Ben Barasch 

 Saying that the United States government conforms to the mold that has been set by other countries is like saying that Kevin Federline has a bright future in Rap. Sure, there are some situations where our government takes an opposing stance to the rest of the world (see the Kyoto Protocol), but in other cases, the United States is simply behind the rest of the world’s advanced nations and a prime example of this is our lack of universal health care.

The United States is the only wealthy, developed, free, and industrialized nation that does not have universal health care. Universal health care can mean several things; in some countries like England and Canada, it is a system in which each taxpaying member of a country automatically receives dental and medical care. A system like this is expensive for the government, which in turn is expensive for the taxpayers. This past election, universal health care was a hot button topic from then democratic candidate Barack Obama. President-elect Obama realizes that it would be politically impossible to implement a single payer system in the US. Instead, he has proposed a universal health care system that within 6 years all Americans would be required have health insurance, either from the government or from a private plan. 
With the economy not improving and tax revenues declining, Obama may be tempted to rethink this prediction since it will be very expensive. However, 46 million Americans are not covered by insurance and the number will only grow as more and more people lose their jobs and go into debt. Some Americans believe that health insurance is a luxury rather than a necessity, which causes them to resist their perceived notion of being forced to pay for other people’s health benefits.

Fortunately, some within Obama’s inner circle such as Rahm “Rambo” Emmanuel have said that the downturn of the economy is a reason to hasten the implementation of universal health care, not delay it. Many studies have shown that universal health care would ultimately make our economy stronger. Currently our corporations and businesses (based on a 2007 study by the National Coalition on Health Care) spend approximately $7,600 per person on health care each year. Having universal health care will eliminate the a heavy cost for American corporations and allowed them to invest more money in their business. This extra money will increase the competitiveness of American products in the world market. Also, it will put more money in the pockets of the American people, which can be put back into the economy through consumption. 
     

  As hard as it will be to spend additional taxpayer money, the time has come for universal health insurance in the US. An estimated 18,000 people die each year because they do not have health insurance and it is about time that the United States got the ball rolling on universal health care.