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April 20, 2008
American Health Care: A Need for Change
Like many college students, I have to pinch pennies to make it through school. Every last penny counts when budgeting my monetary supply. As a result of this, I have found that I do not have enough to spare to pay for health insurance. Unlike most college students, I am over the age of 23 and am not covered by my parents insurance. Since I am only employed part time, I am also not eligible to obtain it from work. This puts me in the company of the more than 42 million Americans who do not have health insurance. It is time for the United States to join the rest of the industrialized countries that have already decided to provide their citizens with health care. It is widely acknowledged that the United States has the best health care system in the world. Renowned hospitals, doctors, and treatment centers draw thousands of patients each year from around the world. But the United States is the only developed nation in the world that does not provide national health care to all its citizens.
I believe that a single payer health care system is necessary. A national health care system would provide a number of benefits. To begin, it would cut the overall costs of health care. Secondly, it would actually decrease bureaucracy by removing the many layers of insurance paper work patients and physicians are forced to go through in our current system. Finally, it would increase life expectancy by allowing more money conscious Americans to receive adequate prevention instead of waiting until an illness
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becomes worse. All of these reasons point towards a national health care program as being the solution we need.
FACT: Currently 46 million Americans currently live without any health care insurance what so ever. (www.americansforhealthcare.org) FACT: The United States is the only industrialized nation in the world that does not provide health care insurance for
all its citizens....