Another chief concern about the current health care system is that the Medicare and Medicaid programs will run out of money. The Medicaid program is a government health insurance program for poor and disabled; there are strict income and financial resource guidelines for a person to qualify for Medicaid support and these are developed and enforced by each state. Medicare is a health insurance program for the elderly. The Medicare and Medicaid systems are funded in part by the annual federal budget. There has been much written in the press during the last few years about the high cost of the federal entitlement programs which include Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. As the demographics of the population in the U.S. changes, with a large population of retirees, some say these programs are in danger of causing a major financial crisis. Basically the U.S. is having a hard time financing the people who use these three programs because the number of people who are getting older and qualify is becoming a larger percent of population. Right now there is money that is being contributed to these programs from taxes, but in the current economy in the next couple of years there will be more people using these three programs then there will be financing them. This is the primary concern of those who oppose a universal health care initiative. They believe that the U.S. does not have the money to pay for universal health care when the existing programs are in danger of bankruptcy at some point in the future. This concern needs to be effectively addressed for a national health care plan to be successful The solution must be viable in the long