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Universal Health Care:
More Harm than Help?

Over forty-five million Americans live in fear, each day, of the possibility that any kind of hospitalizing injury or illness could potentially put them so far in to debt that they would be forced to declare bankruptcy. This number is not shrinking, but rather steadily growing. Our government has received much criticism and pressure from this growing problem and they realize something must be done, but what? What could the government do to magically insure over forty five million Americans? There is an answer, a specialized form of Universal Health Care. I believe our country could benefit greatly from a universal health care program, if given the proper time to develop a comprehensive plan. However, if a weak plan is implemented too early, a new problem could develop that is far more a problem than the one we face now.
There is no question that our current health care system is at best, inefficient. Fundamental change is needed but there are clashing opinions on how drastic the change should and can be. From a political standpoint, the left side believes that health care is a fundamental right and should be guaranteed to every American; while the right side feels that it is difficult enough to pay their current health care plan premiums to try and create a plan to compensate for everyone. Individuals’ views on this newly heated topic ranges widely and it is an issue that will be heavily discussed and be a determining factor on who will be elected to be our next president.
One problem with implementing a Universal Health Care system is the issue of fairness of payment from each individual. For instance, there is a man who works out regularly, eats healthy, doesn’t drink or smoke and a man who smokes, drinks and is obese; are they expected to pay or be taxed the same for the same care? What about the difference in gender? Is a man more susceptible to injury or disease than a...