Prompt: Universal Health Care: how will it affect us?
Introduction: Many presidents within our history such as President Truman and his idea of national health insurance as well as, President Clinton’s Health care plan in 1994, have dealt with the issue of health care and how to include a larger majority at an affordable price to both the average American and the country. Today- President Barack Obama is tackling the same issue, offering a government sponsored plan or “public option”. This option is not considered to be a traditional “universal health care system”, like the one in Canada, because it is not government subsidized and it’s given at a cost to its consumer. However, this plan IS a step in the right direction, and would give Americans the choice of going with their current private health care or choosing a plan that would be cheaper and provide the same care.
Body:
Senior Citizens
With Obama’s public option plan, older Americans would not experience much change in care.
A. Maintain their Health care system
1. Their taxes wont be raised because income is low
The total affect on senior citizens because of this plan would be neither positive nor negative in the sense that nothing changes much because of low income rates.
2. However, with the public option senior citizens would be encouraged to take up end-of life counseling, although not required.
-Medicare would provide a consultation every 5 years or more if you have a life threatening disease. In this counseling Americans would discover how to write their own will and how to plan properly, so loved ones won’t be as financial affected after their death.
- Still, according to Lori Montgomery, a staff writer for the Washington Post, “Medicare cuts contained in the health package approved by the House on Nov. 7 are likely to prove so costly to hospitals and nursing homes that they could stop taking Medicare altogether.” The reason is due to the 500 billion dollars planned to be taken out of Medicare funds in order to supply Obama with the necessary funds for implementing his national health care plans.
-Because the public option will open up more beneficiaries for all populous Medicare may experience financial issues when having to support more people.
–However, advocates of the plan suggest, national spending on medical care will increase, and out-of pocket spending then decrease, which would help stabilize the fluctuation in Medicare consumers overall.
-According to this same Washington Post writer “White House spokeswoman Linda Douglass. "He [Obama] has also made clear that no guaranteed Medicare benefits will be cut."
• Overall senior citizens would not experience much change, If anything, the government may encourage them to add benefits to their care because :
• As suggested by a Fox News report in August of 2009, "Policies that promote increased communication, such as incentives for end-of-life conversations, may be cost-effective ways to both improve care and reduce some of the rising health care expenditures”
Of course senior citizens are not the only age group that makes up our country
Middle Aged Americans
Then there are those who are roughly between 45 and 65. This plan means:
A. Increased Taxation
1. In order to allow everyone the same basic health care plan taxes are needed to jump to between 40-50%
2. This means less of your income will be able to go to other things than health care: college, home sales, and small businesses will suffer…Still, uninsured Americans have caused higher tax rates so which is the lesser of two evils? With the UHC plan the life of an employed American will not be put above the right of an uninsured American
B. Guaranteed health care for all regardless of employment status -not only will all Americans receive care but in return our high infant mortality rates will decrease
According to a study brief in November of 2009, done by the Center for Diesease Control and Prevention’s Marian F. MacDorman and T.J. Mathews, “The main cause of the United States’ high infant mortality rate when compared with Europe is the very high percentage of preterm births in the United States.” The hope is with more people having the opportunity to gain health care coverage from the “public option” they will be able to learn more about safe health practices.
A. Hospital/emergency care changes
1. With hospitals no longer having to give the uninsured medical care… competition for the best care decreases. With health care given to all middle-aged adults will find it difficult to have medical injuries covered right away
-simply put: more people with health care equals less open beds
• Overall, the middle aged Americans and those who support children will be affected the most in both positive and negative ways. They may have greater challenges paying for their college degree but will receive more steady health coverage.
III. Teenagers and college aged Americans
Transition: As a young adult, knowing how the public option will affect my future as a parent and a hopeful grandparent is important to me. However in order to become prepared for my future life circumstances I need to become aware how this change affects me now.
A. Provide full-time students with health care
• According to an article written in the American Medical News on January 9th of this year by Susan Landers “Many teens are lost to the health care system at a crucial time in their development”
• Teens are experiencing rapid growth change as well as mental health changes. The public option will provide them the necessary tools to combat these issues before they conflict with their adult futures
1. Decreases personal expenditures while in college• Health care is a necessity for college and the “public option” will reduce the fees paid by the student and give them med. insurance
• Linda Blumberg from the Urban Institute said in late October of 2009 “ The younger adults tend to be lower income so they really are buffered a great deal from the full impact”
Personal Story:
Studying the effects of President Obama’s “public option” has helped me to realize that the critics are wrong. I support our President’s health care reform.. I am a teenager who struggles with an incurable disability, Spastic Cerebral Palsy. This is a disability that affects my body movement, balance, and coordination, which are all a result of an underdeveloped part of my brain. Even as a child, I have always worried about how I would be able to support myself financially because my medical bills were very high., especially as a baby. This is a grave concern for me. In fact, because I was three months premature, if it wasn’t for my medical insurance, my bills would have been well over a million dollars before I even arrived home. If President Obama’s plan passes, I will be able to take care of my own medical exams, surgeries, and physical therapy that my future is guaranteed to entail. Needless to say I’ve constantly been concerned I may not be able to have medical insurance that was both affordable and consistent. However, with this “public option” I would be able to easily receive the medical care that is necessary for me to function in daily society. The “public option” although not a pure universal health care program, would give me the confidence that I could more easily afford health care, whether through Medicare or other avenues. But I’m not the only one affected by health care changes; we all need to think about our futures and our medical expenses. Although I do realize President Obama’s health care plan is not universal because it isn’t completely government subsidized and will not just be handed out free of charge to the American people. His option will give a larger populous access to health care benefits and will be a step in making sure that one person’s life (health) isn’t more valued over another’s. This option will be a step towards creating more equal opportunities in our country, a country that emphasizes equality as one of its greatest values.
Conclusion:
The current proposition, though not “universal” by definition, has caused us to think, not only of our existing state of being, but of our future, and of future generations. This plan will have an everlasting affect on our fellow Americans and it is our duty to choose what is in the best interest of our people. In my eyes, Obama’s health care plan is a step in the right direction, possibly even a step toward true universal health care. All we really know for certain, in this moment in time, is that the existing system is not working so “Universal Health Care: How will it Affect Us?” we’ll never truly understand the immensity of such a question unless we boldly move toward real health care reform. For now, that may just be President Obama’s “public option.”
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