Proposal for the Us Healthcare System

A New Vision for the U.S. Health Care System

1 Introduction

Evidence shows that other national health care systems are able to reduce cost while yielding equal or better outcomes than we currently experience in the United States (U.S.).  Statistics for Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) show that the U.S. lags many countries in average life expectancy while spending more per capita on health care (OECD Health Statistics, 2013).  Additionally, these same statistics note that, of the 34 OECD countries, only the U.S. and Mexico have failed to implement health care systems that provide universal coverage to all citizens (OECD Health Statistics, 2013). The World Health Organization (as the directing body for health matters for the United Nations) sees the "highest attainable standard of health as a fundamental right of every human being" (WHO, n.d.). Although they do not explicitly state that citizens should have a right to health care, there is no way to achieve the highest attainable standard of health without health care coverage. Given the desire to be a world leader, specifically in the area of human rights, the U.S. should move swiftly toward a system that provides universal health care coverage for citizens. The fundamental structure of a proposed system which would accomplish this objective will be outlined and analyzed throughout this paper.

2 Feldstein’s View of National Health Insurance (NHI)

Feldstein uses Chapter 19 of Health Care Economics to address NHI. Feldstein provides the context that regardless of how it is implemented, NHI ultimately represents a redistribution of income from the non-poor to the poor (as the poor will ultimately receive more health care benefit than they are currently offered). Given this, the deployment of NHI is highly dependent on the values of the society in question. Feldstein addresses three primary sets of values: minimum provision, equal financial access, and equal treatment for...