As stated by Martin Luther King, “Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in healthcare is the most shocking and inhumane.” The American system is the perfect example of this horrible unfairness. Even though it rejects millions of the underprivileged, the United States health care system is still in trouble, and it’s not going to get better by itself. Switching to a system like the one in France is the solution to our problems for three reasons:
The French are healthier than we areThey spend less money staying that way, and It covers the 47 million Americans who are currently uninsured.
First of all, the French healthcare system takes better care of its citizens than the
United States
system does. France
was ranked #1 overall in a recent survey of healthcare systems worldwide. This survey, done by the World Health Organization, was the largest ever of its kind. In the same survey, the United States was ranked 37, behind both Costa Rica and Chile. Obviously, the French system is a huge improvement over the American one. For example, in America, the infant mortality rate is close to 7 in 1,000. However, in France it is been cut nearly in half, or 4 in 1,000. Because of their healthcare system, the typical French citizen lives a longer, healthier life than their American counterpart by around two years. The advantages of the French system are especially evident when deaths from respiratory diseases are considered. As French statistics show, respiratory diseases are usually preventable. In France, on average, 31.2 out of 100,000 people die from these diseases, but in America 61.5 out of 100,000 people are killed every year. Same thing goes for heart disease and diabetes. Due to its improved healthcare, France has far lower mortality rates in both.
Second, the healthcare system in France is much less expensive than the one in the United States. Our healthcare companies are making extreme profits and charging lofty prices even while our economy is suffering. They are doing extraordinarily well financially by twisting words and forcing the average person to put up with excessive prices. For some wealthy Americans, doctors serve them concierge-style and run costly tests for even the smallest ailments. Because of these inefficiencies in our system, we must spend 16 percent of our GDP on healthcare, which is the highest in the world. This means our healthcare costs us nearly 2 trillion dollars each and every year. We expend over 5,700 dollars per person for healthcare in the United States. On the other hand, the French system requires 2,700 dollars less per capita. In fact, France only requires 10.5 percent of their GDP to be spent on healthcare. This is because French citizens are not scared to visit their doctors to get preventive care. In America, high doctor fees prevent many people from getting treatment until their ailment triggers a trip to the ER.
Finally, the uninsured in America are suffering, because they cannot get the medical care they require. 47 million Americans are uninsured, which, according to the Institute of Medicine, causes 18,000 deaths each year, because they lack the necessary care. More people are becoming uninsured every year, and fewer companies are offering healthcare plans. Those who don’t have insurance are usually in worse health, and are more likely to have financial problems. Half of all bankruptcies in the United States are due to excessive medical costs. Many people believe they have adequate health insurance, but when their bills arrive, they find out their insurance is deficient. Also, hospitals in areas with high numbers of uninsured are unable to provide as many services to their patients as hospitals in other areas. With the French healthcare system, no one would be left out, and no one would be uninsured.