Nationalize the United States’ Health Care

Introduction

The social, economic, and political development of any country depends on the ability of its citizens to contribute toward common goals. For this to be attained, the population needs to be in good health to engage in productive activities. Health care in the United States should be prioritized if the American Dream is to be realized. Despite this reality, the private sector has over the years focused on economic gains in the provision of health care services, ignoring the importance of health care for all. To guarantee universal access to health care, only the government should be entrusted with health care provision.

The private sector is driven by the profit motive. To realize the desired margins, organizations add up mark ups to their costs in price setting. This results in higher pricing. This is not the case on the part of the government, whose motive is not short-term gains from payments by patients but the long-term social, economic, and political benefits. The private sector cannot be trusted to provide the best value for money as it will always be tempted to maximize profits, sometimes to the disadvantage of patients. The health sector should be nationalized to pull prices down and enhance affordability.

Health care is largely a basic need. The U.S. Constitution guarantees all its citizens a decent life where access to basic needs is a right for all rather than a preserve for the rich. This ideal is not upheld in the private sector. Whereas a hospital may have all the equipments, personnel, and technology to treat a patient, they may withhold these resources from a patient just because they cannot afford to pay for the services. This is a contravention to the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees its citizens access to basic needs, including health care. The U.S. Constitution guarantees its citizens the right to liberty, happiness, and life. The many poor U.S. citizens who cannot afford health care from the private sector because of the high prices have their right to happiness denied. In some cases, they may end up losing their lives. This denies them the right to life as guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution. All American citizens have the right to access quality health care. Quality service cannot be guaranteed under the private sector. In an effort to maximize profits, players in the sector engage in cost cutting measures, including under-staffing and purchase of cheap medical supplies. This reduces the ability of patients to access quality health care, something that jeopardizes their health. Insurance companies are key players in the medical industry. They reap billions from investments made by U.S. citizens in the guise of providing medical care insurance. In any one given time, there will be many court cases involving insurance firms not willing to fulfill their promises. To get this load off citizens, medical care should be nationalized and guaranteed to all irrespective of their social or economic status.

Conclusion

From the above presentation, it is evident that leaving health care in the hands of the private sector results in high financial exploitation of U.S. citizens by health care providers and insurance companies. This reduces access to health care by citizens, reducing their ability to contribute toward social, economic, and political development of the country. This denies citizens their right to basic needs, happiness, and life as guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution. To eliminate the many inefficiencies that come with entrusting health care to the private sector, the country should nationalize health care to make the government the sole provider.

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