Form Of Socialized Health Care example essay topic

Putting A Price On Life (The Health Care Crises) Putting A Price On Life Lately, there has been quite a debate over health care and who should pay for it. Some say that the general public should pay for it. Others say it should be shared between employer & employee. And still others say it should be socialized.

Of these three, socialized medicine seems to be the most controversial if not the most misunderstood. Let's look at the dictionary definition of socialized medicine. According to Funk & Wag nall; socialized medicine is 'A system proposing to supply the public with medical care at nominal cost, by regulating services and fees, by government subsidies to physicians, etc'. The common misperception is that health care will become substandard. If that is true; then mans humanity to man is determined by the almighty dollar. Doctors have taken the Hippocratic Oath to treat their patients equally and ethically.

Most people fear that they will be forced into long lines or on waiting lists for medical attention. But that cannot be proven. Besides; most people now have to make appointments to see a doctor, and are accepted on a priority basis in hospitals. There is also the fear that doctors in the U.S. will leave to practice medicine in other countries.

If so; they will have a difficult time as most of the industrialized nations have systems of socialized medicine including Canada. And let's be honest; how many of us are going to travel to Mexico for a treatment for a common cold? Another important factor in health care is cost. Socialized medicine regulates costs and fees, eliminating the profit competition. This would certainly pinch the billion dollar a year pharmaceutical and insurance industries. This would also allow more doctors to open practices, and lead to more research and development in the area of medicine.

A national health program would be based on revenue coming from income taxes rather than fees, premiums, and payroll taxes. Policies regarding health services would be established at the federal government level with states exercising planning authority and local government administrating. A change in the health system would emphasis preventive medicine, community, environmental, and occupational and social care. This makes health care accessible to everyone. Most of the industrialized nations of Europe have some form of socialized health care.

These programs generally include doctors care, hospital treatment, partial cost of medicines, and maternity benefits. Great Britain has a unique system of health care; it was provided by the National Health Service Act of 1948. In this system doctors are paid salaries by the government with an additional payment per patient. This system is funded by the national treasury and a health-insurance tax. Under this plan everyone in Britain is in titled to free medical care. With only 5.6 percent of its GNP spent on health care, Great Britain offers comprehensive and universal health care coverage, with 85 percent of the British people pleased with their national health service.

The reasons for supporting socialized medicine are fairly straightforward: 1) it is the moral and principled thing to do-the United States has to join the rest of the civilized nations and recognize that health is a human right; 2) it makes sense; and 3) people want it. As simple as that. As Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, 'A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social benefit is approaching spiritual death'.