National Healthcare
With 42 million Americans without health insurance, the quality of life in the United States will continue to get worse without a better plan to provide every American with affordable healthcare (Wexler 1). We must consider national healthcare a top priority or the number of uninsured will increase greatly in the near future. ... I firmly believe that having millions of Americans unable to afford health insurance is a serious threat to our social and economic development and we must push our lawmakers to develop and fund a program to provide all Americans with healthcare services. For a country such as the United States that is considered a world leader in many areas, and is known to have the best physicians and medical technology in the world, healthcare services are not affordable for an increasing number of people. According to the US Census Bureau in 2002, fifteen percent of the total 288 million people living in the United States do not have healthcare insurance (Wexler 1). ... Paying for healthcare in the United States costs Americans more than any of the other 28 industrialized countries in the world (Wexler 1). From 1970 to 2000 the cost for healthcare as a percentage of the US Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rose from 6. ... Geyman talked about, eleven key measurements of healthcare quality include such things as average length of life at different ages, the United States ranked tenth or lower among thirteen industrialized nations (Wexler 1). There are many contributing factors that lead to the lack of healthcare for millions of people. The cost of healthcare coverage is certainly a main issue. The majority of Americans that have healthcare insurance receive it in the form of a benefit from their employer. ... People with a household income of less than $15,000 annually are very unlikely to have a regular source for healthcare (Wexler 3). ... The need for a national healthcare plan for every citizen is also necessary when we look at the faults of Medicare and Medicaid. Medicare is a program funded by tax payers during their working careers that is designed to provide a limited healthcare coverage for those over 65 years of age. So Medicare coverage is automatically limited to a person’s age first of all and does not cover all healthcare needs or it only pays a portion of certain costs. ... We must develop a plan similar to our Canadian neighbor’s national health care in order to provide all Americans with the needed health services and eliminate Medicare and Medicaid in the process. ... Canada is a nation that relies solely on government funds for its healthcare system (Beaudan 1). The Canada Health Act establishes the standards for the Canadian providences and territories concerning medical services and long term healthcare services. ... However, I don’t think it is realistic to think any healthcare system is perfect, including our Canadian neighbors. Canada is certainly not the role model for a national healthcare system. ... However, good or bad the healthcare system in Canada, the average American opinion is that Canada’s healthcare system is better (Boater Talk 1). Looking at the current system in the United States and the good and bad parts of the Canadian national healthcare system, the US has an opportunity with our high number of medical personnel and high degree of technology to be the role model for national healthcare.