by Marion Garcia

Created on: November 24, 2009   Last Updated: November 25, 2009

Healthcare is increasingly expensive in the United States, is it time to adopt European style universal health care?

There is no question that that the cost of healthcare has escalated to the point where it is no longer affordable for the majority of working people. Is the United States ready for universal health care?

The first issue to this problem is the cost of health care. Why is the cost of medical care so expensive? We need to take a closer look at where the costs are increasing and what has caused these increases.

The United States is based on the right to free enterprise. Free enterprise comes with a price. When you have free enterprise, companies have the freedom to place a fee on their services that will produce a profit for them.

So what has caused the insurance companies to continually raise their prices? What has changed over the years that have caused their profits to fall? When this issue is solved then it can be determined whether the United States should consider universal health care.

Over the years, many doctors and hospitals have been overcharging the insurance companies. It is a proven fact that many physicians and hospitals purposely add extra fees to their bills. Have you ever looked at the charge for an aspirin on your hospital bill? It would be cheaper to buy a bottle of aspirins and take it with you to the hospital.

Have you ever been charged a consultation fee by a doctor when there was no consultation? He simply peeked into your room and said good morning?

Pharmaceutical companies charge outrageous fees for medicine. Granted, research takes money, but one must question why one pill can cost as much as a hundred dollars. There is no question that these prices are greatly inflated so these companies will show their annual profits.

These little things need to be corrected. This makes the profit of the insurance providers to fall. This will cause the insurance company to increase their premiums for the patients.

The cost of Medicare for the elderly and poor has also been abused by the physicians and hospitals. There have been many doctors and hospitals overcharging Medicare, thus causing the government to spend more than necessary. This in turn causes the government to raise the Medicare deductions for the working people. Most people on Medicare now need to purchase supplemental insurance to avoid having large medical bills.

Hospitals have a need for technical equipment. This cost of this equipment is steadily increasing as the companies

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>