Universal Healthcare: The Pros and Cons

By: Robert Thomson .... Click on the author's name to view their profile and articles!!!

Universal Healthcare is being strongly considered in the United States. Universal Healthcare basically means that every citizen will be eligible for health coverage, regardless of their ability to pay for it. There are pros and cons of such a system.

First of all, let's take a look at the pros of Universal Healthcare (also known as Socialized Medicine). The benefits are fairly obvious. If we cover each and every citizen with affordable or free health insurance, they will be able to maintain their health regardless of their income.

One major advantage of such as system is that it can literally save lives. People die in our country each day because they cannot afford healthcare. And that includes working Americans. That is a travesty! It's heartbreaking that there are millions of people who are contributing tax dollars to our national economy who are not in turn given their most basic need: maintenance of their health.

It almost seems obvious that it's time to take the cue from Canada and implement Universal Healthcare. Their citizens seem to be fairly happy with the system, and it has been saving lives there on a daily basis.

However, as is true with any system (no matter how good a system it is), no healthcare solution is without fault. There are some notable disadvantages to Universal Healthcare which are worth acknowledging.

One negative side effect to providing universal healthcare is that spreading something too thin causes it to lose its inherent value. If we try to spread out our healthcare, it is possible that the quality of care will go down. Why? Because the hospitals and doctors offices will have more patients to deal with!

Naturally, no doctor would deliberately decrease his or her quality of care. Unfortunately, however, if your patient count multiplies, it can be hard to keep up. This could be overcome by the increased funding from the government under a socialized system, since that could cover a boost in medical staffing.

The other disadvantage that could result from Universal Healthcare is a lack of availability of care, causing a decrease in access to healthcare for everyone, including those who could afford to pay for it. There could be waiting lists that could prevent people from getting the care they need.

At the end of the day, we have to decide if the few drawbacks are worth it, in order to help out our fellow Americans who cannot afford to have any care whatsoever.