This post is a response to the question ["Would universal healthcare negatively affect the quality of our healthcare? For example, longer wait times to receive surgery or doctors being paid poorly?"] (@lavender22/week-11-questions-universal-healthcare) posed by @lavendar22.
I believe that universal healthcare would negatively affect the quality and the timeliness of our health care. Right now, in the United States, if one hospital cannot take you for a certain procedure or other medical issue, you can call or go around and find a different hospital to take you. The way I understand universal healthcare is that you are simply put on a waiting list of all the other people that need the same procedure done. You finally get it done after you have waited your turn and a slot becomes available sometimes no matter what the consequences are. The wait can be years on end which can sometimes be too late. If it is fatal, you could die before your turn. If it is important for an ability, it might be too late to fix it properly. I have heard of people from Canada coming down the United States to get live saving procedures because it was going to be too late by the time it goes to their turn.
Is Universal Healthcare The Answer For The United States?
I think universal healthcare is not the answer for the United States. The system we have now is not right either. I think we need a new solution, but I do not have any great ideas. Right now, we pay monthly for insurance. When we go to use the insurance, sometimes it does not pay and then you are stuck paying for insurance and medical bills. The part I do not understand the most is the fact that a surgery can cost $150,000 for an insurance company, but if you are self-pay the price can drop to $30,000. Do they do that for charity to cut people some slack? Or is it because they are charging insurance companies an extremely overpriced rate? Is there some way to meet in the middle?