Healthcare in the United States Essay Example

Healthcare in the United States is paid for by patients and through health insurance. However, this basic human right should not be paid for in this manner, because it prevents the United States from having equal and fair healthcare for every citizen, and also prohibits many citizens from accessing healthcare. Instead, the government should use taxpayer money to pay for universal healthcare that would ensure every citizen has access to healthcare.
One reason the government should use taxpayer money to pay for healthcare is to ensure every citizen has access to healthcare. Similarly to food, water, and housing, healthcare is a basic human right and should be accessible to every human, regardless of their economic or financial standing. If the government used taxpayer money to pay for healthcare, then disadvantaged groups would be able to have the same access and quality of healthcare as the majority. Examples of disadvantaged groups would include women, ethnic minorities, migrants, people who suffer from disabilities, the LGBTQ+, racial minorities, idgenious people, children, and the elderly. All of these groups and many more have some kind of restriction or inaccessibility to healthcare. However, universal healthcare would allow disadvantaged groups to have more equality when it comes to healthcare. To sum it up, allowing universal healthcare by using taxpayer money to pay for healthcare would eliminate an equality barrier and allow minorities to have the same access and quality of healthcare as the majority.
Another reason that taxpayer money should be used to pay for healthcare so the United States has universal healthcare is because universal healthcare has been seen to be beneficial in many other countries. While the United States does not hold a high ranking when it comes to healthcare, Denmark, Norwalk, Sweden, and many other countries have a universal healthcare system and some of the best overall healthcare. The United States would greatly benefit from using such countries as a role model to help better their own healthcare system. It is also seen in countries that have universal healthcare that the quality and accessibility to healthcare is significantly better. There are also no financial burdens caused by healthcare costs in such countries because it is paid for by taxpayer money. Overall, the United States should use countries who have a high ranking in healthcare as a model to consider a universal healthcare system in the United States.
In contrast, one could argue that using taxpayer money to pay for healthcare would not be the better option because it would raise taxes. The main reason this could be argued is because taxes would be raised to pay for healthcare. This could be seen as unfair for citizens who have not been exposed to very large hospital bills or do not think that they should have to pay for someone else’s healthcare. However, this argument is flawed because the higher taxes would only replace the expensive health insurance that is required for every citizen in the United States. Instead of paying for health insurance, which a person may use a lot or barely at all, they would be paying taxes for healthcare. It is also important to note that many health insurances will not cover an entire hospital bill. For instance, a hospital bill of $100,000, which is a common amount for heart attack patients, could still require a patient with health insurance to pay $10,000 to $40,000 not including the health insurance deductible. In conclusion, higher taxes would replace the expensive medical bill, insurance deductible, and health insurance cost.
Universal healthcare would allow access to healthcare for minorities, get rid of the equality barrier between the majority and the minority when it comes to quality and accessibility of healthcare, and would also eliminate the expensive costs of medical bills and health insurance.