Appetizer

No one disagrees that health care reforms in the United States aren't needed to bring costs under control, while still providing maximum coverage for people. For decades legislators and presidents have spoken of providing such lasting health care reforms, but these calls to action generally became grid-locked in Congress and failed.

However, with the 2009 economic crisis, and a president and his staff pressing for immediate change by the end of the year, the raging debate over nationalized health care has once again spilled into the media, town halls, and the chambers of congress.

The current debate is framed as how to provide affordable, effective health insurance for the millions of uninsured, while still guaranteeing to those who already possess good health insurance that their policies and benefits remain safe.

Proponents of nationalizing health care (single-payer) argue that today more than 40 million Americans are currently uninsured (about 15 percent of the citizenry), and, with a rising unemployment rate, thousands more face the prospect of losing company insurances. In their estimation health care is not something that should involve the private sector and profits. Rather, health care is a right, and as a right citizens are entitled to receive it from the government.

Those who prefer privatized health care with free-market reforms, however, believe that while "socializing" health care may grant larger coverage, it will dilute the quality of health care provided, promote rationing, and ultimately prove fiscally unsustainable at a time when the national debt is soaring.

Additionally, free marketers and others argue that the reason for rapidly rising health care costs is a result of the third-party payer system. In this system, few consumers of health care (patients) are directly responsible for paying the bill, and therefore there is little incentive to drive costs down. Universal health care can only drive costs down by regulating prices or rationing since the consumer (patient) isn't responsible for the costs of care. Solutions to the third-party payer problem can be achieved (without nationalizing health care or taking on more debt) by reforming the tax code, changing interstate insurance rules, and modifying other issues stemming from government regulations.

Whatever reform looks like, it will affect your future significantly, now is the time to learn what the experts and pundits are saying about nationalizing health care.