Several nations of the World provide Universal health coverage to their Citizens. The
United States passed the affordable care act which expanded health care coverage to
millions of Americans. Under the Medicare and Medicaid programs, the elderly and low-
income groups are covered. But as a nation, the concept of Universal health care is not
widely accepted or has received a lot of pushback.
There could be several reasons for this including how this would be funded, how it will be
implemented, the public opinion and availability of health care providers to meet the
increasing demand, etc., the potential of increased taxes if Universal health care was
implemented, etc.
Some of the main arguments against universal healthcare are the likelihood of an
inefficient health care system, long wait times for patients to see a medical provider,
upfront costs in implementing the program, and infrastructural and technological changes
needed. “For example, the waiting time for elective hospital-based care in the United
Kingdom is 46 days and some patients may have to wait over a year” (Zieff et al, 2020).
Implementing universal health coverage will affect the quality of care, delay diagnosis.
People won’t like the idea of their taxes being increased for health coverage and not
receiving care when they need or see their regular providers or specialists like before when
they had private insurance.
The Political Culture in America does not support government-run insurance for all.
Americans are more individualistic when it comes to matters regarding their health and
want limited government interference, any health reform/changes must go through an
extensive legislative process and congressional committees. Private insurance companies
also lobby against government-run insurance or universal health coverage (Callaghan,
2016).
References
Callaghan, T. (2016).73 Reasons the U.S. Doesn't Have Universal Health Coverage.
Retrieved from https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2016-10-26/3-
reasons-the-us-doesnt-have-universal-health-coverage
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Zieff, G., Kerr, Z. Y., Moore, J. B., & Stoner, L. (2020). Universal Healthcare in the
United States of America: A Healthy Debate.7Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania),756(11),
580.7https://doi.org/10.3390/medicina56110580
. Retrieved from
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7692272/
