Pros And Cons Of Universal Health Care System

By Juliette Cruz


Universal health care systems are so called because they offer medical services to everybody in a country without discrimination. There is no consideration of either the social or economic status of an individual. Examples of nations that use the system are the United Kingdom, Canada and Germany. The funding is done by the government, through funds gotten from different sources. The pros and cons of universal health care are many.

Among the biggest advantages of the program is the unlimited access to health-care. This is to be done irrespective of social or economic status of the individual. The contributions by individuals do not determine how well or poorly they are treated. The United States is one of the few industrialized nations whose citizens do not have the right to health care.

The system is associated with increased efficiency that is not found in other systems. With the previous or ordinary programs, there is a lot of paperwork involved, forcing patients to do a lot of filling which leads to increased probability of errors. The universal system automates and standardizes medical records, which means such records can be accessed by all entities, insurers for instance, with ease.

Having an electronic system forms the basis of accuracy. When documents and records are safely and accurately stored, doctors are able to make proper decisions as concerns medications and therapies for their patients. Errors are minimized and different forms of malpractices are kept at bay.

Perhaps one of the other major advantages is the affordability. With the ever rising cost of health-care premiums, insurance has become unaffordable to many individuals. Most businesses with health-care plans pass down much of the costs to employees. The result is most people opting not to pay for the coverage at all. Given that the universal system is normally managed by government agencies, costs of administration go down, which results in more affordability.

There are disadvantages that are associated with this program. The first is the number of patients involved. There are numerous patients because every single citizen has the right to receive such treatment. Well, the number of physicians may not necessarily be increased in the same way, which means there will be congestion. This has several consequences. The quality of services offered remains somehow poor, with patients having to wait for long periods to be attended to.

Funding must come from somewhere. The taxpayer is usually taxed with the burden, which simply means taxes are poised to write. When times are hard, this can weigh heavily on an individual in terms of meeting their other needs. If taxes were not to be raised, then the government would have to find other means of raising funds. Whereas this may be a possibility, it brings about the problem of setting priorities by the government for other programs.

When it comes to the pros and cons of universal health care there is need to consider competition as a vital component of business. The lack of any worthwhile competitors implies there is no pressure exerted that would make service delivery more effective. Laziness may set in. Development of a watchdog system may help in solving this problem to some extent.




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