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Kevin Ou
Mr. Hoague
AP Lit & Comp, Per 4
9 March 2015
Curing the United States with Universal Health Care
Today, Americans receive health care based on a private health care system. That means
that Americans who are able to afford insurance pay a certain amount of fee annually, and the
amount of money they pay determine the quality of health care service they receive. Thus, when
they receive medical treatment, they only have to pay a small portion of the medical fee, and the
insurance companies pay for the rest. For those who cannot afford health insurance, they are to
enroll in government programs such as Medicaid, where they supposedly receive the same level
of care for a cheaper price. Nevertheless, while a seemingly efficient system that accommodates
to the free market system that Americans so highly value, the private health care system is
actually extremely flawed. In this system, millions of Americans who cannot afford insurance do
not receive medical treatments for their illnesses, and millions of Americans who can afford
insurance are suffering more and more financial burden every year. Therefore, should the United
States switch to a universal health care system, more Americans could be insured, the overall
quality of health care would be improved, Americans and the government can altogether spend
less money, doctors would provide more honest treatments for their patients, and there would be
a fair system in which all Americans receive the healthcare they deserve, regardless of their
finances.
It is true that a privatized health care system controlled by insurance companies aligns
with the free market economy that us Americans are so proud of living in, but what people have

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to realize is that health care is not a piece of property that someone can own. It shouldnt be a
luxury car or house that only the rich can afford, nor should the quality of health care each
person receives should not be based on how much money the person earns. Not only is it unfair,
it is also an inefficient system. According to Guy Adams, the correspondent of Independent
Health Insurance, 47 million Americans do not have health care insurance, and that is because
The working poor cannot afford health care yet are not poor enough to receive free health care
(Adams). That is 47 million people who do not have a doctor to go to when theyre sick, and that
is 47 million people who do not have insurance to cover expensive treatments that may mean the
difference between life and death. Not only so, a privatized health care system brings a lot of
financial burden to the average American family. In fact, the U.S. Senator from Vermont, Bernie
Sanders, revealed that the average American spends about $7,900 per year on health care the
cost is still rising every year (Sanders). Health care is something that every person needs and
deserves, yet if just the average cost for health care is already as high as $7900, then it would
discourage many to spend that much money on health insurance, as they could spend it on
paying mortgage, basic living expenses, and other important fees. Here, health care becomes
something Americans need but cannot afford, as seen from the data stated by Senator Sanders
that Paying for medical insurance caused 62% of bankruptcies in 2007 (Sanders). Our private
health care system is filled with unfairness, inefficiency, and financial burdens, and that is
exactly why the United States should move towards universal health care.
Universal health care is the solution to the high medical fees, low percentage of
Americans insured, and the inefficiency of the privatized health care system. The biggest benefit
of having a universal health care system is that every American can be insured. In fact, Guy
Adams, the health care correspondent who earlier stated that 47 million Americans today are

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uninsured, says that the 47 million Americans who do not have medical insurance will now be
able to receive the treatments and check-ups they need, should a universal health care system be
put in place (Adams). As said by many doctors, prevention is key. With insurance, Americans
can have the check-ups they need to prevent diseases and identify early stages of deadly
sicknesses, and if they do become sick, they would be able to receive the treatments they need
without having to worry about money. In fact, according to Eric Larson, the executive director of
the Group Health Research Institute, More than 26% of deaths in the U.S. could have been
prevented with medical insurance (Larson). Not only would having universal health care allow
for check-ups to lower the risk of getting deadly sicknesses, universal health care also allows for
sick Americans to receive the care they need without having to go bankrupt. Dr. Vincent Ho, a
family physician in San Gabriel, California, also agrees with the higher efficiency of a universal
health care system. Dr. Ho says that Although patients may have to wait longer in line, there are
no excuses for anyone to not receive a treatment they need because everyone has health
insurance. That would greatly lower mortality rates in the United States (Ho). The high
mortality rate and the high percentage of unprevented death today is only because an average
American who cannot afford the high insurance fees does not have the money to receive the
medical assistance they need. Universal health care can be the new system to change that.
Universal health care is also a symbol of fairness and equality. While many people would
view this negatively as socialism, a fair health care system would be, in reality, just a way for
the United States to tell its fellow Americans that they are all cared for equally, no matter how
rich or poor they are. In Canada, a universal health care system is what people enjoy despite the
long wait lines and appointment times, for all those seem trivial when everyone is receiving the
fair amount and quality of treatment, and when there is no discrimination towards the poor and

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special treatment towards the rich. Vyckie Garrison, an Canadian American publisher and editor,
states that In Canada, as compared to the United States, every person, from CEO of top
corporations to homeless men on the street, has the right to walk into a clinic for a treatment:
There never is that consideration of limiting health care because of unaffordable doctor's visits or
top-of-the-line treatments; everyone receives the same level of care and access; Canadians don't
have to worry about being tied to a job because of health care; and catastrophic accidents or
illnesses will not bankrupt families and individuals (Garrison). Living in a nation whose
constitution states that all men are created equal and a nation with life, liberty, and pursuit of
happiness as our unalienable rights, every American should realize that health care isnt a
privilege as many rich corporate Americans believe; health care is a right that everyone deserves.
Although there are government programs such as Medicaid that provide free health care, the
truth is, according to Dr. Ho, many private clinics and hospital reject Medicaid, Medicare, and
many low cost, government owned programs because they dont make much from them. And for
the ones that do accept them, they are mostly clinics that offer lower quality care and cheaper
medicine (Ho). That is the inequality that exists in America today: the quality of health care
Americans receive are determined solely by income, as if health care is a product that we
purchase and sell. Universal health care, as it is now in Canada, will provide a much more fair
system in which ones financial status does not affect whether or not the person receives his or
her unalienable rights.
Lastly, universal health care takes away the motivation doctors have in a private health
care system to cheat their patients money. According to Dr. Ho, in a private health care system,
pharmaceutical companies try to convince doctors to use the companies medicine to treat the
doctors patients by providing doctors with high monetary incentives, and in a sense bribing

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them. This means that instead of actually choosing the most effective medicine with the least
side effects for their patients, doctors drawn to monetary incentives would go for an inferior
medicine that a drug company advertises to them just so they could earn more money. Also,
doctors are paid by insurance companies for whichever treatment they provide the patients, the
medicine they prescribe, and the medical equipment used on the patient. As a result, even if a
patient doesnt need an MRI scan or doesnt need to be prescribed with a certain expensive drug,
doctors who have high financial incentives will still convince and essentially lie to their patients
to get them into receiving those expensive treatments, especially the ones with high income
(Ho). However, in a universal health care system, this dishonesty could be prevented. In fact,
Garrison, the Canadian American publisher, observes from her experience living in Canada that
when health care is universal, doctors are free to recommend and provide the best care for every
patient instead of basing their care on what each patient can afford (Garrison). In a universal
health care system operated by the government, no matter what treatment doctors provide or
what kind of drugs the doctors prescribe, they are still getting paid the same amount by the
government. Thus, the incentive for them to lie to their patients to earn more money naturally
disappears. In a universal health care system, there is more fairness, efficiency, and honesty.
The biggest problem of implementing the plan of a universal health care system is trying
to dismantle a health care system that Americans have already used for decades. The solution,
however, is simple: We dont have to completely eliminate private health care in order to
establish universal health care. According to Professor Atul Gawande, a physician and professor
of surgery and public health at Harvard University, suggests that we can build on existing
programs while leaving the health insurance companies in place. We can expand on and build on
programs such as Medicaid and Medicare. Eventually, people will shift towards the free health

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care programs and move away from private insurances (Gawande). And its true. Why would
anyone want to pay more money when everyone else is receiving much cheaper and much more
efficient health care? Other than Medicaid and Medicare, another potential program, if not the
closest thing we currently have to universal health care, that we could expand on, is the
Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. Professor Gawande states that the Affordable Care Act has
already insured 7.3 million Americans who used to be uninsured and not receiving the health
care they need (Gawande). If we could increase the funding towards the program and allow it to
expand, we could insure a lot more than just 7.3 million Americans. Some may argue that giving
the government health care programs more funding to create the universal health care system
means a skyrocketing raise in taxes. However, they are mistaken. Larson, the executive director
of the Group Health Research Institute mentioned earlier, states that in a universal health care
system, Americans can spend less. Although they have to pay more taxes to support the
government in providing the health care, the amount of taxes they pay is very small compared to
current health insurance costs (Larson). Lastly, there are many other countries before the U.S.
that have switched from private health care to universal health care, such as Britain and Canada.
Therefore, our government could learn from how the other countries were able to achieve the
successful transition and do the same. Universal health care could become a reality for
Americans if we are willing to work together to achieve it.
Universal health care is the solution to the American health care issues today. The 47
million uninsured Americans would be able to receive the treatments they deserve, the average
working family would be able to spend their money not to pay off medical bills, but to improve
their living quality, doctors would be more motivated to treat patients with honesty rather than to
cheat their money with false diagnosis, and the United States would finally be able to begin to

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improve its quality of health care and decrease our dangerously high mortality rate. While it is
definitely not an easy task, it is a task that is truly worth our time and effort to complete. We have
already taken a huge step with the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, now lets take an
even bigger one.

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Work Cited
Adams, Guy. "The Health Care System Favors the Wealthy and Harms the Poor." Are America's
Wealthy Too Powerful? Ed. Ronald D. Lankford, Jr. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2010.
Independent 15 Aug. 2009. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 20 Feb. 2015.
Furnas, Ben. "The U.S. Health Care System Needs to Change." Universal Health Care. Ed.
Susan C. Hunnicutt. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2010. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from
"American Health Care Since 1994: The Unacceptable Status Quo." Center for American
Progress. 2009. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 20 Feb. 2015.
Garrison, Vyckie. "Government Should Provide Universal Health Care." Corporate Social
Responsibility. Ed. Margaret Haerens and Lynn M. Zott. Farmington Hills, MI:
Greenhaven Press, 2014. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from "How I Lost My Fear of
Universal Health Care." www.rhrealitycheck.org. 2012. Opposing Viewpoints in Context.
Web. 20 Feb. 2015.
Gawande, Atul. "The United States Can Achieve Universal Health Care Without Dismantling the
Existing Health Care System." The New Yorker. The New Yorker, 26 Jan. 2009. Web. 11
Feb. 2015.
Ho, Vincent. Personal Interview. 17 May 2014.
Larson, Eric B. "Health Insurance for the Uninsured Will Improve Care for All Americans."
Seattle Times. The Seattle Times Company, 20 July 2009. Web. 11 Feb. 2015.
Sanders, Bernie. "Health Care Is a Right, Not a Privilege." Huffington Post. The Huffington Post,
2009. Web. 11 Feb. 2015.