Cons of Universal Health Care

The elderly, women and children are the most affected in the country. It is unfathomable that some portion of the United States population shares similar healthcare access characteristics with the third world countries (16). The universal healthcare debate has been going on for a long time now with supporters and critics holding to various arguments to explain their views. With many Americans categorized as uninsured, the healthcare system remains in dire condition in need of an overhaul. Critics state that the American people have a lot of distrust in their government and its officials; they feel that their interests are not represented by the officials (Vladeck 17). Availability of universal care makes people less likely to invest time and effort in preventative healthcare (Lloyd).

Critics state that when the health financial constraint is eliminated, people are no longer motivated to make better choices that curb diseases. Moreover, medical facilities will be overwhelmed as there will be an increase in visitation to the hospitals. This results in long queues at the hospitals and poor service provision due to exhaustion of medical practitioners (Amadeo). Such situations propel individuals to seek private healthcare beating the essential objective of this program. Canada reports that some of her provinces expend up to 40% of their budgets towards healthcare (Amadeo). UK and France have all reported healthcare systems that are disintegrating under the weight of all the expenses and heavy costs. It is estimated that by the year 2050, the population over 65 years, generally referred as retired and elderly will be higher.

A higher percentage of potentially dependent population means less of the population will be viable to pay taxes. Moreover, with the poor eating trends and lifestyle diseases on the rise, there are likely to be more people sick and in need of medical attention (Tanner). The present healthcare system in the states has stimulated competition in the pharmaceutical industry, in medical service delivery and therefore has prompted new scientific developments and discoveries (Brazen). A system that is majorly controlled and regulated by government limits new entrants in the market. Government regulation in turn limits efficiency and growth of the industry. Government involvement also introduces cases of corruption, inefficiencies, wastage and bureaucracies as well as abuse of power (Brazen). These factors lead to bankruptcy.

In order to provide both essential and non-essential services, more funding needs to be injected which burdens the taxpayer (Tanner). Universal healthcare has also been faulted because it would decrease income of medical practitioners. This discourages already practicing physicians into working for long hours serving a huge population. Most physicians end up losing morale from low incentives and choose to go into private practice (Brazen). When more and more physicians and medical professionals leave for private practice, a crisis of low numbers of professionals to serve the population emerges (Brazen). Mismanagement might lead to system collapse and inaccuracy in service delivery. The healthcare industry cannot survive many errors since errors can result to death. When investing in the universal healthcare system there is the risk of neglecting other significant sectors of the economy such as education and security.