High quality universal system of healthcare should be financed and administered. However, the degree of quality that we can afford to provide to every person in a nation should be decided on. The people deserve the best quality of these health care services but some countries contemplating on offering a more efficient health care system are currently faced with some difficulties. In the United States of America, there is an increasing spending on health care along the years as compared with spending in the rest of the economy (Corrigan, et al, 2002).
Based on this findings, it was found that the society’s inability to provide continuous, coherent patient-centered care for the people is one cause of the high aggregate cost of health care (Ayanian, et al. , 2000). This also contributes to the high cost of public insurance programs (Williams, et al. , 2004). Sometimes difficulties arise since there usually are conflicting goals in any system. Tradeoffs will be to result in a truly preferable healthcare system. It must be shaped by the ethical values at stake. The kind of healthcare system that the people want is a system that will cover and benefit a large majority.
The basic value that will drive it is the value of putting a great weight of importance in providing basic health care to the people. A comprehensive approach to improving access, quality, and efficiency of care is needed nowadays with the advent of deteriorating health around many countries (Hadley & Holahan, 2003). According to Ahmed (2005), there are three ethical dilemma that the people may face. One is the issue of healthcare as a right or privilege. A right is something to which people are entitled to simply because they are members of the society.
By claiming that something is a right creates an obligation for others to respect that right. Society has an obligation to provide healthcare to all its citizens based on the society’s capability and available resources (Sheils & Hogan, 1999). A society is obligated to its members, however, at present, what the society can only provide is access to emergency care. The figure shown below is based on the International Health Policy Survey conducted in 2004, the performance of six (6) nations surveyed based on the health care performance (Davies, 2006).
At this period, a national health care program would be a burden on society since it will require a large role for the government at a time when all levels of government are struggling financially. Health care is like a commodity. The ability to have access to healthcare should be based on the ability to pay for it. The government-funded universal health care program is one of the most controversial proposals for making health insurance within the means of the public.
Connoisseurs say that the option given to people, whether to join a government insurance plan or not, makes a reasonable test because it is a just way of testing the market in stipulations of its partiality. After a considerable period of time, it can be easy to conclude which plan would be more successful. Ideas on how to lessen waste and further advance health care quality, such as cutting the budget for treatments of questionable value and giving honorific rewards due to health care centers and hospitals and doctors that filed better and improved outcomes in patient care, could be utilized by the government health care plan.
Austerity measures when put in place would result to savings on some parts of the health care program. These savings can be put into good use. Those aspects that require more funding can now be subsidized from the accumulated savings. The setbacks of the universal health care plan include the argument that if restrictions are not put on who can apply. The result of the careful analysis conducted show that the cons of the proposal outweighed the pros.
Indeed, the positive elements put solely for its ethical reasons cannot offset the controversy and havoc it will cause. Implications and Recommendations It is recommended to further pursue the study of the advantages of having a universal health care system that can easily be accessed by a lot of people, especially those who are needy. The implication of the universal health care is that it would set out a standard of regulations regarding health care insurance. This would apply to each and every private health care insurance program thereof.