What is universal healthcare and why is it important? Universal healthcare is a healthcare system that ensures that all individuals have access to good quality health services without exposing them to financial hardship. There are differing versions of universal healthcare. The United Kingdom has a fairly traditional version of universal healthcare that involves minimal use of privatized care. Many European countries use a blended system of public and privatized options. Universal healthcare does not have to eliminate private providers entirely (Zieff et al., 2020). Universal healthcare should simply make health services accessible for all and eliminate the possibility to financial hardship. Medical expenses shouldn’t be leaving people with thousands of dollars of debt and bad credit scores. 

If you think of our healthcare system as something new, advanced, and equal for all you assumed wrong. Health expenditures per person in the U.S. were $12,555 in 2022, which was over $4,000 more than any other high-income nation. The average amount spent on health per person in comparable countries ($6,651) is about half of what the U.S. spends per person. The cost is outrageous in the U.S. for healthcare and that is if you are privileged enough to have it in the first place. Along with the high costs for services rendered it is not the highest quality care. Even some Americans consider the United States healthcare system to be in a state of crisis. 

For the very first time in 2020, the combined total of payments for health care by public sources (the federal and state governments) equaled that from private sources (individuals, families, private businesses). This 50–50 distribution reflects the fact that the health care system has become a genuine public-private mix. Health insurance policies are expensive regardless of who pays. In 2020, the average family insurance policy cost $21,342 of which employers paid $15,579 (73 percent) and employees paid $5,763 (27 percent). This amount to pay just for healthcare for low- and middle-class families is obscene. Unfortunately, families have other needs which are necessities to pay for such as housing, food, water, clothing, education, electric, gas, cars etc. The U.S. healthcare system produces and enforces health disparities amongst vulnerable populations. Racial and ethnic groups are at higher risk of receiving a delay or denial for high quality care. 

In our healthcare system, there are many disparities. Health disparities are gaps in wellness and quality of healthcare across different groups of people. These disparities are felt heavily among women, Black people, Native Americans, and Latinos. Multiple reports and studies have brought this issue to light, including the 1985 landmark Malone-Heckler Report, the 2003 Institute of Medicine’s “Unequal Treatment” report, and the American College of Cardiology and Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation’s joint cardiology services analysis. Author Wayne J. Riley suggests that existing healthcare disparities can be largely contributed to cost of care (Riley, 2012). Being uninsured leads to lack of essential medical care, including preventative services, treatment, and regular, consistent care. According to the Center for American Progress, as of 2017, 12.1 percent of African Americans and 20.1 percent of Hispanics under the age of 65 reported having no health insurance coverage, and African Americans’, Hispanics’, and Native Americans’ leading causes of death were heart disease and cancer (Carratala, Maxwell, 2020). These rates are much higher than they should be and there are solutions. Healthcare should not be a racial or cultural privilege; it should be a right.

In 2021, about 4.5 billion people were not fully covered by essential health services. We should implement a universal healthcare system for many reasons. Universal healthcare protects people from the financial consequences of paying for health services out of their own pockets and reduces the risk they will be pushed into poverty. In 2019, out-of-pocket health spending dragged 344 million people further into extreme poverty and 1.3 billion into relative poverty. Having quality and affordable healthcare is the foundation for individuals to lead productive and fulfilling lives and for countries to have strong economies. In a universal healthcare system, pricing is more transparent, and patients can anticipate their bills. With this kind of system, health and health care are less related to social, financial, or educational status. This way everyone can access medical services and have health insurance. Universal health coverage would cover the full continuum of essential health services such as prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, and palliative care. A universal healthcare system would also address the growing chronic disease crisis and reduce the vast health disparities that exist between different populations in our country. Recommended by the WHO would be a system using a primary health care (PHC) approach. This type of approach would enable universal, integrated access to health services while helping to deliver the full range of quality services and products individuals would need for their health and well-being. Overall, improving the amount of coverage and offering financial protection. 

The United States already has universal health care for some individuals, so expanding the system to include everyone wouldn’t be too much of a challenge. The U.S. government successfully provides health care for 36-50% of the population government funded programs, Medicare and Medicaid. Since almost half the population is included in these government funded programs, the remainder of the population should also be included. Universal health care would also improve individual and national health outcomes. One study found that changing to a universal health care system would “save more than 68,000 lives and 1.73 million life-years every year compared with the status quo” (Galvani et al., 2020).