Before reaching the age of 65, Sherrie Foy had racked up a medical bill of 800,000 dollars. Nearly one million dollars in debt due to a colon surgery that caused her to be infected and nearly die. This all happened because of the American health system. In Canada, a country with Universal Health Care, a colon surgery costs 1,500 dollars. That is nearly 533 times less than what Sherrie was charged for. The hospital did not need to charge Sherrie 800,000 dollars. But, they did, because we don’t have Universal Health Care. How are average citizens supposed to afford that? People lose their homes over expensive procedures. The United States itself has lost money over our health care. America needs Universal Health Care, we haven’t been surviving without it.
One reason we should have universal healthcare is that the United States would actually save money. Stated by Rachel Nuwer, ”Universal health care could have saved more than 338,000 lives from COVID alone. The U.S. also could have saved $105.6 billion in health-care costs associated with hospitalizations from the disease—on top of the estimated $438 billion that could be saved in a non pandemic year.” We could have saved 105.6 BILLION dollars in healthcare. People complain about us needing to increase taxes for universal healthcare, but it shows it would only benefit us in saving money.
Universal healthcare has been a debate for a long time. Everybody complains about healthcare, nobody likes to pay the price. However, nobody has tried very hard to do anything about it. People say that we don’t need universal healthcare because we can obtain healthcare from working. But, that's not always the case. According to BLS, “Seventy percent of private industry workers had access to medical care benefits in March 2022” Not everybody can get free health care from their jobs. Even if it’s 70%, there's still a group of people that are 30%. Also, people need to take into account that people may only work part-time. People who work part-time jobs that are less than 40 hours a week do not get benefits. Health insurance is included in benefits. Which means that you then need to pay for your health insurance, and most of the time it isn’t the best type. Not as many people get the best health insurance like we all think they do.
Another reason that we need universal healthcare is because of the outrageous prices of the American healthcare system. Due to these extreme prices, people have been losing their homes and going bankrupt trying to pay for their medical bills. Cindy Powers had a twisted intestine, a life-threatening condition that needed immediate surgery. For five whole years, Cindy had infections and hernias. She was prescribed opioids for her pain, causing an addiction. According to KFF, “By the time a surgeon finally repaired Cindy’s intestines in 2009, the couple had some $250,000 in medical debt. They declared bankruptcy. The Powers also ended up losing their home when their mortgage was sold and the new lender rejected the payment plan set up through the bankruptcy.” The Powers had lost their homes because of the amount of medical debt they had. Medical debt is killing people's financial lives. And there's nothing they can do about it if they want to survive. We need universal healthcare to help our people live without fearing losing homes.
Universal healthcare is needed in the United States. We lose our homes, our families, and our money. We are getting overpriced surgeries, and we aren’t able to afford it. Our jobs don’t give us good health insurance anymore, and to get health insurance you basically need to be rich to afford it. Universal health care would benefit the people of the United States. We would be able to finally survive without worrying about the costs.