Disadvantage Of Universal Healthcare In The United States

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The American Economy Stance Paper #3 Universal Healthcare The United States proudly proclaims itself as a free-market society without a managed economy. This proclamation can be put into question when government officials are calling for healthcare to be managed as a socialist program. There are inherent flaws in attempting to provide every citizen in the United States with free healthcare. Firstly, it would cause the American people’s already high taxes to skyrocket all the more; it would contribute to the degradation of quality within our healthcare system, and it would create extremely long waiting lists for any patient that might need urgent care. First and foremost, creating a system in which healthcare is “free” is incredibly misleading.…show more content…
Moreover, Obama is looking to increase taxes on affluent Americans to fund a “$634 billion health care ‘reserve fund’ aimed at reforming the system” according to Ed Henry in his article Obama Seeks Tax Hike, higher Medicare Payments. Considering the government would see itself as providing healthcare for every American citizen, even supposing it is American taxpayers that are footing this bill; this will give the government a great argument for taxing many other goods that Americans buy. Cigarettes, fast food, and excess coffee consumption will be deemed as uncertain behavior and therefore will be taxed much more heavily. Also, the question needs to be raised as to what else is risky behavior. Kayaking, bicycle riding, and motorcycles can all be argued to be dangerous. Will bicycles, kayaks, and motorcycles then be taxed more heavily in an attempt to curb the number of serious injuries that the government might have to pay for? The arguments that universal healthcare is “free” coverage is clearly misleading. Furthermore, if universal healthcare is put into place, you will almost…show more content…
Canada currently has universal healthcare and according to Dr. John O’Shea in the article Doctors Debate Universal Health Care: Pros and Cons from the Experts, Canadians often flock to the United States because of “prolonged wait times for many services, including cancer treatment and cardiac surgery.” There are often long waiting lists for even the most trivial of doctor visits, as well as the most imperative surgeries. This can be explained by what I previously stated; the demand will swell while the supply will remain the same. Bearing in mind that this will be government mandated healthcare, no matter how inconsequential someone’s situation is, they will have to be seen by a doctor – further putting off someone in actual need. Instances in which unimportant visits to the doctor will increase tenfold as people will figure if they do not have to pay for a doctor visit, they might as well be seen by a doctor, thus taking up a doctor’s time that otherwise would have been spent more

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