Universal health care in the United States seems like an impossible achievement for this decade to accomplish. While most politicians debate to no avail for a solution, many of the countries’ population are left with no coverage. Even though the federal government has provided the American people with Obamacare, it is a system that is incomplete and has its many flaws. Instead, the government needs to enact and borrow the German healthcare system that will allow the country to provide medical care to its residents so that no-one is left uninsured without being robbed of their money by greedy corporations that don’t care about peoples well being.

           Although “The U.S. Health Care System: An International Perspective” reports that in 2014, 283.2 million people, 89.6 percent of the U.S. population, had some type of health insurance, nearly 32.9 million people had no health insurance (The U.S Health Care System). One of the main reasons why many Americans have a problematic time affording health care is because of the high cost of coverage. Not everyone makes the same wages and most people struggle to make ends-meet. In “Why So Many Americans Can’t Afford Health Care” Michael Rainey asserts “about 56 percent of Americans aged 18 and older […] experienced a medical financial hardship in the last year, roughly translating to 137 million people struggling to pay medical bills” (Rainey and Rosenberg). Furthermore, unless a good company employs a person, they will struggle to pay medical necessities. Most of these jobs are government jobs, but not everyone has access to these types of employment. The majority of society is currently going to school or can’t even afford to go to school; they get stuck at a low minimum wage job that might not even offer healthcare coverage. Furthermore, Obamacare has failed some Americans with healthcare “by disrupting the doctor-patient relationship and thereby worsening the quality of patients’ care”(Singer). In “Why Doctors Give Obamacare a Failing Grade,” Jeffrey A. Singer asserts that the relationship between a Doctor and patient is very crucial to healthcare; it is the heart and soul of medicine. With Obamacare, many patients plan don’t meet the laws minimum requirements; therefore, they lose their doctor and receive cancelation letters on their healthcare plans. Singers also observes that due to the regulatory burden Obamacare has imposed on physicians, doctors spend less time with their patients. They have to spend most of their time reporting back to bureaucrats through paperwork and data entry. America is a strong nation that needs to prioritize on its people. It has the resources and the income to be able to provide everyone with health care. One of the many solutions to fix this problem is to replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Obamacare, with a federal-funded healthcare system like the way they do in Germany. Frank Newport reports from a Gallup poll of 1,549 adults that 58% of American adults would replace the Affordable Care Act with a federally funded healthcare system (Newport). All the government needs to do is listen.

           The United States government needs to look into the way Germany runs their healthcare system since they have finally achieved universal healthcare for all their citizens. Germany achieved “universal health coverage through the use of ‘sickness funds’ (private sector non-profit insurance companies), avoiding the often complained about bureaucratic complexities that government-run health systems go through” (Nelson). Moreover, the system is under a form of self-regulation under general government oversight. The federal government provides a framework for its universal health insurance system; however, the implementation is left to experts in the field and not bureaucrats outside of the medical profession (Nelson). This makes it so that a patient is not under the care of a corporation and spending on costs they don’t need. While most countries with a single-pay healthcare system struggles with their wait lines, Germany doesn’t have this issue. In fact, other countries praise their system and it’s the basis for their healthcare reforms as well. According to Michael Nelson, the heart of the healthcare system in Germany is solidarity, a model based on mandatory insurance administered by about 200 private non-profit sickness funds and regional medical associations. It is also the basic principle that everyone is in it together and that no one should be left without coverage (Nelson). The way it works with the system is that workers pay premiums close to eight percent of their gross income to the sickness funds, which then employers then match. Furthermore, the system is designed so that no one is left unemployed. In any case, unemployment insurance continues with a person’s premium and if one is poor, the government subsidizes the payments. Nelson also observes that when one retires, the public pension fund makes contributions to the sickness funds on their behalf. The United States can benefit from borrowing this system from Germany because of its high population in some major states. Furthermore, an immigration reform can help boost the system towards universal healthcare since illegal immigrants would have no choice but to contribute to the nations well being for everyone else. Reducing healthcare cost can also help by “replicating the German practice of electronic billing, medical malpractice reform, government oversight, and utilization of non-profit insurance companies” (Nelson).

           

Universal Coverage Other Countries

Although the United States has some form of healthcare, it is lacking universal healthcare for all. By borrowing Germany’s healthcare system and allowing for an immigration reform, this country could achieve a strong universal healthcare. This universal healthcare is meant for everyone to contribute and not depend from corporation that cares about making money. It would also mean that everyone would have access to healthcare. All the government needs to do is to listen to the people and realize that a new system is needed since the current one is broken. Also, people need to get educated on healthcare. Most are oblivious and it isn’t until an emergency happens that people realize they can’t afford medical expenses. Healthcare should also be a basic human right. No one should have to suffer because medical care is expensive, no one should have to wait until they are dying to get treated. Let’s prevent future deaths and early treatment by allowing everyone to access healthcare.

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Work Cited

Elson, Michael. “Achtung! After 125 Years of Success, The German Health Care System Is in Code Blue.” International Lawyer, vol. 44, no. 3, Fall 2010, pp. 1045–1075. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=63491045&site=ehost-live. My research came from his article and was the base for most of the essay. Also, he was able to provide with a lot of information regarding with Germany’s health care system. He was able to educate the audience on how America can adopt their system and finally provide the people with universal healthcare. Michael Elson also provides detailed information on how Germany’s health coverage works.

“Jeffrey A. Singer, MD Biography.” Are the March 2010 Federal Health Care Reform Laws Good for America?, healthcarereform.procon.org/view.source.php?sourceID=014883. I was able to find a doctors point of view of Obamacare. Through his experience as a doctor, I was able to explain why Obamacare fails some Americans and why we should look into another system that can benefit the country. He was also able to provide information on how patient are affected by this system that we have. Furthermore, he helps me persuade the audience to look into the broken system that we have.

Rainey, Michael, and Yuval Rosenberg. “Why So Many Americans Can’t Afford Health Care.” The Fiscal Times, 2 May 2019, www.thefiscaltimes.com/2019/05/02/Why-So-Many-Americans-Can-t-Afford-Health-Care. This article was used to illustrate the struggle of people not being able to afford healthcare in America. I was able to use this source as a way to show the audience and make them aware that some people don’t have access to healthcare. This source also provides statistics of the people who are struggling. That very same statistics was used in the essay to provide more information.

“The U.S. Health Care System: An International Perspective.” DPEAFLCIO, Aug. 2016, dpeaflcio.org/programs-publications/issue-fact-sheets/the-u-s-health-care-system-an-international-perspective/. This source was also used to provide more data on people with no healthcare coverage worldwide. The website has a lot more information in comparison to other countries. Also it provides with information on how much people are spending in America to be insured. The article also talks about the uneven prices of healthcare premiums. This source helped me also understand how corrupt the healthcare system really is.

Newport, Frank. “Majority in U.S. Support Idea of Fed-Funded Healthcare System.” Gallup.com, Gallup, 7 June 2017, news.gallup.com/poll/191504/majority-support-idea-fed-funded-healthcare-system.aspx. This website provided information, based on a poll conducted by Frank Newport, to show that the majority of Americans are in support for a change in the healthcare system. It helped me transition into my next paragraph as well. There is more information on the websites of the different views of people regarding the change in the health system.