Medical Justice: Universal Healthcare in broadest terms

Healthcare, healthcare, healthcare. It's all anyone seems to talk about, and with good reason. It shut down the government for sixteen days, it splits the Republicans and the Democrats, and it costs far more than it should. When talking about healthcare, universal healthcare always seems to come up. The interesting thing is that, while many form polar opinions about it, not many understand what it actually is.

            According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the goal of universal health care is "to ensure that all people obtain the health services they need without suffering financial hardship when paying for them."  But that isn't all that universal healthcare needs to be; it needs to include an efficient healthcare system, a way to pay for healthcare, access to healthcare, and a healthcare system of qualified employees.

Universal healthcare is a system that some countries are adopting as an alternative to a system similar to what the United States has—where healthcare is a for-profit business.  It’s difficult to define universal healthcare with a solid definition of how it applies to a country as it is applied in different ways in the countries that have it. However, the underlying point—some degree of healthcare paid for, at least in part, by the government. Of the countries that have adopted a form of universal healthcare, some of the more prominent, or wealthier countries, include Qatar (which is ranked as the wealthiest nation in the world, according to per capita earnings, or GPD), Luxembourg (ranked number two by the same standards), Singapore (ranked third), Norway (fourth), and fifth ranked Brunei. The United States is sixth on the list, and the first to break the trend.

With the United Nation’s stance on universal healthcare, it isn't surprising that many countries are either working towards universal healthcare or already there. On December 12, 2012, the United Nations made their stance clear: “Recognizing the intrinsic role of health in achieving international development goals, the General Assembly today – through the unanimous adoption of a resolution on global health and foreign policy – encouraged Governments to plan or pursue the transition towards universal access to affordable and quality health-care services.

Despite the support of the United Nations, universal healthcare remains a controversial topic on the global and national level. Tax payers ask why they pay taxes for people who don’t take care of themselves—people who don’t exercise, who smoke, or who do drugs. Canadians and Germans are trying to switch back to privately insured healthcare to cut back on wait times to get treatment. There is a general complaint that government pay means lack of incentive; employees are paid less, and therefore have less incentive to do their job. Third world and developing nations have difficulties establishing universal healthcare systems because of the lack of money on all levels. The push for universal healthcare is balanced by the potential and real drawbacks.

With the Affordable Care Act and the United Nation’s push for universal healthcare, it isn't likely that it is an issue that will go away in the near future. There are definite pros and cons to having a bureaucracy controlled healthcare system or having a private, for-profit healthcare system. Right now it seems that the United States is trying to split the difference; it will be interesting to see which side comes out on top.