Medicare for all is an act to provide all Americans with health care. The plan is to provide everyone regardless of their incomes with health care and have no out of pocket expenses. As of right now, most people in America are either covered under insurance provided by their employer, have private insurance, or no insurance at all. The video stated that 27.5 million Americans have no insurance and that 43.8 million Americans are underinsured(LastWeekTonight 00:01:01-00:02:28). The video also stated that “the majority of people who file for bankruptcy cite medical expenses as a factor”(LastWeekTonight 00:02:31-00:02:35). In the video it is being argued that free healthcare would be too expensive. According to John Oliver, free healthcare would increase the federal budget and eliminate employer spending on premiums and our spending on out of pocket costs(lastWeekTonight 00:05:03-00:05:13). This is the argument being made; people think that free healthcare would be too expensive so we shouldn’t have it. However, this is something we will never know unless we do it. Bernie Sanders plan according to the video is “incredibly generous, it covers vision, dental, long-term care, and drugs”(LastWeekTonight 00:05:57-00:05:58). Bernie Sanders Medicare plan eliminates all payments and out of pocket expenses.
Health care refers to “the provision of medical services to prevent, diagnose, and treat health problems”(Social problems: Continuity and Change, 2015). Some countries in the world have free health care or provides a system that covers some or most medical costs. Canada and Great Britain have services that pay for most medical services, and Denmark’s government has free medical care. However, America does not have services like these. Like the video and the book mentioned, so many Americans don’t have insurance or are underinsured. Because of the costs, most Americans will not get care or treatment for an illness they have.
From this video I learned how many Americans have issues with the health care system. Many Americans either go in debt for their medical expenses or just never go to get treatment. The cost for medicine and treatment is so expensive and hardly anyone can afford it. In the video, John Oliver states that “one insurance provider in Utah recently started offering some of it’s participants cash if they were willing to travel a little further than their local pharmacy to fill out their prescription”(LastWeekTonight 00:07:25-00:07:34). According to the video, this is called pharmaceutical tourism. The fact that insurance providers will buy a plane ticket, and give an additional $500 to send someone to Mexico to pick up medications because it’s cheaper is crazy. Out of everything in the video, that surprised me the most. From the video I also got a better understanding of what Medicare for all is. It’s an act to help cover medical expenses for people who need it. I’m curious to know if it will ever actually become a thing in America.
Word Count 471
Sociology 201 