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Here Are Some of the Facts: You Decide!

!Sick and (Still) Broke: Why the Affordable Care Act Wont End
Medical Bankruptcy (Sugden, Ryan)

In 2007, medical costs were associated with 62% of all bankruptcy filings either directly or indirectly.
This accounts for 2.8 to 3.3 million citizens in the U.S. (Sugden. 444)
Health Care Costs 101: Slow Growth Persists. (Wilson, Katherine B.)
In 2012, the US spent an average of $8,915 per person on health care, reaching a total of $2.8 trillion. (Wilson)

Health care spending consumed 42% of federal revenues and 6% of household income. (Wilson)
Health Expenditure, Total (% of GDP). The World Bank Group
In 2012 Privatized Health Care: 17.9% of GDP in the United States goes into health care (the highest
in the world). Universal Health Care: 10.9% of GDP in Canada. (World Bank Group)
OECD Health Statistics 2014 - Frequently Requested Data
In 2011, Life expectancy: in U.S.: 78.7 yrs/ Canada: 81.5 yrs (OECD)

Health insurance coverage: Early release of estimates from the National Health
Survey, JanuaryMarch 2013

Interview

2013, 46.0 million persons of all ages (14.8%) were uninsured, 57.4 million (18.5%) had been uninsured for at least part of the year prior to 2013, and 34.5 million (11.1%) had been uninsured for more than a
year. (Cohen and Martinez. 1)

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The most basic, inexpensive health insurance cost around $40-$50 per month under the Affordable
Care Act, for healthy young adults. (Hirby)
Many of these low cost insurance plans will not pay anything until the policyholder has accumulated
more than $10,000 in medical bills. (Hirby)
Starting in 2014, Obamacare requires all companies with at least 50 full time workers to offer health
insurance to all employees working 30 hours or more per week. (Kavoussi)
Health care spending consumed 42% of federal revenues and 6% of household income. (Wilson)
An article written for The Lancet by Paul Webster in 2006 says GM has moved much of their production, and jobs, to Canada because they pay approximately $1500 per car they build to health insurance in the
U.S., as compared to health care costs in Canada in the form of corporate taxes, where they pay about $120
per car. (Webster 101)
In 2010, 10 percent of children lived in families with incomes below 50 percent of the poverty threshold (a value of $11,057 for a family of four). This estimate is the highest since 1994. (Federal Interagency Forum On Child and Family Statistics. 4)
In 2010, 22 percent of children ages 017 (16.4 million) lived in poverty. (Federal Interagency Forum
On Child and Family Statistics. 6)
2013, 5.2 million (7.1%) children under age18 were uninsured at the time of interview. (Federal Interagency Forum On Child and Family Statistics)
we spend more money on health care for Americans aged 65 years and older than is spent for the entire population of any other nation. (Vladeck)
The United States is the only major industrialized nation without universal health insurance (Davis)

The drugs to treat HIV/AIDS provide a perfect illustration of how patents allow manufacturers to keep
the price of medicines high, and how competition brings those prices down. When MSF began providing antiretroviral treatment to people living with HIV/AIDS in 2000, a years treatment course cost more than US$
10,000 per person. (MSF)
At this time, antiretrovirals (ARVs) were only available from the drug companies that held the patents.
With the onset of competition among multiple producers, prices began to plummet in the years that followed.
The most commonly used triple-drug AIDS treatment in the developing world now costs less than $70 per
year. (MSF)
According to a report on several studies, performed by The Common Wealth Fund, the World Health
Organization (WHO), and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), as reported
on The Common Wealth Fund website, the United States ranked last in overall healthcare quality among 11
similarly developed nations included in the study. (Davis, et al.)

Here is How I see it:!

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The United States has been known to have the most expensive healthcare system in the
world. Unfortunately though, this does not translate to having the best healthcare. In a report on several studies, performed by The Common Wealth Fund, the World Health Organization (WHO), and
the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), as reported on The Common
Wealth Fund website, the United States ranked last in overall healthcare quality among 11 similarly
developed nations included in the study. (Davis, et al.) The problems within the healthcare system in
the United States are too numerous for me to delve into within the scope of this paper. For this reason, as well as my attempt to keep some of my biases, cynicism, and sanity unostentatious, I have
decided to focus on the monetary aspect of healthcare. Although, this has many problems within it,
itself. It may help simplify this issue enough to not be so overwhelming for this brief summary.!
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For most low income families and individuals, it can be very difficult to decide whether or not to
seek medical treatment for their symptoms if they are not immediately life threatening. Because of the
fear of debt causing medical expenses, many postpone or avoid seeking medical attention all together. Not just for the individuals themselves but (even more detrimentally) also for their children. This
can lead to an illness progressing further, causing the need for more and more extensive treatment
later or never receiving proper healthcare at all. For those who can not afford the medical treatment
they need, tax payers end up with the bill, which is one thing privatized healthcare supporters say is a
problem associated with universal healthcare. From what I have witnessed though, we do not only
end up paying their medical bills, we would also pay for patients unemployment caused by their illnesses. Some say that the answer to this is a universal healthcare system. However, there are also
many who oppose the idea for the United States. Some say that a competitive atmosphere is created
in a privatized system, which has given the U.S. an upper hand with creating new developments in
pharmaceuticals and technology. In my opinion, this disperses priorities away from the health of our
citizens and to personal financial gains. With the recently passed legislature regarding the Affordable
Care Act, or Obamacare, it appears that we are moving closer to universal healthcare but this has
caused several problems itself that are contradictory to its purpose. For example, the unwillingness
for companies to hire full-time employees because they do not want to pay for insurance that they
would be required to under the new law. And what happens when those who are use all of their available government funding? The burden then rests on their families, including their children who are
trying establish their own lives. Throwing yet another generation under the oppression of this society
before they get any sort of chance at being financially stable.!
Both sides of the issue: the controversy.!

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There are a lot of different points of view that this issue can be seen from, but it seems that
everyone can agree that healthcare systems do not adequately take care of the low income populations in the U.S. and in most other countries as well. To simplify I have decided to focus my attention
on two major points of view in the United States.The sides to this argument that I am focusing on are:
Those who agree with the U.S. privatized healthcare system (keeping in mind the debate associated
with the Affordable Care Act), and those who believe that a Universal healthcare system, such as the
one seen in Canada, is at least a starting point to correcting this problem. To help describe these different views, I will highlight some of the stronger points that I feel have been made in the debates:!
Privatized Healthcare:!
Private health provides competitive environment that encourages innovations in medicine. !
Taxes would be higher if we had a Universal healthcare system.!
Tax payers would be paying for other peoples bad choices. (Smoking, obesity, etc)!
Increased wait times for treatment due to people seeking healthcare when they do not actually need
it.!
Reduced ability to choose between healthcare providers.!
The Affordable Care Act has improved the healthcare system by making insurance companies have
more affordable plans in order to compete with each other, offering tax credits to small business for
providing healthcare, and making it illegal to deny someone of insurance due to pre-existing health
conditions is the intention of the new law. (Title 1 Quality Affordable Health Care For All Americans)!
Universal Healthcare:!
More tax dollars are spent for health care because people postpone seeing a doctor in early stages
of illness due to a fear of not being able to pay for medical care. Thus, increasing the overall cost of
treatment, often to the point where it is impossible for them to pay, and causes them to stop working. !
This increases taxes because they require financial assistance from the government to subsidize
more than just their medical bills. Such as the need to provide unemployment for these individuals.!
Children born into poverty, and who have no options other than what is provided by their parents
insurance, often cant get the medical attention they need.!
Medical costs are the number one reason for bankruptcy and poverty in the U.S.!
The United States is one of the only industrialized countries who do not have a Universal Health
care system.!
The United States spends more per capita than any other country for healthcare.!
Many companies do not hire full time employees, due to the requirement to pay for health insurance.!
Those who profit the most from this system are insurance and pharmaceutical companies.!
some of the most relevant statistics and facts.!
In 2012, the US spent an average of $8,915 per person on health care, reaching a total of $2.8 trillion. (Wilson) In most developed countries, this amount is between $3,000 and $5,000.!
In 2007, medical costs were associated with 62% of all bankruptcy filings either directly or indirectly. This accounts for 2.8 to 3.3 million citizens in the U.S. (Sugden. 444)!
In 2012,17.9% of GDP in the United States went into health care (the highest in the world). In
Canada, with their Universal Healthcare system, they spent 10.9% of their GDP. (World Bank
Group)!
GM has moved much of their production, and jobs, to Canada because they pay approximately
$1500 per car they build to health insurance for U.S. workers. This is compared to health care costs
in Canada compared where, in the form of corporate taxes, they pay about $120 per car. (Webster
101)!
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How does it impact us? and what my key informant had to say about the subject.!

This problem effects all income levels, health statuses, and age groups because of the taxes we pay to
provide healthcare to those who can not pay their medical bills. It also effects us because anyone could become ill to the point where so much medical attention is needed that astronomical debt accumulation is inevitable. Also, for those who are trying to increase their income, it has been made more difficult to find full-time
work because companies do not want to pay the costs of healthcare for their employees. !
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When my key informant stated that, there is no money in rare diseases. It made me believe she
thinks money has an influence on what pharmaceutical companies will be more likely to research. My interviewee also informed me that the doctors she has worked with, are less influenced by money, than they are
worried about healing people better. From her experience, she says that doctors are more likely to prescribe
medicines that they know work. Rather than consider when a patient asks if this drug is right for them? because it was suggested by one of the many commercials on t.v.!

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Works Cited:

Cohen, Robin A. and Martinez, Michael E. Health insurance coverage: Early release of

estimates from the National Health Interview Survey, JanuaryMarch 2013. National Center for Health Statistics.
(2013). 1. Web. 11/17/2014
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhis/earlyrelease/insur201309.pdf

!Davis, Karen. Uninsured in America: Problems and possible solutions. British Journal of Medicine, U.S. National
Library of Medicine. National Center for
Biotechnology Information. (2007). Web. 11/17/2014
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1801027/

!Davis, Karen. et al. Mirror, Mirror On the Wall 2014 Update: How the U.S. Health Care System Compares
Internationally. The Common Wealth Fund. (2014). Web. 11/24/2014
http://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/fund-reports/2014/jun/mirror-mirror

!Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics. Americas Children in Brief: Key National Indicators of
Well-Being. (2012). Washington, DC: U.S.
Government Printing Office. 4, 6. Web. 11/17/2014
http://www.childstats.gov/pdf/ac2012/ac_12.pdf

!Hirby, James. How Much Does Health Insurance Cost for the Average Adult?. The Law Dictionary. (2014). Web.

11/16/2014
http://thelawdictionary.org/article/how-much-does-health-insurance-cost-for-the-average-adult/

!Kavoussi, Bonnie. Some Employers Say They Arent Hiring Because of

Obamacare: Fed Beige Book. The Huffington Post. (2013). Web. 11/16/2014
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/06/beige-book-obamacare_n_2821632.html

!MSF (Medicins Sans Frontieres) Access Campaign. Impact of Patents on access to

Medicines. (No Author Available). (2014). Web. 11/16/2014
http://www.msfaccess.org/content/impact-patents-access-medicines

OECD. Health Statistics 2014 - Frequently Requested Data. Organisation for

Economic Co-operation and Development. (2014). Web. 11/16/2014

http://www.oecd.org/health/health-systems/oecd-health-statistics-2014-frequently-requested-data.htm

Sugden, Ryan. Sick and (Still) Broke: Why the Affordable Care Act Wont End
Medical Bankruptcy. Washington University Journal of Law and Policy Vol. 38. (2012). 441-471. Web.
11/16/2014.

!Title I. Quality Affordable Health Care For All Americans: If You Like the Insurance You Have, Keep It.
whitehouse.gov. Web. 11/28/2014
http://www.whitehouse.gov/health-care-meeting/proposal/titlei

!Webster, Paul. US Big Businesses Struggle To Cope With Health-Care Costs. The
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Lancet Vol. 367. (2006). 101-102. Web. 11/16/2014

Wilson, Katherine B. Health Care Costs 101: Slow Growth Persists. California
HealthCare Foundation. (2014). Web. 11/16/2014
http://www.chcf.org/publications/2014/07/health-care-costs-101#ixzz3JA06bBsx

! World Bank Group. (No Author Found). Health Expenditure, Total (% of GDP). (2014). Web.
11/16/2014
http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SH.XPD.TOTL.ZS