-Should healthcare be provided by the government?

This is a major issue facing the country right now. It has been part of President Obama’s agenda since before he took office. Currently it is caught up in congress where there is a strong partisan divide between Republicans and Democrats. The Democrats’ view is that they should support Obama’s idea for accessible healthcare for everyone ensured by the government. The Republicans are strongly against this and are doing everything within their powers to make sure that it does not become a reality.

The Democrats:

• The Democrats’ want to make insurance more affordable by providing huge tax cuts for the middle class for health care, the biggest in history. This will allow over 31 million Americans afford healthcare who cannot get it today, and makes it more affordable for many more.
• They also want to set up a new competitive market for health insurance, which will give tens of millions of Americans the same choices when it comes to insurance that members of Congress will have.
  
• Their view will also make the insurance industry more accountable by laying out rules to keep premiums down and prevent the industry from abuses and denial of care, and from discriminating against Americans with pre-existing conditions.
  
• Their way will also apparently make the economy more stable by reducing the budget deficit by $100 billion over the next ten years, and even more in the following decade because it will cut government overspending, and control waste, fraud and abuse.
  

The Republicans:

• The Republicans are against the Democrats’ proposed idea because it will give the federal government too much control over the insurance industry and force insurers to insure everyone or face reprimanding from the government.
• The Democrats’ system will lead to private insurers being driven out of the business and to an eventual government takeover.
• The Republicans also believe that this plan of the Democrats will end up increasing the federal budget deficit, not help it.
• The Democrats’ plan also forces new taxes on to Americans in order to pay for everything.
  

The middle ground:

As with most arguments, there are not just two sides. There is a middle ground which can be reached which will help out many of the uninsured and help out those who are struggling to stay insured. A good way to do this would be for congress to set up rules and regulations that would make health insurers to improve coverage and affordability, increase quality and decrease costs. This would accomplish what the Democrats want, healthcare reform which would help many Americans, and would prevent the government from having too much control, which is what the Republicans want.

The Prevention:

This entire drawn out argument over healthcare reform could have been prevented entirely if Republicans and Democrats could compromise and work toward a solution, instead of only pushing one idea and trying to stop anything from happening.


(http://www.whitehouse.gov/health-care-meeting/proposal)
(http://healthcarereform.nejm.org/?p=2366)


By Anna DeAngelis and Geoff Masters