Does the Government belong in healthcare?

This is a highly debated issue. One argument is that healthcare involvement impedes capitalism and free-market reign. Government involvement also provides some sort of regulation, but how much regulation is too much regulation? Government helps prevent fraud, abuse, an inequity, but these problems still continue to exist. Below is my view on government involvement:

The question of whether government should be involved in healthcare is undoubtedly obvious. The government has a moral responsibility to protect its citizens and their health. To what extent the government involves themselves is a question of debate.  In an essay by John Bellers, a London philanthropist, titled Toward Improvement of Physick, he argued that “health of people was the responsibility of the state, whose task it was to establish and maintain hospitals and laboratories, erect a national health institute, and provide medical care for the sick” (Sultz & Young, 2011). Even people that disagree with government involvement would have a hard time arguing that public services provided to the indignant or severely sick individual does not protect their health, in some form, as well. In Parson’s social model of health, the sick individual is not held responsible for their health. Optimal health benefits all members of society by preventing the spread of disease (Shi and Singh, 2008). Government involvement is necessary to protect not only the health of the individual, but the health of society as well. Public health services have demonstrated this example by eradicating certain disease caused by contaminated waters, poor sewage, trash disposal, and much more.

As stated earlier, what, and how, the government intervenes is a complex issue. The medical model of health care is essentially a business model. Money cannot be made in the health care industry unless disease or poor health exists. Advancements in technology have spurred these costs out of control, making health care non-accessible to everybody.  According to Nichols (2012) government has a practical, necessary, and morally sound reason to be involved in health care markets. One interesting moral argument of government involvement illustrated by the author is clear when he states, “all of us could ultimately die from lack of timely care which we could get if we have good  health insurance, and we all could become too sick to work and then lose our health insurance… to refuse life-sustaining care as a matter of policy because of a cost that the society as a whole can afford to bear is a similar violation of the essence of the Covenant that Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed all taught their followers” (Nichols,2012, p.549). While not heavily religious, I must admit that without government oversight, the system of health care may succumb to this adverse principle. The author describes many economic rationales for government involvement in health care as well. For instance, “Government is usually necessary to effectively correct serious externalities, when costs or benefits borne or enjoyed by those who are not producing or cosuming the good or service directly. Pollution and education are classic examples here” (Nichols, 2012, p.550).

While many arguments exist for why government involvement is essential, the arguments against involvements should not go unnoticed. Although I agree that everyone should have access to some sort of health care, I do believe a way to prevent abuse should heavily be enforced. For example, there is an argument called moral hazard that states that when people have insurance, they are more likely to use it. Like any business, supply and demand exist in healthcare fields too. If, suddenly we open the doors to everyone, or everyone uses the system, we decrease the supply of staff thus reducing the quality of care. I’m not exactly sure how much quality I want to give up by providing care to individuals who may not necessarily need it

References

Nichols, L. (2012). Government intervention in health care is practical, necessary, and morally sound. Health Care Reform: Controversies in Ethics and Policy, 547-557.

Shi, L. and Singh, D. A. (2008). Delivering health care in America (4^th ed). Boston, MA: Jones and Bartlett

Sultz, H., & Young, K. (2011). Health care usa: Understanding its organization and delivery. (7th ed.). Sadbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning