Why don’t American’s want universal health coverage? There are a
number of reasons, but it boils down to two key tenants: it is un-
American, and they don’t trust the government. That sounds harsh,
doesn’t it! Let’s look at the details more closely.
a Americans in general, compared to other large industrial nations,
embrace the idea that government should have a more limited role in
society. “As a nation that began on the back of immigrants with an
entrepreneurial spirit and without a feudal system to ingrain rigid
social structure, Americans tend to be more individualistic” Wilson
(2012). Universal coverage clashes with this belief. Universal
coverage is equivalent to socialized medicine in the minds of many
and that is un-American (Callaghan, 2016).
a Another compelling reason that we don’t have universal coverage
in America is because interest groups don’t want it. The health
insurance industry has been a key player in influencing the political
process. The health insurance industry is big business and according
to IBIS World in 2021 the health insurance industry was a $1.1T
industry. They don’t want things to change, and they are spending
$100M (2009 data) to keep private insurers as opposed to the
government as the key player in American healthcare (Callaghan,
2016).
a Lastly, while most Americans support Medicare, they don’t want to
trade their patient centric private insurance for a government plan.
Private plans are accountable to the patient and the “vast majority of
our citizens do not trust their government” Dalen (2015). Americans
have seen the reality of universal coverage in countries such as
Britain and Canada and seen millions of patients facing frustrating
delays and denials, experiencing long and often painful waits for care
(Moffit, 2022). Generally, most Americans are satisfied with their
current coverage, despite the cost and don’t want to be forced to
move to an “ill conceived, economically inefficient and outdated
government intervention” Moffit (2022).
Stuart J. Wilson, J. C. Herbert Emery, "Why Did Americans Reject
Compulsory Health Insurance after WWI? An Application of the
Lifecycle Model", Economics Research International, vol. 2012, Article
ID 231473, 10 pages, 2012. https://doi.org/10.1155/2012/231473
Dalen, J. E., Waterbrook, K., & Alpert, J. S. (2015). Why do so many
Americans oppose the Affordable Care Act?. The American journal of
medicine, 128(8), 807–810.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amjmed.2015.01.032
Callaghan, T. (2016, February 14). 3 reasons the US doesn't want
universal coverage. The Conversation. Retrieved February 14, 2022,
from https://theconversation.com/three-reasons-the-us-doesnt-
have-universal-health-coverage-67292
Moffit, J. (2022). The truth about government controlled health care.
The Heritage Foundation. Retrieved February 14, 2022, from
https://www.heritage.org/article/the-truth-about-government-
controlled-health-care
