The notion of public health insurance has become one of the most hotly debated topics in the last few years. With a new administration in office, as well as rapidly changing viewpoints from both liberal and conservative parties, it’s no wonder that there has been no clear solution to this issue thus far. While many people are in favor of implementing a public health plan that would do away with individual insurance coverage, there is also a large group of people on the other side of the coin who believe that this would be a terrible mistake. And while everyone has their reasons, it’s hard to tell who is right and who is wrong.
At this point, most of the country has seen at least one debate or piece of television news coverage regarding public health insurance, and many people have a concrete idea of where they stand, despite not knowing all of the facts necessary for making an educated decision. Many of the people who support public health insurance do so for a variety of reasons. For instance, public health insurance proponents say that if a public plan was implemented, everyone would become entitled to equal coverage and those without current benefits would no longer have to go through life knowing that they aren’t covered by insurance. The idea isn’t that only would everyone be insured, but rates would go down significantly, since the variables involved with determining rates for individual insurance plans would no longer apply. Obviously, these seem like good things for Americans, and it is hard to argue that.
The fact is, however, there are people out there debating public health insurance who believe that the loss of individual insurance plans would be detrimental to the country. These people have their own individual reasons for going against the idea of public health insurance, but many of them point to the loss of individuality and civil liberties. For instance, there are many Americans who pay a small fortune for private health insurance, and do so for a reason – they can get a $3000 MRI for a $20 co pay. When people seem concerned about implementing public health insurance, many times it is because they fear losing this ability. Of course, there is a whole host of people who view such acts as “abuse” of insurance and the medical system, but these people are indeed paying quite a bit of money for their plans, so their viewpoint tends to be “why not make use of what you’re paying for?” It is hard to tell who is right in this situation, as it basically comes down to individual worldviews.
In the end, it is safe to assume that, because of radically different views on both sides, integrating public health insurance into our medical system is not going to happen overnight, if at all. In order for a peaceful result, both sides must reconcile their differences and find a common factor that they can agree upon. While that day may seem far in the future, the Obama administration is working to change that.
For more information on health insurance, visit http://nopublichealthinsurance.org
Source by John Parks
