32 out of the 33 developed nations in the world have a system of universal health care. The World Health Organization has declared health as one of the fundamental rights in its constitution. It is believed that a healthy population is the basis of a healthy economy. The universal healthcare system ensures that people have access to essential health care without having to worry about the expenses. After all, Healthcare is a necessity and not a luxury.
The United States, however, remains the only state with no universal healthcare system. There has been a difference in opinion about this issue between the Democrats and the Republicans, where a majority of the Republicans oppose universal health care, while a majority of the Democrats support it. If this system of healthcare benefits everyone, what are the grounds for opposing this?
In this article, we will focus only on the problems with universal health care, and see for ourselves if these negative effects of universal health care lower the overall standard of the healthcare infrastructure.
Problems with Universal Health Care
We are mostly aware of the advantages of universal health care system, as it makes healthcare affordable not just for the wealthy but for the average middle class as well. The government’s capacity to leverage the medical market to prevent competition and dispensation of costly profit-based service makes the system accessible to everyone.
Despite the tons of benefits of universal health care, there are few drawbacks to this system that we need to consider.
1. People have to pay for services they do not require- In the United States, a very small part of the entire population consume more than half of the healthcare costs that are produced every year. Whereas the majority of the population takes up a very insignificant amount of healthcare costs. The issue with the universal healthcare system is that the wealthy and healthy people have to bear the burden of the treatment of chronic disorders for which almost 80% of the total cost is allocated.
2. A general indifference towards health- It is believed that when a country has universal health care, people take their health for granted. With the availability of cheap health care, people take less and less responsibility for their health. Thus resources are wasted for general negligence.
3. Poor and inaccurate diagnosis- In a universal healthcare system, there is a necessity to cut down on the cost to lower the expenditure. This may result in overtaxing the doctors by forcing them to offer more service than they are capable of. In such stressful situations, the doctors might fail to provide competent and accurate service to the patients.
4. Longer waiting time- When there is a universal healthcare system, the elective procedure may take up an extremely long time. The fact that more stress is laid on emergency and basic medical service is one of the chief disadvantages of the universal health care system, where people with a serious illness might not easily get an appointment with a specialist.
5. Reduction in the payouts received by the doctors- the reduction in remuneration in exchange for the service provided by the doctors might result in less dedication on the part of the doctors.
6. Limit technological advancements- The cutting down of costs in a universal healthcare system might reduce the funding for new research and development in the field of medical science. Thus cheaper service might prove detrimental to the overall development of the medical infrastructure.
7. Affects the overall budget- Without effective budget skills, the resources and the investment needed to provide universal health care might take up budgets allocated to other areas, thus reducing the standard of the overall service provided by the government.
8. Limiting other services- The need to cut down on costs might result in the restriction of access to expensive treatment and medication for a patient whose chances of survival are minimal. They might just administer less expensive palliative care to such patients.
Conclusions: These are more or less the problems with universal health care. Although the system is in general advantageous, these are the areas that can be improved upon when considering universal health care as a feasible option.