The development of national health insurance presents logistical
challenges and will require large upfront costs related to changes in
healthcare technology infrastructure, expanding the range of
healthcare services provided, and treatment of a large portion of the
population that is healthy and previously uninsured (Zieff, Kerr,
Moore, & Stoner, 2020). The increased costs is just one reason that
Americans are against the idea of national healthcare coverage-
because it will increase their taxes. Another argument that Americans
make against national health insurance is because of the potential for
an inefficient system including longer wait times and impeded
medical innovation. They compare wait times in Canada and UK for
procedures and surgeries that range anywhere from 3 weeks to a
year. The disorganization and increased wait times could result in an
influx in people seeking care in the emergency room and subsequent
increases in wait times for emergency services (Zieff, Kerr, Moore, &
Stoner, 2020).
Another reason that citizens don’t want universal healthcare
coverage is due to distrust of government officials. Research has
shown that Republicans are especially distrusting of the
government’s role in healthcare although most Americans are in
favor of programs such as Medicare (Dalen, Waterbrook & Alpert,
2015). I think there is a lot of pushback for universal healthcare
coverage that stems from decades ago when universal healthcare
coverage was initially proposed. In the 1930s physicians campaigned
to prevent federal officials from including national health insurance in
the social security act (Quadagno, 2004). Then in 1945 Truman
proposed national health insurance and the AMA lobbied against it
with the message that national health insurance was socialist and
part of a Communist plot to destroy freedom (Quadagno, 2004).
Although many years has passed since then, there are still lingering
subconscious thoughts and opinions that national healthcare
coverage is bad.
References
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
Quadagno, J. (2004). Why the United States Has No National Health
Insurance: Stakeholder Mobilization Against the Welfare State,
1945–1996. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 45, 25–44.
https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195160390.003.0009
Zieff, G., Kerr, Z. Y., Moore, J. B., & Stoner, L. (2020). Universal
Healthcare in the United States of America: A Healthy
Debate. Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania), 56(11), 580.
https://doi.org/10.3390/medicina56110580
