OP-ED

Many proposals have been brought forth on how to solve the nation’s health care problem, one of which is universal health care, but universal health care is too drastic an approach because we don’t have that many uninsured people in the first place. Proponents of universal health care use statistics that blow our small uninsured problem into one that seems much bigger than it is. They say that the number of uninsured Americans is between forty and fifty million Americans, but according to the Census Bureau report “Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2005,” it is actually about twenty million, which is about seven percent of the population. They arrived at this conclusion by subtracting the uninsured people that are not citizens, which is about ten million. Then, according to the same report, “there are 8.3 million uninsured people who make between $50,000 and $74,999 per year and 8.74 million who make more than $75,000 a year.” That is about 17 million people who should be able to purchase health insurance because they make considerably more than the median household income of about $46,000. So if you subtract non-citizens and those that can afford to buy their own health insurance, the remaining number of insured people is about twenty million which is only about seven percent of the population. (I would like to point out that I realize these statistics are a few years old but that I have looked at the latest Census Burea report, and the results have not changed much.) This is not to say that there is not a problem, but the problem is much smaller than proponents of Universal health care would like you to know. Just to make the case stronger, another study was done by the Kaiser Family Foundation, and they reported that the number of uninsured Americans who do not qualify for current government programs and make less than $50,000 a year is between about 8 million and 14 million which is only about 3 to 5 percent of the population. Surely, these statistics will not sway the beliefs of every one, so I will now discuss some of the major potential problems of universal health care coverage.

First of all, many people believe that there could not be anything wrong with “free” health care, but in reality, universal health care is not free. We would pay for it with our taxes which means that the people working hard for their money will be paying for those that do not work or those who do not make enough money. I do believe that everyone should be able to have access to health care, including those that do not have enough money to purchase coverage, but after doing research, the portion of the population that can absolutely not afford it is very small, and such a drastic move such as universal health care is probably not the best solution. Second of all, healthy people that have good dietary and exercise habits would have to pay for those that do not take care of themselves such as people that over eat and people that smoke, both of whom require health care procedures that are much more expensive. Furthermore, those with bad habits would have no incentive to change because their health care will be provided to them, no matter how expensive it might be. Another downfall of universal health care coverage is that costs would be much higher than they are now because patients are not likely to limit their visits to the doctor or their use of drugs. People will go to the doctor for things that they normally would not, for example a cold or a head ache-- something that would pass without treatment from a doctor. Another bad outcome of the coverage would be that both doctors and patients will most likely lose flexibility. The patient will not get to choose their doctors because that will now be the government’s decision. The doctors will also not get a choice in the patients they see and will most likely, not get to choose the methods they would like to treat the patient with which could potentially lead to poor patient care. In addition, many doctors enjoy the privileges and life they have now. With the loss of private practice options and possibly a lower pay, many potential doctors may decide not to pursue the profession because it no longer provides the benefits that it once did. Furthermore, with universal health care, comes the possibility that citizens may even lose some of their personal freedoms. The government would be more likely to put higher taxes on items that are not health-conscious, such as fast food, smoking, alcohol, and other things that may decrease the health of an individual. Finally, just because someone is uninsured, does not mean that they do not have access to health care. There are many nonprofit and government-run organizations that provide services to those without insurance and to those that can not afford to pay.

I, like most of the caring people of this nation, believe that people have a right to health care, but our specific situation does not constitute the need for such a drastic policy as universal health care. John Goodman and his colleagues from the National Center for Policy Analysis have been studying this problem for twenty-five years, and have come up with a way to solve the problem without any new taxes or any new spending programs; his solution encompasses McCain’s health care proposal of giving tax credits to those that purchase health insurance and gives every American the ability to receive quality health care coverage. After reading about his solution, I also believe that this or perhaps another similar plan would be better fitted for our specific situation and would cause us a lot fewer problems.