Week 3 Assignment
docx
keyboard_arrow_up
School
Delaware County Community College *
*We aren’t endorsed by this school
Course
103
Subject
Philosophy
Date
Jan 9, 2024
Type
docx
Pages
6
Uploaded by DoctorDovePerson635
1
Should The United States Go To A Universal Health Care System?
The University of Arizona Global Campus
PHI103
May 18, 2022
2
Many countries around the world have found success with implementing a universal health care
system. Some other names that are used interchangeably are Medicare-for-all and single-payer. A
political hot topic, to say the least, there have been a lot of studies, reports, conversations, arguments,
discussions about whether the United States should implement some form of universal health care for
all citizens. In this paper, I will review resources on both sides of the question to see if it is possible for
the United States to move toward a single-payer system or keep the status quo of mostly privatizing our
health care.
Presentation of an Argument for Universal Health Care
Through my findings it is interesting that both the World Health Organization, an agency of the
United Nations, and the World Bank, a financial institution founded to give loans and grants to countries,
both use the argument that moving to some form of universal health care would help eliminate poverty.
(UHC 2021). It would help eliminate poverty by everyone having access to health care services and not
falling into debt or financial ruin due to an ailment. Contrast that with 25% of United States citizens
having ten thousand dollars’ worth of medical debt (Winters 2022). Implementing a Bernie Sanders type
of plan would save households two thousand dollars a year while having no co-pays or deductibles
(Ingraham 2020).
The primary argument in standard form:
Premise 1: Both the World Bank and the World Health Organization, two leading organizations in
today’s modern world both came to the same reason of medical debt being solved by universal health
care.
Premise 2: 25% of Americans having thousands of dollars in medical debt is a huge financial
burden, leaving many people to struggle.
3
Premise 3: If all developed countries are coming up with a form of universal health coverage, so
should the United States.
Premise 4: Less medical debt or payments, leads to disposable income for people to spend.
Premise 5: Going to a universal health care system will likely benefit more people that outweigh
what currently is going on.
Conclusion: Moving to a universal health care systems helps everyone, especially the most
financially vulnerable.
Evaluation of the Argument for Universal Health Care
The reasoning seems to be strong in the arguments. It is clearly defined that two organizations
two top, reputable organizations have concluded that universal health care can help end poverty while
also stimulating the economy. The Sanders plan for universal health care saves every household two
thousand dollars a year. There are plenty of things that can be done with two thousand a year and
having zero medical debt or expenses to worry about. While there are intricacies with how to handle
universal health care there are vastly different ways in which countries handle it, I think it is best for the
United States to try. The only argument that I can see happening with this is the fear of how we are
going to pay for all of this. The different articles point to different taxes that we could face that would
mostly be offset with the savings that we would see.
Presentation of an Argument Against Universal Health Care
Not surprisingly, what I found most in my research was found in how the United States is
expected to fund this operation. A point raised that I didn’t think of was the point raised by Edward
Eichhorn and Michael Hutchinson of USNews. If we eliminate the private insurance industry, we are
leaving a million people without jobs (Eichhorn & Hutchison 2019). Another point they raised is that if
Your preview ends here
Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version
- Access to all documents
- Unlimited textbook solutions
- 24/7 expert homework help
4
we lower doctor incomes, they will leave as well. This leads to a shortage of doctors that any universal
health care plan would need to deal with patients.
Premise 1: There is no way to pay for this huge expense without taxes going up.
Premise 2: Universal health care will lead to people that service that industry losing their jobs.
Premise 3: There most likely will be a doctor shortage.
Premise 4: A doctor shortage leads to longer waiting times.
Premise 5: Longer wait times leads to frustration.
Conclusion: Universal health care does more harm than it helps.
Evaluation of the Argument Against Universal Health Care
The reasoning in the article made perfect sense. The conclusion seems to follow the premises as
it just flows from one to the other. There are some limitations and room for it to be debated though. We
can’t really be sure if there will be a doctor shortage or if longer wait times lead to frustration. Wait
times can always be adjusted. The argument always comes back down to taxes and where we are going
to pull the money from. How far can we tax high earners before they take their money and go
somewhere else? Would we be better off re-adjusting where we spend our money?
Evaluation of Arguments in Scholarly and Non-Scholarly Sources
Both scholarly and non-scholarly sources I think framed their points of view with great points
and great explanations. Since this is all hypothetical, they can only support their sides based on
projections, computer rendered models, and what they THINK is going to happen. A lot of what one side
brings up, the other side can clear up, but without concrete facts. All of the articles highlighted the
5
positives of what they thought and made the other side seem awful. I couldn’t find a fair, balanced
article at all. You could tell what side they were on just by reading the first couple of sentences.
Conclusion
This has been a tremendous exercise in reading, analyzing, and structuring. I thought I leaned
one way and came across as to not being sure which way I should lean. I will most likely lean into
scholarly sources more as their voices are more believable and are worth more, in my opinion. I think I
was able to get a snapshot of the different sides, but without any real data to analyze, this all seems like
a moot point and almost like we are yelling down an empty hallway. I need to find more concrete
support in the future for this topic.
6
World Health Organization. (2021, April 1).
Universal Health Coverage (UHC)
. World Health
Organization. Retrieved May 18, 2022, from https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-
sheets/detail/universal-health-coverage-(uhc)
Universal Health Coverage
. World Bank. (2022). Retrieved May 18, 2022, from
https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/universalhealthcoverage#1
Winters, M. (2022, March 11).
Over half of Americans have medical debt, even those with health
insurance-here's why
. CNBC. Retrieved May 18, 2022, from
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/11/why-55percent-of-americans-have-medical-debt-even-
with-health-insurance.html#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20survey%2C%2069,no
%20health%20insurance%20at%20all.
Ingraham, C. (2020, February 21).
Analysis | here's that Medicare-for-all study Bernie Sanders
keeps bringing up
. The Washington Post. Retrieved May 18, 2022, from
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/02/20/lancet-medicare-for-all-study/
Eichhorn, E., & Hutchinson, M. (2019, April 26).
Commentary: Why Medicare for all is not
good for America
. Retrieved May 19, 2022, from
https://www.usnews.com/news/healthcare-of-tomorrow/articles/2019-04-26/commentary-
why-medicare-for-all-is-not-good-for-america
Your preview ends here
Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version
- Access to all documents
- Unlimited textbook solutions
- 24/7 expert homework help