A reason the United States has a pushback to compulsory health
coverage is because of a political culture that we have adopted.
Conservatives believe that the government should have limited roles
in society (US News, n.d.). Many people feel that the government
should only be allowed to make limited decisions on behalf of the
American people (US News, n.d.). Though Medicaid and Medicare has
been around for years, it is geared towards low income families and
the elderly, which is paid for by the government. Also, many
Americans seem to self identify as middle class citizens. Meaning
they are not rich, but not poor either. "The U.S. has historically
utilized a mixed public/private approach to healthcare. In this
approach, citizens or businesses can obtain health insurance from
private (e.g., Blue Cross Blue Shield, Kaiser Permanente) insurance
companies, while individuals may also qualify for public (e.g.,
Medicaid, Medicare, Veteran’s Affairs), government-subsidized health
insurance" (Zieff et al., 2020). The United States does not have
universal healthcare, but has the worse health outcomes than any
other country such as Japan, Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom,
Germany, and France considering other avenues of health coverage
(US News, n.d.). The United States also holds a lower life expectancy
with its healthcare system with higher infant mortality and higher
obesity rates than other countries, especially considering the
indigent. So does it really make a difference whether there is
universal coverage or private/public healthcare, if this is the
community that is supposed to benefit from government induced
healthcare? A lot of pushback comes from Americans who may feel
that the government does not have their best interest at heart and
they may be correct because it is essentially a business.
3 reasons the U.S. doesn't have universal health coverage ... (n.d.).
Retrieved February 16, 2022,
from https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2016-
10-26/3-reasons-the-us-doesnt-have-universal-health-coverage
Zieff, G., Kerr, Z. Y., Moore, J. B., & Stoner, L. (2020, October
30). Universal Healthcare in the United States of America: A healthy
debate. Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania). Retrieved February 16, 2022,
from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7692272/
