Steven Tapanes

Kimberly, Gregg

College Writing FRST 1101

November 18th, 2019

The right to health care

Universal health care is unfortunately a very controversial topic. The reason unfortunately is said

is because the people who argue against universal health care are either part of the 1% of people who are

making lots of money off of the healthcare system or genuinely greedy people who do not care for the

safety of others and are confused. Given our current situation in government with a money hungry

president who is one of the people making lots of money off of the healthcare system, we do have people

running for office who are completely against his ideals and are willing to get the job done to bring free

healthcare to all citizens in the United states. The idea of universal health care more or less runs parallel

in terms of ideology with John Stuart Mills article “Of the Limits to the Authority of Society Over the

Individual” whos views on society are about safeguarding individuals’ rights to freedom and wants to

ensure that society doesn’t impose itself on people. After deeply analyzing “Of the Limits to the Authority

of Society Over the Individual”, this paper proclaims that in order to keep people alive and not suffering

we have to create a plan for universal healthcare and get rid of greed in the healthcare industry in order to

protect the people of the United States right to treat themselves. This would help a great deal of people in

the US since the large majority of people living in the US are not benefiting from the current healthcare

system in place.

In order to establish universal health care (a healthcare for all) there would have to be an

understanding that healthcare is not a free market. A free market is an economic system in which prices

are determined by unrestricted competition between privately owned businesses. This all ties in with

corporate greed and that small percentage of people who are making lots of money over health care. In the
article “10 reasons why healthcare isn’t a free market” one of the reasons was that, “Pharmaceutical and

medical-device firms use patent monopolies, granted to foster innovation, to impose huge price premiums

on their life-saving products, giving those companies the highest profit margins in the world. While

they're at it, they use the same patent monopolies to charge high prices for things that aren't so

innovative.”(Merril​ ​Goozner) This falls into the category where society is not safeguarding the

individuals rights because corporate greed is exploiting individuals for their money over medicines that

should not cost that much money. Another example of insurance companies limiting individuals is

commented on by a doctor and this doctor stated, “The state programs we have here for lower-income

patients allow us to see acne patients, but they will only cover three or four acne drugs. We can see the

patient, but they tie our hands behind our backs on what we can prescribe”(N. Karen “universal

healthcare”). The small percentage of people limiting the majority in this case and it only further provides

concrete evidence that we need universal healthcare, your financial status won’t be taken into account

when it comes time to administer medicine to an individual who needs it.

In the medical industry doctors are already beginning to want change in the healthcare system. A

study shows that doctors are actually wanting to open up to the idea of universal health care which shows

it can be done because even the people getting paid by these healthcare companies want it. In the article

“universal healthcare” by N. karen, it said, “the number of doctors opposing universal coverage has

dropped from 40 percent to 32 percent.” This is big and it is showing that universal healthcare has more

supporters than just the individuals suffering from our current healthcare system. Charles D Kennard, a

doctor expressed his problems with the current healthcare system when he stated, “Insurance companies

raise rates as high as they can each year and drop the level of benefits, even as they raise our

premiums.”(N. Karen “universal healthcare”). This again shows how our current healthcare system is

degrading quickly to the point where it is yet again taking rights away from the individual. What is meant

by this is that if the individual cannot afford to pay for health care after the costs have been blown out of
proportion, then it is taking away the individuals right to take care of themselves. This is also yet again

another example of how greed is affecting the individuals rights. All of these problems could be solved by

creating a universal healthcare for all.

Overall the copious amounts of instances in which this current health care system takes away

from the individual can all be solved by implementing a universal healthcare. In universal healthcare

society does not impose itself on the individual, instead it only works to help the individual while on the

other hand our current healthcare system works to take away from the individual rather than work for the

individual. In order to protect the people of the United States right to treat themselves universal healthcare

is the best way to eliminate greed to the point in the healthcare system where it does not affect the

individual.
 Work cited
Kotlikoff, Laurence J. ​The Healthcare Fix : Universal Insurance for All Americans ​. MIT Press,

2007.

Merrill Goozner. “10 Reasons Why Healthcare Isn’t a Free Market.” ​Modern Healthcare​, vol.

44, no. 50, Crain Communications, Incorporated, Dec. 2014, p. 30,

http://search.proquest.com/docview/1637646441/​.

Nash, Karen. “Universal Healthcare.” ​Dermatology Times​, vol. 29, no. 5, MultiMedia Healthcare

Inc., May 2008, p. 12,14,​ ​http://search.proquest.com/docview/231115355/​.