What Can Universal Health Care Provide?

Universal health care was a hot-button issue of debate in the run up to the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, more commonly known as the Health Care Reform Act. The issue of a single-payer option, a form of universal health care, was put forward and then removed from the final bill. Universal health care is designed to provide health care for all residents of a given country, financed by the government of that country. In other words, everyone has access to "free" health care, and it is paid for through taxation.

History

The Social Security Act of 1965 introduced the concept of universal health care to the American health care landscape with its provision for a government-run health insurance for Americans age 65 years and older; this program is known as Medicare. Medicare is guaranteed issue to persons meeting the criteria and covers most medical treatments required by seniors. For hospitalizations and those treatments not covered directly by Medicare, supplementary insurance policies with government-mandated benefit levels are commercially available. These "Medigap" policies are also guaranteed issue, essentially providing universal health care for America's seniors through a combination of payroll taxes and private policy premiums. Although Medicare is satisfactory for the vast majority of seniors, the program is not without its detractors. An expensive supplementary prescription benefit caused a great deal of controversy in 2005, and in 2009, the Medicare board of trustees was forced to disclose that Medicare would likely be bankrupt by 2017 under its current level of financial obligation.

Function

Universal health care is designed to provide an adequate level of health care to all people in a given jurisdiction. By eliminating private insurance companies, patients no longer pay premiums out of pocket because the cost of the health care is deducted from payroll taxes, and health care providers no longer have to navigate the billing systems of several different insurance companies because there is only one insurance provider. Health care costs are theoretically lowered through the elimination of profit-minded middlemen, and greater access to health care is provided to all people, especially the poor.

Geography

Several other countries around the world provide universal health care to their citizens, with varying degrees of success. Canadians report overall satisfaction with their health care system; however, they commonly complain about the wait time for operations and other routine medical services. England also offers universal health care, although their system is beset with problems including the 2009 disclosure of the "cruel and neglectful treatment of 1 million patients" responsible for up to 1,200 deaths. France appears to have the most successful universal health care program by many measures, with 65 percent of patients expressing satisfaction with the system versus 40 percent in the United States. The French system was ranked #1 in the world by the World Health Organization in its last survey.

Misconceptions

Universal health care is not "free" medical for everyone. It is paid for through taxes and disproportionately benefits those who earn the least and therefore pay the least in taxes. The costs represent a significant portion of a given employee's overall compensation, and higher paid individuals could find less expensive private insurance in most cases. Another misconception is that health care providers will benefit from a single-payer system. Although it is true that billing is simplified in a universal health care system, compensation decreases dramatically. French doctors earn an average of $55,000 per year, roughly one-third of the average American doctor's income.

Benefits

It can be argued that in a wealthy society, it is a travesty to allow the poor to suffer with little or no access to health care. Universal health care provides a satisfactory level of care to those who can least afford it, thereby increasing the overall health and well being of the entire country. Universal health care is successful in a number of countries, so there is ample evidence that it could work in the United States. The preventive health care that universal health care provides can also detect illnesses earlier, lowering the cost of treatment and improving patients' quality of life.

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