Healthcare in the United States, as of right now, limits how many people can be covered by government funded insurance associations. Out of all the people living in the U.S. only approximately 20% is covered by any kind of health insurance and of those uninsured, 85% are naturalized or natives of this country. Although many insurance reforms have been suggested, our government has failed to put the sufficient amount of importance on this subject. In 1993, Bill Clinton proposed a major overhaul of the U.S. health care system that would provide universal health insurance within the decade. Apparently this did not occur and now after almost 16 years of waiting, President Obama has stirred up the nation’s awareness of the gravity of the situation. Healthcare has many negative attributes that many people within our nation are unaware of.
Healthcare in the U.S. greatly benefits the older citizens of our nation. Senior citizens from the ages of 65 and up make up most of the insured population. Surprisingly many of those suffering from terminal diseases have no medical coverage and are drowned in medical bills. The United States is the only industrialized nation that does not guarantee access to health care as a right of citizenship. There are approximately 47 million people who are uninsured of which 8.7 are children. Believe it or not working families are the ones who are experiencing double-digit increases in the costs of health insurance, more out-of-pocket costs expenses and have to pay unbelievable high prices for prescriptions. Deductibles are increasing and many companies who offered health insurance at more affordable rates are being forced to increase rates for their employees which force them into having to eliminate health insurance for their families as a whole. Although older citizens have the right to health insurance and most are covered somewhat, 32.5 million seniors and people with disabilities have been forced to pay higher premiums and other Medicare costs. All this information proves that something isn’t right with our healthcare and needs to be changed.
The U.S. government hasn’t paid much importance to this and only cares about receiving their share of profit. The decline in our economy has greatly contributed to the drastic change in healthcare coverage. With such little money entering into lower class family homes, health insurance is the last thing on the list of bills to pay. Over half of bankruptcy is due to medical bills. How it is that one of the most countries in the world has not placed the level of importance on this matter as it is needed, I am not sure but finally we are taking a stand. Our health insurance plans have many negative attributes such as high premiums, lack of coverage on prescriptions and little coverage on emergency hospital visits. Eighteen thousand people die each year because they are uninsured. Our healthcare doesn’t cover much but medical expenses keep increasing. Older citizens, people with disabilities, children and those suffering from terminal diseases should receive extra help when it comes to medical insurance but that is not the case.
According to the UN Human Development Report, “The uninsured are less likely to have regular outpatient care, so they are more likely to be hospitalized for avoidable health problems. Once in hospital, they receive fewer services and are more likely to die in the hospital than are insured patients. They also receive less preventive care. Over 40% of the uninsured do not have a regular place to go when they are sick and over a third of the uninsured say that they or someone in their family went without needed care, including recommended treatments or prescription drugs in the last year, because of cost.” “Over a third (36%) of families living below the poverty line are uninsured. Hispanic Americans (34%) are more than twice as likely to be uninsured as white Americans, (13%) while 21% of black Americans have no health insurance.” Many of the deaths caused are due to the patient being unaware of their condition. Those who are uninsured are obviously less likely to have a regular doctor and can go years without being a disease being detected. Hispanic are more likely to have health insurance in America than actual American natives. The U.S. Government should put the same amount of energy in working towards acquiring health insurance for their legalized citizens.
The U.S. not only has a horrible economy at the moment, but is not spending enough time focusing on the well being of the people. If only health insurance was available at a more affordable rate then more would be covered. You would think that after looking at all the facts things would have changed but they haven’t. According to the UN Human Development Report, while the United States leads the world in spending on health care, “countries spending substantially less than the US have healthier populations.… The infant mortality rate for the U.S. is now higher than for many other industrial countries.” Money is not the issue it is lack of concern.
