The Cost of Health Care – The Liberal Stance The United States of America spends more on health care than any other nation. Today, Americans live with a single payer health care system which neglects the needs of 47 million Americans because they cannot afford proper health care. The price of health care has increased dramatically over the past years. Last year, in 2007, total national health expenditures were expected to rise 6.9 percent — two times the rate of inflation. Total spending was $2.3 trillion in 2007, or $7600 per person. A study from the National Coalition on Health Care shows that one in four Americans say their family has had a problem paying for medical care in the past year, up seven percentage points over the past nine years. Nearly 30 percent of Americans say someone in their family has delayed medical care in the past year, and the medical condition was somewhat serious. The new cost for family coverage averages at $12,680 per year, up 5 % from 2007. So what can be done to help Americans afford health care again? The current system of single payer health insurance is leaving out 47 million Americans. Many experts say that America is in need of a nationalized health care system such as those of European nations and Canada. In Massachusetts, the state has expanded health care to over ¾ of the uninsured. The system relies on help for impoverished families to make coverage affordable and a “reach” program that gives access to affordable help when needed. President Barack Obama wants to draw from the Massachusetts experience and modernize information technology as well as emphasize disease prevention and wellness programs in order to prevent disease from striking. But there’s more to the problem: the United States treats health care as a need given according to the ability to pay rather than as a social service to all regardless of financial standing. The National Health Insurance Program, a larger scale form of Medicare was proposed as a means to cover all uninsured Americans. It would allow hospitals and treatment facilities to remain privately owned and operated receiving a budget from NHI to cover all operating costs, which would lower hospital bills for the individual. Physicians would be able to charge for service or get salaries from group practices such as hospitals and clinics. Health care is too expensive for an individual to pay. America needs a nationalized health care system to bring down the cost to allow all Americans access to decent and most importantly affordable health care.
The United States of America spends more on health care than any other nation. Today, Americans live with a single payer health care system which neglects the needs of 47 million Americans because they cannot afford proper health care. The price of health care has increased dramatically over the past years. Last year, in 2007, total national health expenditures were expected to rise 6.9 percent — two times the rate of inflation. Total spending was $2.3 trillion in 2007, or $7600 per person. A study from the National Coalition on Health Care shows that one in four Americans say their family has had a problem paying for medical care in the past year, up seven percentage points over the past nine years. Nearly 30 percent of Americans say someone in their family has delayed medical care in the past year, and the medical condition was somewhat serious. The new cost for family coverage averages at $12,680 per year, up 5 % from 2007.
So what can be done to help Americans afford health care again? The current system of single payer health insurance is leaving out 47 million Americans. Many experts say that America is in need of a nationalized health care system such as those of European nations and Canada. In Massachusetts, the state has expanded health care to over ¾ of the uninsured. The system relies on help for impoverished families to make coverage affordable and a “reach” program that gives access to affordable help when needed. President Barack Obama wants to draw from the Massachusetts experience and modernize information technology as well as emphasize disease prevention and wellness programs in order to prevent disease from striking.
But there’s more to the problem: the United States treats health care as a need given according to the ability to pay rather than as a social service to all regardless of financial standing. The National Health Insurance Program, a larger scale form of Medicare was proposed as a means to cover all uninsured Americans. It would allow hospitals and treatment facilities to remain privately owned and operated receiving a budget from NHI to cover all operating costs, which would lower hospital bills for the individual. Physicians would be able to charge for service or get salaries from group practices such as hospitals and clinics.
Health care is too expensive for an individual to pay. America needs a nationalized health care system to bring down the cost to allow all Americans access to decent and most importantly affordable health care.