Saturday, March 5, 2011

Practice Essay #11: Healthcare for All

Question: Health care for all is a realistic goal. Describe a specific situation in which health care for all might not be a realistic goal. Discuss what you think determines whether or not health care for all is a realistic goal.

Answer:

Even with such a developed nation such as ours, it is surprising to look at the amount of people that are medically uninsured. There has been a lot of discussion about health care reform lately and the push toward “universal” health care or health care access to all here in the US. The statement here suggests that such a goal is realistic and attainable. Universal health care is not a new concept and have been implemented in some other countries such as Canada and several other European countries. If such a system is able to be implemented in other countries, it is definitely feasible in our country.

In order for universal health care to be attainable, however, there are various issues which will have to be dealt with either before the implementation or during course of which the system is in place to prevent the eventually collapse of it. The first thing to consider is whether the health care system can handle and can pace with such an increase in the number of patients due to increase accessibility. If it is unable to do so, this could lead to an overload of the system prolonging the time that patients will have to wait before getting the medical attention that they need. Another thing to consider with the increase in accessibility is whether that would lead to an abuse of the system and to the increased number of patients who seek medical attention for minor problems. Looking at the Medicare and Medicaid system, some of these problems are quite apparent already. With the implementation of universal health care, these issues will be greatly magnified. 

Health care for all is a realistic and attainable goal. Several countries have already been using such a system already. Their systems are by all means not perfect but are a step toward such a goal. Before universal health care is achievable, however, there are a few issues which would need to be addressed. Those are also the determining factors in whether or not universal health care or health care for all is feasible. The issues to be looked at are whether the health care system can handle such an increase in the number of patients due to increase accessibility or not and whether there are guidelines set up to prevent abuse or misuse of the health care system.

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