Passage 1Passage 2PASSAGE 1: Government-Funded HealthcareBy Diane TewThere are many countries that have publicly-funded healthcare systems. Some countries have social insurance—it is funded by taxpayers and covers most costs. Government-funded healthcare (or what is known as “a publicly-funded healthcare system”) is a form of healthcare financing created to apply the costs of civic healthcare needs from publicly handled funds. In most countries, the government directly controls the fund in which the benefits are allotted among the population. There are different approaches to where the funds come from. This could be through major government revenues (such as in Canada) or through the government’s social security system (like in Australia, Belgium, France, Japan, and Germany). The Canadian healthcare system is a body of socialized health insurance plans that is intended to provide health coverage to all its citizens. This means that the National Healthcare System covers every Canadian citizen, regardless of background or age. The system covers different aspects of healthcare wherein all citizens are covered up to the same level. It also provides accessibility to all healthcare facilities and physicians. All attending health workers are also covered with justifiable compensation for the services they are providing. Having a government-funded healthcare system offers beneficial and favorable aspects of quality healthcare for everyone. Essentially, it would improve the basic system by offering balanced, quality healthcare for everybody. To be fair, it would cost taxpayers a good deal of money to enact this system in the United States, but should we really put a price on health?The biggest issue for the average person is being able to afford health insurance premiums, out-of-pocket expenditures, co-payments, and prescriptions. It can be incredibly hard. It has become a big deal just to afford to go to a doctor’s office for a check-up, never mind having to deal with the immense costs of emergency room visits, hospital stays, or dealing with chronic ailments.Another advantage is that it regulates insurance companies. Insurance companies tend to overcharge policyholders, deny coverage for chronic conditions, increase premiums, and refuse customers with pre-existing medical conditions. A government-subsidized plan would force insurance companies to be liable for these transgressions, while ensuring healthcare for everyone—including children, seniors, and people with pre-existing conditions.A government-funded healthcare system also eliminates competition among healthcare providers because there is only one primary healthcare organization. This eliminates the disposal of multiple claims, allocations for insurance forms, mediating contracts, and going through the process of understanding insurance regulations. This would grant more time for medical experts to focus on the treatment of their patients instead of concentrating on irrelevant structures of insurance methods—which only benefits the insurance companies.Granting access to a unified healthcare system would be beneficial to everyone, regardless of their economic background. 1. Read this paragraph from Passage 1.The biggest issue for the average person is being able to afford health insurance premiums, out- of-pocket expenditures, co-payments, and prescriptions. It can be incredibly hard. It has become a big deal just to afford to go to a doctor’s office for a check-up, never mind having to deal with the immense costs of emergency room visits, hospital stays, or dealing with chronic ailments.
According to this paragraph, the biggest issue for the average person is the affordability of health insurance premiums, out-of-pocket expenditures, co-payments, and prescriptions. It is mentioned that it can be incredibly hard for people to afford even a basic check-up at a doctor's office, let alone the costs of emergency room visits, hospital stays, or managing chronic ailments.
