A harrowing report was put out by the Commonwealth Fund in 2014. Out of 11 industrialized countries, the United States came in dead last for its health care system. It was not one issue that led to its embarrassingly low ranking. America placed 5th for quality care, 9th for access to care, and 11th in each of three categories: efficiency, equity, and “healthy lives”. Healthy lives takes into account infant mortality, preventable deaths, and overall life expectancy for people at age 60.
What do those other countries have that we don’t?
Universal health care.
The point in all this? The AHCA still has to pass the Senate before it becomes the law of the land. No matter which law prevails, the ACA or AHCA, private insurers will find some way to use it to their advantage and turn a profit.
As long as they hold those reigns, actual patient care will come second place to dollars and cents.
Without change, our American health system will continue to rank low compared to other industrialized nations. If we are trying to make America great again, we need healthy citizens to get us there.
This begs the question: Can we revamp our current healthcare system to decrease the power of the almighty insurance company? Or is it time for the United States to turn to a single payer system, i.e. universal healthcare?
Let the debate begin.