The Future Of Healthcare In The US

Healthcare in the United States has had a very interesting path to end up in the shape it is today. Many people and policymakers in Washington have made fixing the broken US healthcare system a priority, but there is a disagreement over which way will be the most effective. There seems to be two schools of thought, which happen to be divided upon partisan lines.

Some lawmakers want to implement nationalized healthcare, which will force business and/or governments to ensure their employees/citizens and impose sanctions and penalties if families do not insure themselves or their children. Currently, those in poverty can turn to Medicaid to help cover medical expenses that they can't afford, but what about the working class that is forced to pay for their healthcare. Would a nationalized system work for them?

Another thing to consider, is how would you arrange to pay the costs of the healthcare, if the government provided it for free? Would people at risk have to pay more, or would everyone pay the same rate? What about children, would they be free or would there be an additional charge for them too?

If we have learned anything about the government, we have learned that it isn't the most efficient organization in the world. Therefore it would be difficult to see how a government controlled healthcare system could save money. However, if the richest nation in the world cannot afford to provide healthcare for their citizens, then how can it make them do it themselves?

An alternative to nationalized healthcare in the United States is to implement health savings plans, which would force people to start taking accountability for their own healthcare and which would also empower professionals in health care jobs. This is great in theory, but what happens if a person has a huge medical emergency that they cannot afford to pay for? This doesn't mean that health savings accounts are a bad idea, but it does bring up some issues that need to be addressed.

One thing is for certain, the healthcare system in the United States is broken and it does need to be fixed, but there doesn't seem to be a perfect solution. Would people prefer to pay higher taxes if they were provided free healthcare? What if that healthcare was just as bad as the healthcare they currently receive from HMO's and other managed care plans?

Would people actually save for their own healthcare if they were not provided the option for a managed health care plan at their workplace? It is difficult to say, and truthfully the average citizen is just as confused, if not more so, than the people in charge of fixing the healthcare system.

It seems as if every year these questions are asked and yet every year they remain. There hasn't been anyone to provide any solid answers, but one thing is for certain, the system will have to be changed soon. One way or another, we will find out if nationalization or private health care work as a system in the United States.