A universal or a single payers health care in the U. S. has it opponents and proponents and the Republican government that is in office, including the President are supporting the existing system where the President has stated that the best Medicare is the relationship between the consumers and the care providers.
The government has come up with a new tool to help those who want to put money aside for future medical use known as Health Savings Account (HSA) that allows individuals to save money in an account where as long the money saved in the account is spent for medical reasons, it will be tax free. [1] The same plan had been proposed to small businesses that might have difficulty insuring their employees to help them provide some kind of a health coverage by forming a pool with other similar businesses.
At the same time, any amount not used and is in the HSA would be carried over continuously until the saved money is used. What this shows is there will not be any initiative from the part of the Republican government to bring about a change in the health care system and the government and its various offices support unanimously the present system where individuals who are health service consumers and health care providers are better off if they are left alone to handle the matter between themselves.
The problem had always been the spiraling cost that is not abating year after year, where the outcome had been those who cannot afford to pay the insurance cost are left out in the cold and the number of Americans who are working but do not have insurance is approaching 50 million. The main reason for their not being covered is they cannot afford the price and they do not have health coverage from their employers, as employers are not under any requirement by law to provide their employees with insurance coverage.
There is a requirement that they shoulder the new legislation known as “employers responsibility” and to do something about it. Some states whose number is not more than six have made it mandatory that employers will have to pay for insurance coverage for their workers or they have to pay a fee through government into a fund that will try to introduce some kind of a group coverage for those who are working and cannot qualify for Medicaid because of the amount they are making.
Another point to highlight here might be the multiple system of health care in the U. S. where different parts of the society get different kinds of treatments. To highlight an example The Veteran Health Administration system has its own hospitals that it regulates with its own staff and a central administration. Another government program that has similar system in place is Medicare where private providers render medical service for those who qualify and they reimburse the cost through the government.
Three key points worth mentioning in relation to Medicare are it is Congress that will detail how the program will be executed, the hospital cost is covered by an insurance coverage that more or less resembles a social insurance system, while the physicians cost is paid from a subsidized insurance, which shows even if it is working it is still cumbersome.
The third similar government program that serves similar purpose but deals with a different member of society is The Federal Employees Health Benefit Program (FEHBP) that covers nearly 9 million federal workers and their families, which basically is an insurance premium paid by the government to insurance companies on behalf of the workers and their families, as long as they meet certain criteria.