Gonzales 1

Tyra Gonzales

11/19/20

Ms. Acosta

12/4/20

Healthcare, Needed But Shouldn’t Be Provided

With there already being help for healthcare, 9.4% of Medicaid beneficiaries have had

trouble obtaining necessary care due to long wait times, versus 4.2% of people with private

health insurance, according to a Government Accountability Office report (“Pros & Cons -

ProCon.org.” Right to Health Care, 5 June 2020, healthcare.procon.org/.). Healthcare is a serious

issue for the public. There has been controversy over whether or not healthcare should be

provided free or not to the public. In the U.S.’s case, healthcare should not be free. Although

some may say that healthcare should be free, healthcare should not be free because of the amount

the people’s tax rates will arise.

With this being said, on average about $15,000 is taken away just for taxes. "Free" health

care isn't really free since we must pay for it with taxes; expenses for health care would have to

be paid for with higher taxes or spending cuts in other areas such as defense, education, etc”

(Messerli, Joe. "BalancedPolitics.org - Universal Health Care (Pros & Cons, Arguments For and

Against, Advantages & Disadvantages)." Balancedpolitics.org. n.d. Web. 2 Dec. 2020.

<https://www.balancedpolitics.org/universal_health_care.htm>). Overall, the government is

unable to provide healthcare to everyone, this meaning that cuts to other important needs such as
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education will be taken out. Also, in order to fully compensate for how much free healthcare will

be, it will also come out of taxpayers’ money. Currently, the government pays 1.2 trillion dollars

a year (Tax Policy Center. "How much does the federal government spend on health care?." Tax

Policy Center. n.d. Web. 2 Dec. 2020. <https://www.taxpolicy center.org/briefing-book/

how-much-does-federal-government-spend-health-care>) as estimated in 2019. With the addition

of free healthcare to the public, these costs are estimated to be multiplied by14, meaning 14

trillion dollars owed for free healthcare. This may lead you to wonder where this money will

come from, going back to the underlying statement that it will come from taxpayers money.

It has been argued that many people die because they can’t afford health insurance.

“More than 26 260 Americans aged 25 to 64 died in 2006 because they lacked health insurance,

more than twice as many as were murdered, Families USA said. In the seven years from 2000 to

2006 an estimated 162 700 Americans died because of lack of health insurance,” (Janice Hopkins

Tanne, More than 26 000 Americans die each year because of lack of health insurance,

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2323087/ ). Therefore, without the benefits of

having health insurance, many people are not able to pay for medical bills, not allowing them to

go in the time of need. As a result of the government not being able to provide free healthcare,

many believe that that is why people are dying and unable to go to the hospital. Though it is a

valid point that people are unable to afford it, however, the money to provide free healthcare will

come from the people’s hard earned money. There are many benefits to apply for such as

medicaid, which is why free healthcare shouldn’t be allowed for everyone.

The takeaway would be that anything “free,” isn’t really free. The money used to provide

free healthcare to the public would come from both government and tax money. Causing taxes
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applied to healthcare to sky rocket from 1.4 trillion to 14 trillion. There are alternative options to

those who are unable to afford it such as medicaid, which is a very known resource in the U.S.

and is only allowed to those who are in need of health insurance without the ability to pay for it.

So therefore, without the expenses of free healthcare, there are many alternatives concluding

why healthcare should not be free to the public.

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Resources

Janice Hopkins Tanne, More than 26 000 Americans die each year because of lack of health

insurance, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2323087/

“Pros & Cons - ProCon.org.” Right to Health Care, 5 June 2020, healthcare.procon.org/.

Messerli, Joe. "BalancedPolitics.org - Universal Health Care (Pros & Cons, Arguments For and

Against, Advantages & Disadvantages." Balancedpolitics.org. n.d. Web. 2 Dec. 2020.

<https://www.balancedpolitics.org/universal_health_care.htm>

Tax Policy Center. "How much does the federal government spend on health care?." Tax Policy

Center. n.d. Web. 2 Dec. 2020. <https://www.taxpolicy center.org/briefing-book/

how-much-does-federal-government-spend-health-care>