Us Health Care System: The Opinion of Different Authors About Universal Healthcare

Life expectancy in the United States is 77.4 years for men and 82.2 years for women. That means America has the 34th highest life expectancy out of 195 countries. The WHO (World Health Organization) has ranked the United States healthcare system 37th in the world. Something we all need but, out of misfortune do not have it, I am talking about healthcare. This essay is mostly about healthcare and universal healthcare, how America struggles with healthcare and personal stories from the author.

First of all, not every country has to pay for their healthcare like America, instead they have universal healthcare, for example The United Kingdom has it. The author talks about how they were in the hospital in England and how everything was free like their ambulance ride, the drip, fluids, bed and tv. They even went back for another surgery and again it was free. Not only does the UK have it so does China, Germany, Canada and 28 other countries.

Unlike those other countries America continues to struggle with healthcare. America has been expanding it’s healthcare by introducing the federal tax code in 1954 which gave employer provided healthcare coverage. Then the U.S gave us Medicare in 1965 which offered older Americans healthcare coverage. Now we have Obamacare or The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and like the author says “the attempts by the U.S Senate to craft some form of legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare these past nine months” which basically means America still has no clue about healthcare. I feel like this article has a linear structure.

It has a linear structure because of the way the author is constantly bringing up healthcare. The author starts by talking about how they had free healthcare in the U.K because of their past injuries. Then they talk about Obamacare to the federal tax code in 1954 and the author talks about California’s Senate Bill 562. They also mention how New York passed the New York Health Act, a bill that provides healthcare for all New Yorkers.

The author’s language uses pathos by telling us about their injuries. For example, the author says “When I was 16, I was taken to the hospital by ambulance and placed immediately in an isolation unit whereupon a drip was inserted to my right forearm, just above the wrist.” The writer uses pathos to invoke sympathy from the audience; to make us feel for the author and show that they have experience with the healthcare system. Some of the evidence the columnist provides is the data. “In 2010, 28.1 percent of Tarrant County residents were without healthcare. That is a stunning 318,358 people. Of the more than one in four without healthcare, 75,824 of them were children.

By 2014, the first year under the provisions of the ACA, the same measures saw 290,716, or 24.2 percent, without healthcare, of which 56,738 were children.” These are insane statistics because of only 75,824 children not having healthcare coverage. One of the reasons people do not have healthcare is because they can not afford it, but people that have it are bound to visit the doctor on a regular basis. The author tries to persuade us to change America’s healthcare by telling us about people that have been getting taken advantage of.

When a previous cancer survivor wanted to get a new insurance, they declined her because of her past cancer treatments even though it was in 2005. For example, the author says “Insurance companies penalized this cancer survivor for assiduously attending annual check-ups, prescribed by her doctor. To add financial insult, “I asked the insurance associate if I had been reckless and never gone for a single checkup after chemotherapy, they would cover me? ‘Yes’ was the answer.”

So, in conclusion, not every country has to pay for their healthcare like America, instead they have universal healthcare. Unlike other countries America continues to struggle with healthcare. I feel like this article had a linear structure. It has a linear structure because of the way the author is constantly bringing up healthcare. The author’s language uses pathos by telling us about their injuries. One of the reasons people do not have healthcare is because they cannot afford it, but people that have it are bound to visit the doctor on a regular basis.