Americas unique position in the global landscape of healthcare: why are we this way and where are we going?

My favorite part of this class was the Global Healthcare presentations and the large variety of countries and systems that were presented on and discussed. Just like Stephanie I assumed that somewhere out there was a model that would work for the US and all we had to do was convince the American public that adoption of that model would be the solution to our problem. However, when the systems in the other countries were explored it was obvious that they are all deeply connected to the history, people and culture of their respective countries. While there are similarities to be seen in countries that are near to each other, such as Japan and South Korea or Sweden and Norway, they are still distinct systems that reflect that countries common beliefs about healthcare. The United States was founded in a way that is unique and this has shaped not only our political landscape but our views on healthcare. As Madeline, Pauline and Nicole pointed out it is this individualistic viewpoint has led to the people in the US unwilling to be inflicted with the healthcare costs of those who can’t afford healthcare. This viewpoint stands out in contrast to many other developed nations and deeply effects how we make moral decisions regarding healthcare. 

Hannah pointed out that she doesn’t necessarily feel that healthcare is a right and yet she is bothered by the injustices that can be seen, such as that with Mike Hindt and his experience in a clinical trial. I think that this reflects the beliefs of many Americans in that we don’t want to pay for someone’s elective surgery and yet we feel there is injustice when someone is denied life-saving medical care, so where do we draw that line? This class has made me question my own belief as to whether or not I believe that healthcare is right or a privilege and while I have been exploring my own feelings in this regard it has occurred to me that in some ways this viewpoint is irrelevant. I think one of the things that stood out to me from the presentations that concerned countries with more developed universal healthcare coverage was this idea of the whole country deciding that healthcare was a priority and making an effort to cover everyone. One country that was not presented on, but discussed in class, was England and I am struck by the fact that the founding of their National Health Service in 1948 came so soon after WWII. During WWII Britain suffered heavily from bombings, particularly London, forcing many people to flee to the country to stay with relatives or strangers which helped to create a “we’re all in this together” type of attitude of which the NHS was a natural consequence. I believe that it is the lack of such an attitude that lays at the heart of our problem in the US with developing a national healthcare system. So where is our team spirit? Given the number of professional team sports in this country I find it surprising that we can be so proud of “Team USA!” and yet fail to recognize that the person on the corner holding the sign “will work for food” is also a member of that team. Don’t teams work together to support and nurture their fellow team members? Without the idea that everyone must rise together how to we improve our systems?

I believe that while progress is slow, more and more Americans are coming to the realization that universal healthcare is both desirable and inevitable. I think this can be seen in the viewpoints of the younger generations who are witnessing the social injustices wrought from the rise of large anti-union companies and the erosion of the middle class and how these factors, among many others, lead to injustices that make it impossible for many people to afford food and a place to live, much less healthcare. The path we forge toward universal healthcare will be our own and will reflect the unique aspects of this country that make it the distinctive place that it is. This path will most likely continue to come in small steps such as the adoption of Medicare Part D and the ACA and while I wish that we could move more quickly to find a way to help more people perhaps the slow way will, in the end, be better. We need look no farther then China, Spain and Ireland to know that having a financially unsustainable healthcare system does us no good in the long run when we then have to rush to correct it later. So here’s hoping that America continues down its slow road to universal healthcare and the eventually discovery of our team spirit.