The Importance of Health Care in the United States

A hot debate discussed among U.S. citizens is health care spending. According to Truth in Accounting, in 2018 the U.S. spent $22.3 billion on Medicaid. Health insurance is a necessity for everyone, it gives people a peace of mind as they won’t have to pay expensive medical bills and can get treatment in an emergency. The problem people have with Medicaid is it’s usually given to people with low income while it’s paid for with taxpayer money. As not everyone is eligible to get Medicaid, people believe it’s unfair to them to pay for the system. There have been pitches of new ideas to replace Medicaid, such as Obamacare, but none have yet to be successful.

Countries like Canada offer government subsidized health care to all citizens, similar to Medicaid it uses money from taxpayers to cover costs. This could be a model that could be adopted by the United States. This would require cooperation from many parties involved and may cause there to be an increase in taxes, but it might be worth it. It would allow people to live a healthier lifestyle by having the ability to visit the doctor frequently. . At the same time, it will stop those that complain about not receiving the benefits of Medicaid. This would negatively impact insurance companies as they would be essentially out of business, but a possible solution would be to include them with Medicaid so their revenues are not affected. Health care should be a life necessity and should be offered to all citizens in case of an emergency.

Lemar Hamidi is a social media and marketing intern for Truth in Accounting, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in Chicago that researches government financial data.