A Case against Universal Health Care
Health care spending as a problem
In their article, Krugman and Wells (2006) argue that in the year 1960s, the United States only spent 5.2 percent of its GDP on healthcare programs. However, by the year 2004, the figure had increased to 16 percent. About this, Krugman and Wells (2006) states that American spends more on its health sector as compared to any other sector in the country, including food. They argued that the growth in the health sector has far outstripped the overall economic growth, which has been increasingly associated with the advancements as well as development and increase on the use of new medical technologies within the field of medicine.A Case against Universal Health Care
Cohn (2007) also argues on the aspect of health spending and identifies a number of issues surrounding the health system of the United States. First, Cohn (2007) points out to the fact that the United States health care is much expensive and only favors the rich people who are able to meet medical expenses, just like Mike. However, Cohn also argues that those people who cannot afford the costs of the medical bills suffer a lot, as their health concerns may not be sufficiently addressed.
Employer based insurance
Krugman and Wells (2006) states that almost 16 percent of the health spending involved out-of-pocket spending by people. Either public or private insurance companies paid the rest, which translates to an 84 percent. They argue that many of the people, especially the economists find it hard because both the doctors as well as patients fail to make rational decisions about the spending as the insurance companies bear the costs of the bills. The employer based insurance cover in the United States is considered as a common phenomenon. Krugman and Wells (2006) also states that almost 63 percent of the Americans were under insurance through their employers.A Case against Universal Health Care
Cohn (2007) also highlights that the employer-based insurance is highly rampant in the United States as insurance firms pay the medical cover of many people. Many employers in the United States have joined these insurance companies and thus, put their employees under the cover of these companies. However, Cohn argues that those who are not covered under this system stand a greater chance of thread. The government needs to come up with strategies in order to low the medical bills of those who cannot afford to undergo through some of the expensive medical procedures. According to Cohn, providing universal health care would be efficient in meeting the needs of everyone as well as ensuring that the medical costs of those who cannot afford have been sufficiently taken care.
Medicaid and Medicare
On the issue of Medicaid as well as Medicare, Krugman and Wells (2006) argues that the United States healthcare system is much privatized as compared to any other healthcare for any advanced nation in the world. Many government health expenditures are always accounted by two great social programs namely; Medicaid and Medicare. Medicare is said to receive major attention as compared to Medicaid health program. However, Medicaid has recently grown and become popular because it has picked up the slack from the existing system of employer based insurance covers (Almgren & Lindhorst, 2012).
In terms of Medicaid and Medicare, Cohn (2007) also gives his contribution based on the experiences of his friend mike. He supports and proposes for a universal health care, as it will provide many of the low incomes citizens the opportunity to access medical services. Although, Cohn argues that the issue of universal health care faces a lot of content on, it is still the most effective way because it does well for many. Moreover, Cohn (2007) presents that the issue of universal health care has been criticized of lowering the health services in the United States, he points that both Britain as well as France performs well even though they have adopted the same measures. Cohn argues that in Britain and France, there are no longer lines or worsened health situations, as been argued for the United States.A Case against Universal Health Care
Single-payer and beyond
Krugman and Wells (2006) argue on the ways a person may tell whether the United States health care is efficient. Krugman and Wells (2006) argue that the United States had achieved a significant level of progress in terms of health care system. The United States stands much far in terms of health care as compared to other advanced nations. It is also true that the United States spends more on health than any other developed nation in the world. Krugman and Wells (2006) further argued that, even though the United States is the leader in terms of health system, both Britain as well as France score well based on health measures and performance, including life expectance of the people (Armstrong, 2011).
Cohn (2007) also argues on the issue of single-payer as well as beyond, and says that there is a very heavy burden on the side of consumers. Moreover, Cohn argues that those who are covered under the medical cover are many as compared to the ones who are not. As opposed to Krugman and Wells (2006) who argue for efficiency in the health system, Cohn argues that there exist a number of inefficiencies in the system. The medical system efficiency of the United States by far is inefficient as it leaves out a number of important factors, which need to be adequately addressed under the country’s medical system (Haugen & Musser, 2012).A Case against Universal Health Care
Upon comparing the issues that are brought forward from both articles, the article by Cohn presents the touchiest issues concerning the status of the health system in the United States. Whereas, Krugman and Wells (2006) argue that the Clinton regime had a dire consequence on the health system of the country, Cohn (2007) argues on the contrary, and instead, says that the Clinton regime led to some significant improvements to the health system of the country. Moreover, the article by Cohn (2007) presents the plight of the poor people who cannot afford a number of procedures due to lack of funds, or lack of insurance cover in order to help them in subsiding medical costs. This situation is well represented by mike in Cohn’s (2007) article as he faces a dilemma concerning the situation he is facing. Although, Mark is employed, the medical procedure that he has to go through is a bit expensive. He does not have a medical cover that can help in his situation. Therefore, if the government can be able to design such policies that the health care is available to everybody, it would then health in reducing the problems that people like Mike are going through (Taylor & Hawley, 2010). However, Krugman and Wells (2006) also present many issues that need a lot need to be focused, including making available to people the issues of Medicaid as well as Medicare.A Case against Universal Health Care