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Universal Healthcare

Universal Health Care in the United States
The self-employed business woman opens the envelope in her hand with trepidation. It is the annual renewal notice regarding the premiums of her individual health insurance policy. She draws her breath sharply when she sees the figure of $17,928.00. The justification for the cost: the advancing age of the woman, and rising health care costs. She is now faced with a difficult decision. She can drop the current policy; find one with limited coverage, with lower premiums or make sacrifices to pay the full premium. The sixty-three year old woman will even consider not carrying any insurance and hope that she can stay accident and disease free until she reaches the age of sixty-five when she will be covered by Medicare.
Sadly, this hypothetical situation is the norm rather than the exception. Hard working Americans are faced with paying sky-rocketing premiums, buying sub-standard policies or forgoing insurance all together. Many of the aging population are faced with choosing between food and medicine. Families are dealing with the knowledge that one sick family member could potentially wipe out a life time of savings, or worse, force the family into bankruptcy.
The United States is the only industrialized country that does not guarantee access to health care as a right of a citizen. "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 this sense, health care in America is treated as an economic good like a TV or VCR, not as a social or public good" (Chua 1-2). In other words, the American health care system is entrepreneurial based where profits need to be made. As a result, the cost for health care continues to increase. By implementing a universal health care system in the United States, all citizens would be guaranteed access to health care without the fear of financial difficulty;...