-7-10 page essay, Times New Roman, Citation Style of your specific discipline (MLA, APA,
etc)
-minimum of 7 sources (most of these should be peer reviewed)
-do not report–instead, you should be making a clear argument
-exercise critical thinking and logical argumenation
-utilize ethos effectively using source material (each source should be formally introduced
using lead-in phrases)
-end text citation appropriate to your field of study
-utilize observation, experience, or interview in addition to source material (avoid narrative
writing)
-topic sentences for each paragraph
-introduction and conclusion
Healthcare Systems
Introduction
The National Health Service of England is charged with everyone in the country’s health
concerns as well as needs. The system caters to all its citizen’s healthcare with the exclusion of
visitors and immigrants who are in the country illegally. In some exceptional circumstances,
these individuals can still receive emergency and free care. The healthcare service is responsible
for the administration of all the various healthcare concerns within the country. No citizen is thus
expected to pay anything else regarding health services, except for outpatient medication and
dentistry once their taxes have been filed. The outpatient medication has a co-pay of around £7.5
while the inpatient medication remains free to all. On the contrary, America has a healthcare
system run by both private and public entities, with a majority of the care being provided by the
individual entities. This means that fewer hospitals are run by the government with a majority
operated by the private sector. A majority of healthcare organizations and hospitals are not
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profit-oriented. In addition to this most physicians are not employed by the government and as a
result work for the private entities. This has resulted in high costs of care that most average
citizens cannot afford. For this reason, Americans should embrace a healthcare system similar to
that of Britain because of the charges, involvement of the government, and coverage.
Why the U.S. Should have Health Care like the U.K.
For the sake of its citizens, the American government should switch to a healthcare
system similar to that of the U.K. due to the following factors that make the county’s healthcare
delivery system to stand out as the most convenient in the world.
Healthcare Costs
The U.K.’s National Health Service covers everyone’s health risks completely. The
system runs like an unwritten law with no renewing costs to be met. All healthcare aspects are
available and free to members of the public. Elements such as eye care, outpatient and outpatient
care, preventative services, mental health services, as well as palliative care, are among those
that are fully covered by the healthcare plan. The system is better than that of their counterpart,
the U.S., in that it is government based and sponsored. This means its provision to the people is
dependent only on its need rather than its affordability. This has made the U.K. population much
healthier since they can seek earlier consultations on impending health concerns regardless of
their financial situation. Due to these preventative measures that lower the disease contraction, as
well as progression among the public, has been possible.
America on the contrary, does not provide a national healthcare plan even though
healthcare in the country is costly. This has proven to be a problem since many people are not
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able to get access to the care they need. It also means that for people to seek healthcare in the
country, they have to be able to afford the financial implications of the treatments that they seek.
What this implies is that the country’s healthcare system is failing its citizens. This can be made
easier if one has a job since work provided insurance alleviates and eases the financial burden
involved. For the unemployed and the homeless, it is particularly difficult to access proper
healthcare without insurance plans, and this means that the only safe option for them is not to get
sick. This is an unfortunate and frightening reality that most Americans have to live with
regardless (Khazan, 2019) .
America needs a healthcare plan where regardless of one’s financial situation, they can
comfortably go to the doctor and express their health concerns freely to get the appropriate
treatments without the worry of whether or not they can be able to afford it. I believe Americans
should stop being so preoccupied and enamored with the notion of health insurance since should
anything unexpected or terrible happen such a fatal accident, they would not be able to put all
those premiums paid to use. All these funds instead remain unutilized by the insurance
companies who go ahead and reap from these misfortunes. If the healthcare situation remains
extreme, poverty is all the incentive one needs for them not to break a leg or even develop
cancerous cells within their bodies, and this approach is most certainly not working out well.
Around 15% of Americans are under the Medicare plan, with a majority of them being
significantly older adults. This is the only national social insurance system that is controlled and
affected by the federal government. This makes it the only comparable option to the single-payer
system through which a single insurance type covers everyone in a country. It comes in various
types, which are mostly A, B, C, and D, with the A only accessible to those over 65 years of age
under the condition that they are hospitalized. Type B covers outpatients and is sometimes
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deferred by individuals who, in some instances, are still covered by their employer’s insurance
plans (Bauchner, 2017) . This plan comes with rather low payments with co-insurance options of
up to 20%. Type C avails the option of a provision of healthcare like benefits as an alternative to
healthcare benefits that the government provides. By doing this, they get to keep the overheads
and make profits while they are at it. Part D avails medication plans and are operated by private
insurance companies but commissioned and funded for by the federal government. Another plan,
Medicaid is also a plan that has been set out for the poor, with minimal federal guidelines having
been set. This is left to each of the states planning departments to implement in ways that they
deem appropriate. The plan is designed and expected by the government to cover those at the
extreme lower end of the financial spectrum.
In the majority of the states, most of the citizens are not able to access Medicaid. This is
mainly due to the Supreme Court decision that made the insurance plans expansion optional.
Most states have since refused to adopt it, and this has left around 5 million individuals who lack
income and are without healthcare insurance (Beers, 2019) .
Healthcare provision needs not to be politicized as the U.S. has done over the years, with
most politicians using it as a basis to gain votes during every election period. Most legislators
have often argued that it would costlier for the government to solely be responsible for
healthcare provision, a fact that if find appalling and untrue since the U.K. spends $4,000 a
person on healthcare which is a sharp comparison to the $10,000 spent by the U.S. Despite these
costs, the U.K. still have a longer life expectancy with its people living two years longer tha n the
U.S. (Kay, 2019) . The U.K. healthcare in itself is a promise to the nation as well as an assurance
that it will do what is best health-wise to make sure citizens live a longer, healthier, and
productive life. Americans should embrace such a healthcare plan since it is only right that
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healthcare is available to everyone and not only because they have the finances or the needed
insurance. The only kind of criteria that Americans have to meet to get proper healthcare is their
need for it and not the possession of an insurance cover.
Medication
Medication is also extremely crucial I healthcare as at some point, we all need some
pharmaceutical drugs either for the long term or the short term. In the U.S., a great healthcare
insurance plan will ensure that their patients are covered when it comes to the drugs they are
prescribed for by their physicians. On the other hand, those without these insurance coverages,
purchase the medicines prescribed to them by physicians out of pocket, some of which is
financially crippling for many of Americans if not impossible (Riggins, 2018) . The U.K., on the
other hand, the issue of healthcare medication costs, is a non-issue since a majority of the
country’s population is directly eligible to free prescriptions. However, the remaining percentage
of people, depending on the amounts of income they make or don’t, pay a sum of no more than
$10 to get their prescribed drugs from pharmaceuticals. The National Health Service has even
allowed for those who are on long term medication plans to go for the Prescription Prepayment
Certificate (PPC) option, which further saves them more money when it comes to pharmaceutical
spending.
Healthcare Accessibility
The U.K. National Healthcare System’s main advantage is the fact that it is not privatized,
Though a majority of the industry leaders would like that fact for them to transform it into a
system that works like that of the U.S. and benefits them financially. This would ensure the
complete elimination of the healthcare systems benefits to the country. This national healthcare
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taxation system has resulted in the provision of specialist services to all citizens equally
regardless of the status or financial position within the community. This is a sharp contrast to the
U.S., which prioritizes financial muscles or power to access to specialist care. One can only be
able to get specialized medical services if they have a good insurance plan or can afford it from
their pocket. The remaining population who cannot afford are left to the mercy of well-wishers
(Beers, 2019) .
The U.S. should have a healthcare plan similar to that of the U.K. because most U.S.
citizens who cannot access healthcare insurance are scared of what might happen to them if they
happen to fall sick. With Gallup report citing that for the fifth year in a row, the affordability and
availability of healthcare remains the greatest concerns that Americans have with around 55%
admitting that they worry about their health a lot. Numerous Americans have also been forced
into bankruptcy due to bills accrued by their own or a family members healthcare needs. This is
the exact opposite for the National Healthcare Service users in the U.K. as there are no such
cases and, if any, countable. For this reason, Americans need to embrace this health system
sooner rather than later to make sure that its citizens have easy access to affordable and
accessible healthcare (Tikkanen & Abrams, 2020) .
Healthcare Coverage
The U.K. healthcare system is able to comfortably offer coverage for other healthcare
issues such as sexual health and physiotherapy. The National Health Service has ensured that all
birth control is absolutely free with no fees to be paid even for the general prescription. Dental
services such as the cleaning of teeth for under $30 while other emergency dental services such
as fillings and extractions are also availed at a lowered cost. Though mental health services are
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not yet adequately developed in the country at the moment, the NHS plans cover them as well.
Preventive services such as women’s pap smears and mammograms are also included in the free
services (Still, 2019) . The healthcare practitioners work extremely hard to make sure that they
provide the best possible health care to the entire U.K. population daily.
Contrary to this, the U.S. does not offer any healthcare coverage to its citizens unless they
can pay for it or have the appropriate needed insurance plan. The U.K. system is not as perfect as
it may seem, and it still needs a lot of work done to improve its efficiency. To begin with, it
needs more funding that will make sure that service delivery is not delayed and patients made to
wait for long hours before treatments are administered.
Conclusion
Everyone has the right to proper healthcare. It would also be great to be able to live in a
country that the majority acknowledges this fact and are willing to adopt the same healthcare
system as that of the U.K., which guarantees every single person the right to treatment. The U.S.
population is growing unhealthier by the day, especially since over the years, the food industry
has embraced and enticed the entire community into adopting a fast-food liking. Health issues
such as heart conditions, high blood pressure, cancers, and diabetes are increasingly becoming
more common because of this. This running of the country can be compared to the game of
monopoly that does not have laws. For these reasons, it is crucial that a healthcare plan is
adopted that does not ask patients for insurance details or even credit card data since all the
financial aspects have already been countered and covered by the taxes paid by the citizens. This
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should come without deductibles, questions, or even exceptions and should be structured in such
a way that even if one loses their life, a bill is not left behind for payment.
References
Bauchner, H. (2017). Health Care in the United States: A Right or a Privilege. JAMA, 1-7.
Beers, L. (2019, August 7). I’ve lived the difference between US and UK health care. Here’s
what I learned.
Kay, A. (2019, October 24). To Get Perspective on America’s Broken Health Care System, Talk
to a British Doctor.
Khazan, O. (2019, June 21). A Brit’s Advice for the U.S. Health-Care System.
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Riggins, N. (2018, February 5). Having experienced the US and the UK healthcare systems,
here’s the truth about the differences – and no, Donald Trump isn’t right. Retrieved from
INDEPENDENT:
insurance-differences-donald-trump-a8195761.html
Still, J. (2019, January 16). As an American living in the UK, here are 5 ways Britain’s National
Health Service is superior to US healthcare.
Tikkanen, R., & Abrams, M. (2020). U.S. Health Care from a Global Perspective, 2019: Higher
Spending, Worse Outcomes? New York: Comonwealthfund.