Jackson Leer
Amanda Chase
English 102
March 6th, 2023
Argumentative Synthesis
“According to the National Bankruptcy Forum, medical debt is the number one reason people file for bankruptcy in the United States… in 2017, about 33% of all Americans with medical bills reported that they were unable to pay for basic necessities like food, heat, or housing” (“Should the U.S. Government Provide Universal Health Care?”). This is a major problem, as the financial security of individuals are at risk because of a government system that fails to regulate pharmaceutical companies, as well as fail to expand medical programs that would decrease this 33% margin. The current healthcare system in the U.S. is the #1 most expensive in the world, 40% higher than
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Medicaid currently provides some universal healthcare to eligible adults with low income or resources, but the system can be expanded to cover everyone, which would provide the U.S. a healthcare system to the rest of the 37 OECD country without completely reconstructing the system. Furthermore, expanding the Inflation Reduction Act to regulate the pricing of more essential drugs would help to contain out-of-pocket costs that cause financial situations for individual payers. This combination would be most effective and beneficial to implement, as it is able to provide coverage to the majority population and reduce cost. As it is now, most Americans rely on private institutions to cover healthcare costs. “In 2021, private health insurance coverage continued to be more prevalent than public coverage, at 66.0 percent and 35.7 percent” (Keisler and Bunch). This means that a lot of services aren’t available to those who can’t afford private coverage. With free universal healthcare, private insurance coverage wouldn’t need to have such an important role in how health expenses are funded. France is an example of a healthcare system where healthcare is provided to everyone, and health insurance is simply compulsory. “The ACA created a path to universal coverage by building on existing public insurance offered through Medicaid and making reforms to the private insurance market… more than 30 million Americans are now covered through these expansions” (“How Other Countries Achieve Universal Coverage”). This means that the possibility of single payer coverage is very possible, all it needs is funding, time and