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Melanie Bonilla
Mr. Tannen
English 1A
21 March 2025
The US Healthcare System
Imagine you and your family are on a road trip to the beach, and before leaving your
hometown are struck by another car. Your whole family has at least one injury and require
immediate medical help, but you remember that you couldn’t afford the cost of a healthcare plan.
What will you do? The United States spends trillions of dollars a year on healthcare. So you
would think it would be easily accessible to all its citizens or even free. But it is not. This is a
bigger problem than you think for multiple reasons. Some of those reasons are poor health
outcomes, financial burdens, and higher death rates due to people not getting the healthcare
needed, whether it's medication or actual medical attention. The United States should offer
universal healthcare to all its citizens.
The US healthcare system is a complex, multi-faced system characterized by a mix of
public and private funding, a fragmented structure, and a focus on specialized care, with varying
access and affordability challenges. In other words, the US healthcare system is a huge system
with public and private services that offer different varieties of medical care needed by citizens
seeking it. No Universal healthcare system means the US government does not provide
healthcare to all citizens.
The US healthcare system is not accessible and free to all of its citizens, which is a
greater problem than you think. According to the article ISPOR30, “The US healthcare system
does not provide universal coverage and can be described as a mixed system, where publicly
financed government Medicare or Medicaid health coverage coexists with privately financed
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(private health insurance plans) market coverage.” This shows that the healthcare system does
not cover all citizens of the US, and you either need to pay for healthcare or get government
assistance. So those who can’t receive government assistance but also can not afford the costs of
healthcare are forced to struggle and accept the consequences of their medical problems with no
help. Other countries are more helpful with healthcare than the U.S.
The United States does not have a Universal healthcare system. Countries like Australia,
Austria, and Canada have a Universal healthcare system. According to Visual Capitalist, “In
2024, 73 of the 195 countries worldwide had UHC, resulting in around 69% of the
world’s population having some form of universal healthcare.” This shows how 73
countries have Universal health care. On the other hand, the United States is a part of the
countries that do not. So, why does the United States not have a Universal healthcare
system?
The United States does not have universal healthcare due to a mix of political,
economic, and social factors. According to Mathews, “Universal Health Coverage does not
exist in the United States for two reasons: (1) there is a general unwillingness to dismantle the
historically grown framework of the most complex mix of public and private sector health
coverage and (2) mere cost considerations.” This shows how the United States does not want to
change things; therefore, we do not have Universal healthcare. Also, the United States does not
want to deal with the costs of Universal healthcare. What are the effects of this?
The effects of the United States not having universal healthcare are higher healthcare
costs, disparities in access to care, and potential negative health outcomes. According to KFF,
“Despite the unwinding of the Medicaid continuous enrollment provision that began in April
2023, the number of people ages 0-64 who were uninsured held steady at 25.3 million in 2023.”
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This shows that without universal coverage, millions of United States citizens are uninsured.
This shows that with people being uninsured, there is a higher likelihood that they will die young
or younger than the average age of death. These are all contributing factors why the United
States should have a universal healthcare system.
In conclusion, the United States should offer a universal healthcare system like other
countries. Some of those reasons for this are poor health outcomes, financial burdens, and higher
death rates due to people not getting the healthcare needed, whether it's medication or actual
medical attention. Also since it is a successful standing country unlike others.
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Works Cited
“U.S. Healthcare System Overview Background”. ISPOR30Years, May 9, 2025,
[Link]/heor-resources/more-heor-resources/us-healthcare-system-overview/us-he
althcare-system-overview-background-page-1.
Wendling, Julia. “Which Countries Have Universal Health Coverage?”. Visual Capitalist,
June 11, 2024,
[Link]/which-countries-have-universal-health-coverage/.
“Why Does Universal Healthcare Coverage Not Exist In The United States? A
Physician's Perspective.” Mathews Open Access Journals, October 20, 2023,
[Link]/full-text/why-does-universal-health-coverage-not-exist-in-the-uni
ted-states-a-physician-s-perspective.