While I do think that the government facilitates comprehensive care for us without sacrificing equity in some ways, I do not think that it is always an easy thing to accomplish. Thankfully, I did find one very recent example of the government facilitating comprehensive care for us while still attempting to be fiscally responsible: so-called "Obama care". Recent health care reforms that would provide health care for all citizens would come at a pricey $940 billion dollars over a ten year period. "The high and escalating cost of health care was one of the main reasons offered by President Obama in support of his plan to create universal access to health insurance that, he claimed, would be a key means to contain costs and distribute them across the age spectrum" (Draper 341) However, in an fiscally responsible manner, they have also proposed "fees", spending reductions for Medicare and high income earner's tax and even predict a debt downfall. "because of new fees, taxes on high-income earners, and reductions to Medicare spending (by phrasing out the private-plan part of Medicare and reducing the rate of increasing payments to hospitals and doctors), the Congressional Budget Officer estimated that the legislation actually will narrow the federal budget deficit in this period by $138 billion. (Draper 343-344)
I also believe that if we could institute a system similar to the French system that we may be successful with "socialized" health care. "To fund universal health care in France, workers are required to pay about 21 percent of their income into the national health care system. Employers pick up a little more than half of that. (French employers say these high taxes constrain their ability to hire more people.) Americans don't pay as much in taxes. Nonetheless, they end up paying more for health care when one adds in the costs of buying insurance and the higher out-of-pocket expenses for medicine, doctors and hospitals." (Shapiro)
It seems like government provided care while maintaining fiscal responsibility can be accomplished by implementing strong social policies coupled with fiscal responsibility. As our text says the "role of government should be in seeking to reduce income and wealth gaps among Americans through the instruments of social policy." (Draper 345) I also believe that our new health care overhaul is a great example of how the United States balances these things.
Critical Question: Would you be open to the idea of paying higher taxes in exchange for more public paid services?
Draper, Alan. The Politics of Power a Critical Introduction to American Government. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2011. Shapire, Joseph. "Health Care Lessons From France." npr - npr.org. 11 July. 2008. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92419273.
No comments:
Post a Comment