Healthcare Should Be Universal In The US, But It Won’t Happen Soon. Here Is Why

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…”

The US was founded on ideals. One of them is equality. We are equal regardless of religion, race, or background.

But if we are all equal, why aren’t we equal when it comes to health coverage?

The Reasons Why Healthcare Isn’t Universal Are Outdated

After World War II, the winning countries lived through a boom. The US rose to become a superpower. Life and money were plentiful for most Americans.

Americans put their money where their mouth was: healthcare. But now, we don’t all have that money. The USA isn’t as plentiful for everyone.

According to Pew Research, the wealth gap between America’s richest and poorer families more than doubled from 1989 to 2016. The US has the largest rich-poor gap in the G7 countries.

G7 is like the Big Boys Club. Together they produce 40% of the global GDP. It is formed by allies like Great Britain, France, Canada, and Japan.

The C Word

There was a time when America was threatened by communism. We lived through the Red Scare.

But those times are long gone. We’ve won the Cold War. Just look at the Russians, we were all scared of them. Turns out, they aren’t as powerful as we were led to believe.

Now, that we’ve won, can we have a bit of universal healthcare? Well, not yet because universal healthcare is a step in the same direction as communism.

Healthcare Price Is Just Stratospheric

Nothing is free; it has never been. Healthcare is not even free in a faraway dreamland called Switzerland.

This is the biggest argument against universal healthcare: someone must pay for it. The problem now, it has gotten so out of control that nobody wants to pay for it.

Not even insurance companies. More and more frequently, insurers break their promise of paying medical bills.

With prices so high, not even the left-leaning citizens would agree on paying for it with tax money.

Perhaps a quick hospital stay will change your mind?

The average hospital stay is around 11,000 to 13,000 per night. Major surgery can cost ten times that.

A Stellar Price for a Less than Stellar Service

Name an area, and the US is more than likely a trendsetter.

Using this same logic, we would think that our healthcare services are worth the price.

The price for any procedure is the highest in the US. But when we look at numbers like infant mortality, life expectancy, or obesity, the US is the worse among the Big Boys (and Girls) of the G7.

A quick look into America’s Health Ranking, we are behind all European countries in infant mortality rate. The US is just behind the Slovak Republic and above Chile’s mortality rate.

The US pays top dollar and yet it can’t beat Chile in life expectancy.

The US pays the most for medications. Just look at insulin, it has remained either stable or higher. Aren’t prices supposed to get lower as technology improves and competitors come in?

Insulin is 10 to 8 times higher in the US than in countries like Germany.

I’d Rather See the Grim Reaper Than an Ambulance

If you are caught without insurance and something major happens, you will end up either bankrupt or in life-long debt.

Four out of 10 Americans have delayed or gone without medical care because of medical costs.

How is an American supposed to have Liberty when 1 in 10 are in major debt because of medical bills?

According to CNBC, of all the filed bankruptcies, 60–65% had something to do with medical bills. The number was 40% in 2000 according to BMJ, a medical journal.

Culturally Unlikely

Culturally, we do not want universal healthcare.

The US is highly individualistic. We, Americans, pride ourselves on that. If everybody else is doing it, we are willing to be contrarians.

Not only that, but we don’t want the government to be involved in many things — healthcare included.

To make matters worse, America’s entrepreneurial spirit and universal healthcare seem to be enemies.

Conclusion

While universal healthcare is not a short-term reality, at the very least healthcare should be affordable.

Some Americans cannot enjoy freedom unless healthcare is affordable. The idea of having healthcare is so that it eases Americans’ lives and pains, but sadly it has become a reason for hardships — financial hardships.

We are not equal unless we all have equal healthcare.

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https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1127305/

https://www.debt.org/medical/hospital-surgery-costs/

https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/finance/survey-medical-bills-affordability-out-pocket-costs

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1127305/

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/02/07/6-facts-about-economic-inequality-in-the-u-s/

International Comparison | 2019 Annual Report | AHR (americashealthrankings.org)

The burden of medical debt in the United States — Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker

Medical bills account for 40% of bankruptcies — PMC (nih.gov)