Fisher
Michelle Fisher
ENG 101
25 March 2010
America Needs Socialized Medicine
A child is very sick and has no health insurance. What can he do? Do his parents take the risk of letting the illness run its course or do they go into debt to make sure that the child gets the medical attention that they think he needs? One of the biggest worries that most people have is that of becoming seriously ill or injured, to the point of needing medical attention, and not being able to afford the treatment. Socialized medicine will provide healthcare to everyone regardless of their ability to pay for it. Americans know that there is a problem with the health care system now. T.R. Reid points out that the way America manages health insurance and the complexity of our health care system are the biggest reasons that the national medical bill is so much higher than any other country’s (36). Socialized medicine will provide care to anyone in need of it with lower out of pocket cost from the patient, promote self health awareness, and will prevent doctors from over prescribing medications and procedures.
There are many people in America who do not have health care because they cannot afford it and a lot of times these are the people who need it the most. Are not the lives of children, older folks, and those with low income just as valuable as the middle to upper class? It is true that there is Medicare or Medicaid provided for some, but not everything under that system is covered. Sered and Fernandopulle point out that “in 2003, Medicaid covered only slightly more than half of the Americans whose family income was below 200 percent of the poverty line” (1). With socialized medicine, one and all will have appropriate health coverage with little-to-no out of pocket cost. Whether one is getting open heart surgery or treating a never ending migraine headache, he doesn’t pay a cent. Even prescription costs are lower. Children’s medications are free and generally adult prescriptions are right around ten dollars. There would be no need to allocate funds to a flexible spending account to cover expected medical costs and avoid taxes on such. That money could be saved in another account for retirement or the like.