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Postion Paper

Running head: POSITION PAPER

Position Paper
Caitlin Kenefick
American International College

Nursing Trends and Issues: NUR. 325
Professor Burns
April 16, 2008

All American citizens have the right to health care and a national health care insurance program should be provided to assure basic health care.
Introduction
This paper addresses the continued argument over health care in the United States. At its root, the lack of health care for all Americans is a moral issue. The United States is the only industrialized nation that does not have a form of universal health care. While other countries have declared health care to be a basic right, the United States treats health care as a privilege, only available to those who can afford it. In the case of health care in the United States it is treated as an economic good, such as a TV or VCR, not as a public or social good.
A larger problem now not seen in previous years was the poor were often the individuals uninsured, now with the skyrocketing costs of health care the middle classes are also worried about coverage. According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), growth in health care spending in the United States is projected to be 6.7 percent in 2007, and expected to remain near that rate through 2017. Annual growth in health spending is anticipated to be higher than annual growth in both the overall economy and in general inflation. By the end of 2017 it was projected that the United States would spend just over $4.3 trillion and comprises 19.5 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which is more than any other nation. It is this author’s opinion that all American citizens have a right to national health care coverage.
In reference to the statement “All American citizens”, that does not include the estimated 8-12 million illegal or noncitizens living within the United States. It refers to the individuals that are born within the United States which confers...