After reading Anya's blog about the relationship between universal health care and capitalism, I wanted to look for reasons why it was taking so long to even properly discuss the implementation of universal health care. Everyone wants this to happen and it seems like the perfect situation to our health care crisis. While I looked over the web, the reasons for opposition were numerous, but so were those that were for universal health care. I looked at a couple of articles online to read about people's stances and questions on the issue.
1. http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=21665#continueA
-Distrust of the government: the author, Walter Williams, talks about how government service is sub par to profit-driven companies. Think about (most) public schools and the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Williams also brought up the point about longer wait lines for surgery (up to a year). What ties into this is low-quality service with higher pay in the form of increased taxation. He also gives an example of how France has failed in the universal health care department: "France's failed health care system resulted in the deaths of 13,000 people, mostly of dehydration, during the heat spell of 2003. Hospitals stopped answering the phones, and ambulance attendants told people to fend for themselves."
2. http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2006/10/universal_healt.html
-The abuse argument: "if we morally weak humans are offered something "free" (meaning that someone else is paying for it) we will abuse it.
-Rebuttal: There will always be abuse, but offering basic health care is a moral responsibility. There should also be an emphasis on preventative rather than curative care in order to curb high costs (like for antibiotics).
3.http://cthealth.server101.com/the_case_for_universal_health_care_in_the_united_states.htm
-This site provides great points and counterpoints for the arguments against universal health care. It mentions the "myths" about high costs, service deprivation, and loss of freedom of choice.
An issue that everyone seems to agree on is that American health care needs reform badly. Also, I think that an interesting point that we didn't really touch upon in class was the issue of preventative health care. Why not stop the problem before it can even start? Like an article from above mentions, it would be better to cut out the cost of antibiotics, pain medicine, etc. Of course, preventative medicine is not profitable at all to pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer. Instead of thinking that the body can and will go wrong, wouldn't it be better to think of the body as something that is naturally healthy?
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I definitely agree with you. Every little payment adds up, whether that be hospital and doctors bills, the cost of medicine, anything really. By even decreasing how much medications cost, so many people will be able to afford the drugs they need to live a healthy and productive life. I know that various pharmacies have begun to implement several weeks supply of commonly prescribed antibiotics for only a few dollars. Although this action was not necessarily targeted to improve our health care system, it does benefit people living in the United States.
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