National Health Care System

“Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.” Martin Luther King, Jr. A national health care system is a program operated by the government, designed to provide health care for people in need of medical assistance. All industrial nations except the United States have a national health care system that covers everyone. Generally, in the U.S. health care systems are privately funded insurance companies. The U.S. has three forms of governmental health care; Medicare for the elderly, Medicaid for lower income families, and the Children‘s Health Insurance Program. The problem with these health care systems is that many people fall short of qualifying. Is the U.S. in dire need of a national health care system or should we always rely on the familiar and dependable; as in private health care systems?

In the U.S. billions of dollars are spent each year on health care; “approximately 232 million out of a total of 274 million people now have health insurance” (Blue Cross Blue Shield 2001); leaving 42 million people uninsured. Insurance can be expensive for people to attain on their own, this explains why the majority are covered mainly through private health care provided by their employers. Not all employers provide insurance, such as, small business who can‘t afford to provide coverage for their employees.
People who have insurance frequently waste money on health care that exceeds their needs; while others do not have adequate health care for what they require. The quality of healthcare occasionally depends on whether the patient has the “right” insurance or any at all.

The National Coalition on Health Care conducted a poll consisting of over a thousand American households concerning the health care system. “Eight out of Ten people felt that there is something seriously wrong with the