Health access should be accessible to all despite their races, age, cultural or gender background. Universal health care would reduce the burden on individuals and employers by reducing the taxes they have to pay to fund for health care. A study by researchers at Harvard Medical School and public citizen showed that the U. S government would save approximately 280 $billion annually if it incorporated a national health insurance scheme.
Canada has successfully used the universal health care approach and it uses a lower percentage of health spending compared to the U. S. Bureaucracies in the U. S system results to increased costs, which make it unaffordable to many people. Wasteful inefficiencies that come about due to health insurance like claim approval and submission. US can use the same approach too. (Byrne M and Rathwell T, 2005) With universal preventive health care would be sought. This would be attributed to the fact that people would not shy away from seeking medical inquiries due to the cost factor. Commercializing health care ensures that even consultations are charged discouraging the poor.
Again profit making health care which result to higher cost of health care facilities would be reduced if universal health care was adapted. Such arrangement leads to detrimental effects, as not all people are able to afford the services. If people sought preventative measures, detection of diseases can be done at earlier stages and acted upon. Treating some diseases earlier like cancer would see their effects reduced. Epidemics severity would be greatly reduced when medial care is available for all. The minority groups tend to suffer from pandemics like TB, which can be controlled and well contained.
The current system of health care increased inequality in health care access, efficiency and the quality of health care. Universal health care would create incentives for long-term health care investment and it would be easier to tackle chronic problems. (Coon, 2004). Quality of healthcare would be greatly improved with the establishment of universal health care. This would be attributed to the fact that doctors would not be treating patient because they are from a specific provider group but because they are patients who need medical attention.
Middlemen who make health care more expensive would be eliminated from the system and this would lead to more efficient and reduce the costs. Health care should not be targeted on the ability to pay but on the medical needs of patients. (Pijnenburg A and Gordijn B, 2005) Employers pay insurers a portion of the premiums for health coverage. This translates to more costs on the employer’s side. When labor demand is high employers will offer higher packages than when unemployment rises. Again they do not always offer comprehensive coverage and they are on voluntary basis.
They can deny the patients claim and they limit insurance on expensive and complex services like heart transplants. The sick are therefore dodged from one place to the other, as no one is willing to take the cost. This deteriorates their access to quality health care. Middlemen increase administrative costs in health insurance firms, brokers, marketing consultants, billing agencies. Universal health care is affordable as the current system ensures that individuals pay more for the services that it would have done. Payment is more expensive as it is done at different stages.