Introduction
The government has the duty of providing health services to its people. Hence, it is its duty to offer universal insurance to make sure all people have access to quality health regardless of their social status. With the government of the United States spending billions of dollars in offering health services in countries struck by catastrophes, one wonders why such a government should not offer health services to its people. It has the capacity, but it is not willing to do so. By 2010, over 1.3 billion people had access to health insurance. Failure to offer health insurance to these people makes their life miserable in times of disease.
Why offer health insurance
One of the reasons why the government should offer health insurance to the public is to relieve it from financial constraints. In most countries, many people suffer from diabetes and they are unable to access proper treatment because they cannot afford it. In the United States, some people suffering from diabetes end up reusing their needles since they do not have money to buy new needles. Besides, these people run out of insulin at some point (Hanratty, Zhang & Whitehead, 2007). In a bid to alleviate suffering, the government should offer free health insurance to such people. In 2010, 8.3 percent of Americans were diagnosed with diabetes. Among these people were children and the poor. Therefore, failure to provide the insurance would leave these people suffering.
One thing that people should learn is to put profit aside when it comes to people’s lives. Just like the government offers fire fighting services free, it can also manage to offer health services by introducing universal health insurance. The government may generate money for this service through tax or other sources of government revenue. When government leaders suffer from any health problem, they get the best medical services. Nevertheless, when a child from a poor family falls ill, s/he cannot access medical services. The parents might not have subscribed for health insurance and maybe might not be capable of paying for the hospital bill. The main reason why such a child ends up suffering is that government leaders do not believe that such a child has an equal right to access medical care like them, and this notion does not make sense. The government should ensure that it pays for health insurance for its people since they all pay tax in one way or the other.
Conclusion
The government has the duty to look after its people. One way of looking after the public is by ensuring that it has access to quality healthcare. With many people struggling to meet their daily needs, the government should help by offering universal health insurance. The main reason why the government collects taxes from the people is to help in offering services to the public. Every person pays tax either directly or indirectly. Hence, all people are entitled to receive social services from the government. One way of doing this would be by offering universal health insurance to the public.
References
Garg, C., & Karan, A. (2009). Reducing out-of-pocket expenditures to reduce poverty: a disaggregated analysis at rural-urban and state level in India. Health Policy and Planning, 24, 116-128.
Hanratty, B., Zhang, T., & Whitehead, M. (2007). How close have universal health systems come to achieving equity in the use of curative services? A systematic review. International Journal of Health Services, 37(1), 89-109.
Jowett, M., Deolalikar, A., & Mattinsson, P. (2004). Health insurance and treatment-seeking behavior: Evidence from a low-income country. Health Economics, 13, 845-857.
Wagstaff, A. (2009). Social health insurance re-examined. Health Economics, 19, 503-517.
World Health Organisation. (2010). The world health report: Health systems financing: The path to universal coverage. Web.