Rebecca Wood is a mother and a victim of the United States healthcare system. In 2012 she gave birth to her daughter Charlie via emergency cesarean section 26 weeks into her pregnancy. Charlie weighed 1 lb 12 oz and was forced to stay in the hospital for 3 months until she was well enough to go home. Issues from Charlie's birth kept appearing. Even with her father's insurance from his employer, she relied on a medicare waiver for most of her care. Rebecca would frequently put off getting her expensive asthma medication to pay for her daughter's care. One day she needed an expensive dental surgery, but it was at the same time she needed to pay for her daughter's therapy. She chose to put off the surgery and pay the therapy bill. Due to the delay for her surgery, the infection spread and she was forced to have all her teeth removed and parts of her jaw scraped only under local anesthesia. Now every day she lives with excruciating pain and will never get to play the trumpet again. I think that the United States should provide a single payer universal healthcare system for all of its citizens. I am going to be answering these questions: what is universal healthcare, how will it make healthcare affordable and cut costs, how will it encourage entrepreneurship, and how will it help make and keep people healthier?

First, what is universal healthcare? An article published by the website The World Bank on May 19th, 2021 titled “Universal Health Coverage,” says that universal healthcare is “about ensuring that people have access to the health care they need without suffering financial hardship.” This means that people should be able to afford the healthcare that they need to be healthy, both mentally and physically. There are many different types of universal healthcare. According to an article titled “What is Universal Health Care?” written by the website Mint Intuit on Nov 19th, 2021 there are 3 main types of universal healthcare: socialized medicine, all payer systems, and single payer systems. Socialized medicine is when the government owns and operates all healthcare facilities. An all payer system is where multiple entities can collect and pay for care. In a single payer system, every citizen pays into a government run system usually through taxes. Then the government uses this money to hire and pay private healthcare providers. There are pros and cons with each system, but if the government were to switch to universal healthcare it would probably be a variation of a single payer system saving people money.

Second, how will universal healthcare make healthcare affordable for everyone and cut costs? An article on the United States Census Bureau’s website written by Katherine Keisler-Starkey and Lisa N. Bunch on September 14th, 2021 titled “Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2020,” says about 8.6 percent of Americans are uninsured. That’s around 28 million people that are not covered by health insurance. Around half of those who are covered by health insurance said that they had trouble affording their out of pocket costs. Numerous studies agree that adopting a single payer system would if not immediately eventually cut costs on medical care and prescriptions. Right now the United States spends an estimated 4.1 trillion dollars on healthcare. A single payer system will allow one public plan to negotiate rates instead of thousands of private companies negotiating rates making billing simple. It will also help cut costs of care and prescriptions by cutting the profit that corporations make on sick people. According to an article on the website Health line titled “Why Your Insurance Company Pays 250% What Medicare Pays for the Same Service” written by Heather Gray on September 24, 2020, a study has shown that private insurers spend about 2.5 times more on hospital services when compared it to medicare. In conclusion, with a single payer system people will be able to afford their healthcare and will cut costs on hospital care and prescriptions. A single payer system will also help people work where they want to.

Third, how will universal healthcare allow people to switch jobs when they please and encourage entrepreneurship? According to an article published by the website Policy Genius titled “1 in 3 insured workers would consider leaving jobs if health insurance weren’t a factor” written on Oct 26th, 2021, by Myles Ma, says that a recent survey shows ”One in three workers (either full-time or part-time) with health insurance (33%) said they would be very or somewhat likely to leave their jobs in the near future if health insurance wasn’t a factor.” This same survey also shows that 26% of those insured Americans would be somewhat likely to start their own business if health insurance wasn't a factor. According to an article posted on the website eHealthInsurance titled “How Many Americans Get Health Insurance from their Employer?” written by Vaughn Himber on Jan 11, 2021, around 49 % of Americans get their insurance from their employer. A single payer system would allow all Americans to get their health insurance from the same place, not being their employer. This would then allow Americans to switch or quit their jobs without having to worry about being uninsured. This would also then allow Americans to start their own business easier because they won't have to worry about finding insurance or staying healthy.

Last, how will a single payer system help make and keep people healthier? According to an article on the website HealthSystem tracker written by Jared Ortaliza, Lucas Fox, Gary Claxton, and Krutika Amin on January 14, 2022, titled “How does cost affect access to care?,” a 2020 NHIS survey found that 1 in 11 people delayed or skipped getting medical care due to cost reasons. This means that some are skipping things like doctor visits and medications. These are things that help sick and hurt people become healthier. But people are also skipping vaccinations, annual exams, screenings, vision checks, and routine blood work. All of these things are used to prevent disease and keep people healthy. An article on the website BreastCancer titled “Uninsured Women More Likely to Die From Breast Cancer” last updated on February 22, 2022, says that a study shows that women without health insurance are 60 percent more likely to die from breast cancer. Women with no insurance are more likely to get a less experienced doctor or an experienced doctor that is extremely overwhelmed. This study also shows that uninsured women are 2.6 times more likely to be diagnosed at a later stage cancer than someone with insurance. This is because they don’t have as much access to screenings and testing. Under a single payer system, people would have access to medical care and routine disease prevention and screening.

In this article, I answered these three questions: what is universal healthcare, how will it make healthcare affordable and cut costs, how will it encourage entrepreneurship, and how will it help make and keep people healthier? Under a single payer system Rebecca Wood would still have her teeth and be able to play the trumpet, and many other Americans would finally be able to afford proper healthcare and avoid delaying important medical procedures and testing.. I think that the United States should provide a single payer universal healthcare system for all Americans. Single payer systems have been proven to work in many other countries such as Canada, Taiwan, and South Korea. A single payer system will help make the overall United States population healthier, both physically and mentally. A single payer system would help lots of people, especially those with chronic illnesses and disabilities. It will also help those in poverty afford healthcare for themselves and their families. I think that the United States government can and should provide healthcare for all of its citizens no matter what, regardless if they’re poor, sick, or unemployed.