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Health Care often accounts for one of the largest areas of spending for both Government s and individuals all over the world, and as such it is surrounded by controversy. Though there are many topics involved in health care Politics , most can be categorized as either Philosophical or Economic . Philosophical debates center around questions about Individual Rights and government authority while economic topics include how to maximize the quality of health care and minimize costs. BACKGROUND The modern concept of health care involves access to medical professionals from various fields as well as medical technologies such as Medication and surgical techniques. One way that a person gains access to these goods and services is by paying for them. Now, many governments around the world have established Socialized Medicine , which essentially puts every person in a country on the same level of access. PHILOSOPHY Right to Health Care One question is whether every person has a fundamental Right to have Health Care provided to them by their government. Those who feel that health care is a right believe that societies which are able to provide health care have a duty to do so equally for all of their citizens.Center for Economic and Social Rights. "The Right to Health in the United States of America: What Does it Mean?" October 29, 2004. The United Nations ' Universal Declaration Of Human Rights enumerates medical care as a right of all people.National Health Care for the Homeless Council. [http://www.nhchc.org/humanright.html] "Human Rights, Homelessness and Health Care". The opposing school of thought is that health care can become an Entitlement if government specify it as a right of citizenship, but that it is not a fundamental right of all people. Furthermore, that it violates fundamental individual rights because it is a non-essential Wealth Redistribution . {Link without Title} Government Involvement Health care can exist without government involvement. That said, most governments choose to get involved in two ways: regulating the industry or socializing the industry. Government Regulation A second question concerns the effect government involvement would have. One concern is that the right to privacy between doctors and patients would erode as governments demand power to oversee health of citizens.http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=3057 Another concern is that governments might attempt to control costs by gaining or enforcing Monopsony power. For example, governments, such as Canada , have outlawed medical care if the service is paid for by private individual funds. http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2006/08/23/revolt-against-canadian-health-care-system-continues/ Controlling the Industry When a government controls the health care industry, they essentially mandate what health care everyone will get and use wealth redistribution to finance it. Socialized medicine requires government involvement and oversight which leads to two questions. The first is whether governments actually have the authority to socialize health care. This question varies from government to government, and is usually resolved through the passage of legislation. Providing health care is not the responsibility of government unless laws are enacted to create such a responsibility.http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa565.pdf ECONOMICS Impact on quality of health care One question that is often brought up is whether socialized medicine provides better or worse quality health care than privatized medicine. There are many arguments on both sides of the issue. Arguments which see socialized health care as improving the quality of health care:
Arguments which see socialized health care as worsening the quality of health care:
[http://www.heritage.org/Press/NewsReleases/NR092900.cfm] The Cure: How Capitalism Can Save American Health Care [http://www.heritage.org/Research/HealthCare/hl982.cfm]
Impact on medical professionals The effect of socializing medicine has a dramatic impact on the various medical professions. Proponents of socialized medicine contend that universal health care reduces the amount of paperwork that medical professionals have to deal with, allowing them to concentrate on treating patients. Opponents argue that government-mandated procedures reduce doctor flexibility. This, along with the loss of private practice options and possible reduced pay dissuades many would-be doctors from pursuing the profession. Impact on Insurers Socializing medicine has implications for the existing insurance industry. Socialized health care causes the loss of insurance industry jobs and other business closures in the private sector. Impact on Medical Research Those in favor of socialized medicine posit that removing profit as a motive will increase the rate of medical innovation by removing profit as a motive.For example, the recent discovery that dichloroacetate (DCA) can causes regression in several cancers, including lung, breast and brain tumors.[http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/story/2007/01/17/cancer-chemo.html Alberta scientists test chemotherapy alternative Last Updated: Wednesday, January 17, 2007] What the CBC written report fails mention, is that the DCA compound is not patented or owned by any pharmaceutical company, and, therefore, would likely be an inexpensive drug to administer, Michelakis added. The ironic bad news, is that while DCA is not patented, Michelakis is concerned that it may be difficult to find funding from private investors to test DCA in clinical trials. University of Alberta - Small molecule offers big hope against cancer. January 16, 2007 The search for cancer cures obviously shows that the current drives to find a cancer cure, are highly motivated by corporate profit cures. Those opposed argue that it will do the opposite, for the same reason. Economic Impact Universal health care affects economies differently than private health care. Those in favor of socialized medicine contend that it reduces wastefulness in the delivery of health care by adding a Middle Man , the government, to regulate the supply of health care. For example, it might only take one government agent to do the job of two health insurance agents.William F. May. [http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=106 "The Ethical Foundations of Health Care Reform." ''The Christian Century'', June 1-8, 1994, pp. 572-576. One of the biggest criticisms of socialized medicine is that it suffers from the same financial problems as any other government Planned Economy . Not only does it require governments to greatly increase taxes, it requires more and more money each year. Essentially, universal health care tries to do the economically impossible. {Link without Title} Universal Health Coverage --- Call It Socialized Medicine Government agencies are less efficient due to bureaucracy. Administrative duties, by doctors, are the result of medical centralization and over-regulation, and are not natural to the profession. In fact, before heavy regulation of the health care and insurance industries, doctor visits to the elderly, and free care, or low cost care to impoverished patients was common; governments regulated this form of charity out of existence.Kelley, David E. 2003. A Life of One's Own. Cato Institute Universal health care plans will add more inefficiency to the medical system because of more bureaucratic oversight and more paperwork, which will lead to less doctor patient visits.http://www.cato.org/pubs/handbook/hb109/hb_109-7.pdf
Alternatives Many alternatives to universal health care have been proposed. These include mandatory health insurance requirements, complete capitalization of health care, and single payer systems among others.Kereiakes DJ, Willerson JT. "US health care: entitlement or privilege?." ''Circulation.'' 2004 Mar 30;109(12):1460-2. COMMON CONFUSION Socialized medicine and universal health care The terms Socialized Medicine and Universal Health Care are often used interchangeably by those debating health care policies, but they are distinct ideas. Universal health care is a policy that affordable health care is available to everyone in a country, either through providing a minimal level of government-funded health care insurance to everyone or through another system. Socialized medicine is a policy whereby the government centralizes control over the healthcare system, allocating services to all citizens in an equal manner. The confusion occurs when people are talking about a Health Care System that implements both socialized medicine and universal health care. The person who wants to emphasis the benefits will call it universal health care, and the person who wants to emphasis the economic flaws will call it socialized medicine. Another reason for the intentional misuse of these terms is to avoid or emphasize the association of socialized medicine with socialism. Again, when people are talking about a Health Care System that implements both socialized medicine and universal health care, detractors will use the term "socialized medicine," and supporters will use "universal health care." SEE ALSO Examples
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EXTERNAL LINKS Supporting universal health care
Opposing universal health care
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