Healthcare: Past, Present, and Future

Healthcare: Past, Present, and Future

The biggest challenges our nation faces in improving our healthcare system is disunity in our government. There are countless examples of healthcare bills not passing because Congress disagreed or the president vetoed the bill. The process of improving and updating healthcare laws is slow and tedious, with extremely similar bills failing multiple times before passing.

I believe the biggest failure of the reform was Truman’s failure to pass a national insurance program. A large reason for the failure was the American Medical Association’s constant attacks on his plan. Their creation of propaganda against the program, presenting it as “socialized medicine”, turned public opinion against the bill. Nothing similar to it would get passed for another twenty years with Johnson’s administration. It would have revolutionized the healthcare system years ahead of schedule, insuring millions.

The most significant success is the most recent passing of the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. It brought together the work of decades of failed reforms. It is so influential because it helped insure the poor by significantly expanding Medicaid. It also raises the standards of healthcare coverage, providing additional preventive care services and keeping health professionals better in check.

As a question for commenter to ponder: what do you think is the future of U.S. healthcare reform, and how long do you think it would take to get implemented?

35 thoughts on “Healthcare: Past, Present, and Future

  1. In many cases, the United States government and its structure have been applauded for its complexity and well-roundedness. Many developing countries look to the United States government as a sound, idealistic vision for their own government. However, this structure is a blessing and a curse leading to one of the greatest challenges the country has ever seen: health care reform.

    The United States government has made health care reform almost impossible. Through the span of about seventy years, health care reform has been an uphill battle as it faced and continues to face the opposition in Congress to the president, opposition between the political parties, and the president pushing the campaign of reform back to deal with war or re-election. Even when all the stars align, health care reform campaigns and bills have failed miserably.

    Therefore, unless people continue to push, unless people work together to compromise and share the vision of creating a system that benefits everyone, there will be no change. There may not be a silver bullet bill that can fix all of the problems, but if the government can agree a little at a time and work together a little at a time, it will result in an efficient, well-thought-out health care reform people have been waiting for.

  2. I agree that our government should be focused on “incrementalism” as it was put, or the act of gradually moving towards small changes little by little. The biggest failure of our health-care reforms is the lack of change. Congress is deadlocked and oftentimes shifts away from the executive branch, making stalemates in legislature a common occurrence. The “door in the face technique” is similar to what is occurring in incrementalism, this technique involves making a huge request of another party expecting it be denied, followed soon after by a higher probability the party will agree to smaller change. Our inability to cooperate as humans has left us 70 years without significant change in any form, let alone a progressive change. Amidst this problem, there are, however, some positive aspects of our healthcare system.
    The passing of ObamaCare has led to a more progressive shift toward universal healthcare, with many democratic candidates during this election using it as a main policy for their campaign. Constant pushing for universal healthcare has shone light on those who need attention, and bringing attention to those in need (regardless of the circumstance) is a positive aspect. My question to other bloggers; do you believe the negative aspects outweigh the positive ones in our healthcare system?

  3. I’m happy to see that health care is an actual thing rather than something being argued between sides during the times of our predecessors. The truth is however that change might not come until we are middle aged based on how long it took to get passed. Personally, I’d like the U.S. to have free health care in general. This is highly likely not to happen based on the split between health care reform. The thing is that it will never be balanced. What I mean is that even if the general population gets free health care, a medical professional’s salary would most likely go down. That’s probably why the American Medical Association fought against the idea so strongly and for so long. I still have hope though, but it’s probably going to take a good five decades until it happens.

  4. The government is structured to make it difficult for large bills to pass. In some cases, this is a good thing, but in others it can be very frustrating and difficult. The case with healthcare is very frustrating and I think you are certainly right that it is an uphill battle. The fact that it took 70 years just to get to where we are is not very promising. I also agree with you that Truman’s failure to pass the bill was a major setback, however it is important to consider the situation at the time. When the AMA is going against a bill it is very difficult for a president to convince Congress that the bill should be passed.

    As for the future, I think the presidential election this year will play a major role in the direction of healthcare reform. If Donald Trump wins, I don’t see any way the the flaws of the Affordable Care Act are fixed, and in fact, he will try to eliminate it in general. If Hillary Clinton wins, I think she will continue the Affordable Care Act in the same direction as Obama and I think more progress would be made.

  5. I agree with the past respondents regarding the biggest challenges in healthcare — how the congress/president is in gridlock constantly. With the idea of reforming health care first suggested in the early 1940s, close to 75 years before the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare was implemented is certainly a long time. Even Conservative and Liberal agendas outlined similar reforms throughout the vast years, yet it was a game of disagreeing with one another that prevented anything from occurring. How can a country that is as “great” as the United States not be on par with other developed countries with “universal healthcare” — an idea — primarily first developed by the US itself.

    To combat this, it has to take the combination of the having the majority of the House aligning with the political party of the Presidency. While I think healthcare needs rapid change, to prevent another failure, the strategy of “incrementalism” would have to take effect.

    Regarding the achouman’s question I think it would take several decades before another change is put into effect. With gridlock and other shenanigans, the US government is never praised for its efficiency and speed. Which, in my opinion, is such a shame.

    Moreover, while I am not an expert on US healthcare, I think the positives outweigh the negatives. Having Medicare and Obamacare are steps into the positive/progressive direction. Hopefully, I would not have to wait another 70 years before I see change (would I be on my deathbed then?).

    For other readers: if you can pick a country/healthcare policy to model for the US what country/policy would you pick?

  6. Our nation faces multiple challenges when attempting to improve healthcare. One is, as you’ve stated, because of the differences in political ideals in government, which leads to the procrastination of the passing of laws that intend to promote healthcare reform. Another, that I believe, is the lack of knowledge people have about healthcare, including the professionals. The healthcare system allocates insurance surprisingly inefficiently, with many people underinsured and overinsured. To improve our healthcare system, I believe we have to start with allocating insurance more efficiently among the population.

    Although the ACA has failed to account for some problems in our healthcare system, it has performed the job it meant to: cover the uninsured. The proportion of Americans uninsured dropped by 3% in 2014, and 5% for people of incomes lower than $50,000 that same year.

    I also agree with the “incrementalism” idea, in that a gradual improvement is much more effective than a unrealistic, ambitious attempt. Yet, with the upcoming election and the introduction of “Donaldcare,” which Trump supports with a few blank points, the future of our healthcare system seems bleak if he becomes president. Clinton will provide a better healthcare prospective and continue the ideas of President Obama and advocates for a stronger system in the future.

  7. I believe the future of U.S. healthcare will be in universal healthcare. There is such overwhelming support for everyone having access to healthcare that it will likely overcome any logic surrounding privatized, expensive healthcare. It really isn’t fair for anyone to be crippled by debt after an accident. People feel very strongly about this so it will continue to be pushed. It will likely take quite awhile for it to be an effective program. Most republicans, for understandable reasons, oppose universal healthcare. It is so opposed by conservatives that most of their candidates had it as a priority to repeal the Affordable Healthcare Act. It took a few decades to accomplish universal healthcare so depending on the results of upcoming elections it will probably take a decade or two to get it to be useful. It will likely be passed in increments in order to get funding, because it will be so strongly opposed. I’m not sure the end product will be better than privatized healthcare, but it is the direction that we are headed in.

  8. I agree that one of the major challenges in healthcare reform is the lack of knowledge people have on the subject. People are so quick to believe everything they hear regarding politics, including healthcare. They may lack the resources to educate themselves, or are just simply too lazy to look up information. I think this ignorance among voters is one of the greatest hindrances when trying to improve healthcare.

    I also side with the idea of “incrementalism” as being the most effective tactic in bringing about reforms in the healthcare system. Instead of proposing drastic changes that would most likely get shut down by the opposing political party, smaller changes, step-by-step, would prove to be more influential as a whole.

    As for the upcoming elections, I believe that in the possible event that Donald Trump becomes president, the healthcare system could be overturned and he would try and get the Affordable Care Act repealed. But if history repeats itself, it could be another 70 years before another healthcare system is put into place, and his efforts to establish Donaldcare would be pointless. And in the case that Hillary Clinton wins the election, I think that she will continue with the healthcare system already in place and hopefully improvements to Obamacare will be made.

  9. I agree with Di that compromise is the key to progress. Throughout history, the U.S. government has always been divided regarding healthcare reform. This division creates an array of tension and disagreement that remains prominent in US government today. I, like many others, agree with the incrementalism strategy. I believe gradual change is not only more effective, but also more realistic in today’s government. This is supported by Bill Clinton’s failure to pass his healthcare reform plan after his very ambitious and rushed approach in 1993. Incrementalism will allow change to occur while keeping opposition at a relatively low level.

    With the upcoming election around the corner, the future of U.S. healthcare is still very uncertain.Though this is a very big election in terms of the presidential candidates, I strongly believe that this election depends just as much on the people voted as representatives. Reform cannot be made if we, the people, aren’t striving for unity and agreement throughout the entire government. The president’s ideas mean little if they aren’t supported by Congress. With that being said, I believe the most important thing to think about is raising awareness. I wasn’t aware of the long battle with healthcare reform until recently. With minimal opposition in the house and senate, compromise can occur and progress will be made.

  10. I agree that health care reform will likely be slow in the years to come. In the past, it took 70 years for any significant change to occur. Opposition from congress and changes in power were some past reasons for this. Also, I believe another reason is that health care is not an issue many people are highly educated on. People do not care enough or know enough to push for change.
    Obamacare did make some major changes that helped to make insurance more affordable to those with a low income. However, it still has many issues that need to be resolved, such as high deductibles and out of pocket costs for many. My hope for the future of healthcare would be that changes to this system would be made to make it more efficient and affordable for everyone. However, with a change in presidency, it is possible that Obamacare would be repealed and we would be right back where we started. Our country is divided now more than ever on the issue of health insurance. If we want change to occur, we need to educate ourselves and work to impact government policy.

  11. The future of healthcare reform is difficult to say. America tends to work in shifts. At least for presidential elections, the trend goes from Democrat to Republican and back again. The same might be for such matters like healthcare reform. The passage of Obamacare was hard and now there is large resentment from the opposing political party. However, given the tumultuous political times of the present even if the Republican candidate were to win, the large resentment for him might go in favor of Obamacare.

    The future is hazy and a move towards complete healthcare form is difficult. The process would likely take several more election cycles.

  12. I completely agree with you that many people who comment anything about the health care do not really know what the true story behind it is. To be completely honest, I, myself, do not even know exactly what happened to it during the past and how it is doing now. I hope that it remains regulated because I would not know what to do if my insurance disappeared because the next president of the united states did not care enough to keep the people living here alive.

  13. The problem with the Affordable Care Act is that it has become so highly politicized that no one is really interested in discovering the issues it may have and resolving them collectively. Politicians and the majority of politically active citizens pick their side and support it blindly. The “us against them” mentality is so deeply rooted into our political culture that I’m afraid no one really cares to work together to move forward in any positive direction; they just want their political “team” to win.

    I believe, much like the rest of the world is doing or has done already, we’re headed toward a more socialized brand of healthcare than we’ve seen so far. While we may not have a completely socialized version of healthcare in the future, other countries’ healthcare systems function on a much more efficient level than ours, often times leaning toward a socialized health care system, and we should investigate what they do well and where they falter to create our own unique style of healthcare. Unfortunately, I’m not sure our nation is politically mature enough to rise above its petty squabbles and set aside differences to make our country better. You needn’t look farther that our current presidential race to realize that we have a lot of growing up to do politically, something that needs to happen before we can begin to move forward instead of back.

  14. I agree that the future of healthcare reform cannot be accurately predicted due to the currently fluctuating political state of our country. Depending on who becomes president, healthcare reform could change drastically.

    I think that one of the biggest challenges to health care reform is that anyone who is financially conscious of how much tax they are paying is skeptical about others receiving health care. They ask themselves about why their country is throwing themselves into debt in order to help those who cannot even help themselves. Also, I believe Republicans are a major obstacle in the way of health care reform because they will disagree with anything that seems to be leaning toward socialism or financial sharing.
    The biggest failure in health care reform, in my opinion, is ObamaCare. One of the reasons why people are strongly against widespread medical care insurance Is because of the taxes they are forced to pay as a result of the money needed to be raised. Also, it hits families who are not within the poverty line needed to get the insurance by forcing them to buy insurance elsewhere as well as raising their taxes.
    Although I believe ObamaCare is the biggest failure in health reform, I also believe it is the most successful for many reasons. One of which is because they grant a very large number of uninsured and low-income citizens free or affordable health insurance, allowing them to have a chance to help pay for ObamaCare and more.

  15. I agree that any advancement of health care is long and tedious. There are so many opposing views and things to consider and because of this, it becomes a very time-consuming process just to make everyone happy. The Affordable Care Act alone took almost 70 years to be passed, and there is still a lot of backlash and push against it. The future for this act, in my opinion, could be very different from what it is now. With the upcoming presidential election, a new leader with be put in place and it will be the first time the Affordable Care Act will be under a different regime. The two presidential candidates are very different and either president could enact incredible changes to universal health care. Despite this possibility, it took a very long time to get this act passed, as I said before, and it could also take a while to make it change.

  16. I agree with the fact disunity being the biggest challenge whenever healthcare reform tries to get passed. There are too many opposing views. Presidents like Clinton, Truman, and Kennedy struggled to get the reform they wanted when Congress didn’t agree. Presidents like George W. Bush vetoed reform too. The process is long and difficult. When bills like health care reform take so long to get passed, it seems like they fall under more scrutiny and are unlikely to get passed. This makes it challenging to pass the bill, but could be a good thing if it means passing the best bill for the people. It could also be a bad thing by not fixing the problems that are in the current health care system.

    I also believe that the biggest failure in U.S. Healthcare Reform was Truman’s inability to pass his reform. The fact that politicians and the American Medical Association were trying to portray this bill is the first step into Communism is ridiculous. The fact that it worked is even more ridiculous. People were more concerned about Communism than they were about the health of their own nation. It’s hard, especially in today’s age, to imagine America like that. This bill could have done serious good for the health of the nation, but fear tactics prevailed. The most successful reform would be the Affordable Care Act. This finally put in place a way for most Americans to get the health care they need. People are now helping their fellow Americans to live better, higher quality lives.

    The future of U.S. healthcare reform, in my opinion, would be the upkeep of the Affordable Care Act. After this election, the president will have to decide what to do with this act. Keep it? Change it? Get rid of it? These questions ultimately fall into the hands of whoever wins the election. I think that keeping it as it was written or getting rid of it completely would be the quickest actions. Reforming it, as history as shown, could take decades. Hopefully, whatever decision is made is one that will benefit the greatest number of people.

  17. As we’ve seen in the past with many other legislations, the US government’s stance on healthcare has always remained divided and the lack of knowledge we have regarding this topic has played a large role in this. In short, it took over 70 years for the Affordable Care Act alone to be passed and end up where we are today. In order for us to improve health care in the future, we need to start by educating ourselves, our friends, and our peers- rather than simply believing everything that comes up on the news about healthcare.

    I believe that even with the upcoming presidential elections coming around the corner, the future of health care is still uncertain, and will still be slow in the years to come. Although Obamacare did increase the number of Americans covered by health insurance, streamline the delivery of health care services, and reduce the overall costs of health care, etc, there are still many issues that need to be resolved (including its “job killing” status and its increase in taxation / insurance).

  18. I agree that Obamacare has made great progress in the United States health care system, I do not think it was implemented it the way it was intended. I believe that this is because the political parties today are so polarized that it is difficult for our country to come to a consensus about what is best for our citizens. Although I know there will be many efforts from both parties to better the healthcare for American citizens, I think that we will continuously reach political gridlock and will be unable to solve health related issues.

    I think that it would be in the nations best interest to keep the ACA and alter aspects so that it will be more universal to both parties. Eventually we need a form of universal health care but we must take baby steps to reach this so that we can limit gridlock and rejection from opposing parties. This is why I know it will take our country a very long time to come to peace with an efficient and affordable, and there will probably be many presidential elections during this process.

    1. I entirely concur with the above posts and the insight they provide. I too agree that the very nature of the U.S. government can limit the ways in which it can act in providing effective and efficient health care for its citizens. According to Elliot Fisher, a Dartmouth College medical professor “Almost every estimate is that 30% of US medical spending is unnecessary, including fraud.” Whether this is a result of bureaucracy or lack of priorities by Congress, the President, whomever that may be, can only do so much. The steps necessary to take will likely be small, incremental steps in the right direction, to balance all interests as much as possible and maintain the current equilibrium to an extent.

  19. To respond the initial post about what the future will be and how soon it can be implemented, the answer is quite simple. No matter the president elect, the road to communal or systematic healthcare all over the nation is still a long road ahead. Obamacare, while considered to be a unique piece of legislature, was still a modification of precedents. AS such, the idea for healthcare all ore the United States will tiled a large question surrounding it. AS to how long it will take there is no define answer to that. It could depend on a multitude of factors, such as congressional shift, elections, as well as popular opinion. For example, in recent times, there has been many public examples of racial tension and police misconduct. The new political atmosphere could be shifted by those more pressing issues, to the eyes of some.

  20. From watching the video last week, we could tell that there is a significant challenge on the health care reform, which is the complex and slow government. It literally took years for a bill to pass before being either vetoed by the president or opposed by the Congress. It left seventy years of no reform while the idea of reforming was promoted for a long time. However, it is predictable and normal under the government and legislation process we have now. Because health care reform benefits mostly poor and disadvantaged people, and it is hard for them to speak out for themselves. On the other hand, different political power in the government makes things even more complicated. It is easy for people to consider their own benefits more when they are supposed to think of the country and its future.
    I strongly agree with the idea that people have to work together and to compromise in order to improve the health care system we have right now. The crucial point is to have the health care knowledge gained its own ground. Sometimes people were opposing the health care system because of their lack of related knowledge. They will have to know how the system works, what flaws it has, and how a great health care system can actually benefit society as a whole so that they will be able to compromise and give up part of their benefits to contribute to the health care reform.

  21. I agree with the statement that it takes so long for the healthcare bills to pass from Congress, however I would like to point out that the there is a very good reason for the lengthy process that it takes to pass a bill. It all goes back to the idea of checks and balances in government to ensure that no one sector of the government has all the power. That is what makes the United States so different from most of the rest of the world. Yes, it seems tedious that for 70 years the government can’t pass one bill; however the system is in place for a reason and if Congress and the President can’t agree on a bill, then it must not be the favor of the majority of the people because each member of Congress represents the people. The challenge of passing the healthcare laws does not fall on the system, but more on the creation of healthcare that can be accepted in a bipartisan manner.
    I believe the biggest failure of the healthcare reform in the US is certain aspects of the Affordable Care Act in 2010 (Obamacare). The idea is wonderful- to ensure all citizens have access to healthcare, despite possible financial difficulties etc. However, Obamacare to me outstretches its boundaries in some areas. For example, one aspect of Obamacare is that all businesses with 50+ employees are required to include a healthcare plan for all employees. This isn’t a big deal for a large multi-million dollar company, but for a start-up or even a family owned fishing warehouse, this can be a burden. Another aspect of Obamacare that I believe is a failure is the different income levels determining the subsidy granted. This is problematic because if I person’s income is approaching a new bracket where they would receive less healthcare, then they lose the incentive to work hard and earn more income so that they can remain in the current bracket that allows them to gain more money from the government plans.
    I believe the biggest success of the US healthcare system is in fact the initial passing of Medicare and Medicaid by President Johnson in the 1960s. This simple plan allowed both poor and elderly people to get the help they needed without causing a huge increase in taxes, or the national debt.

  22. I too believe that the “disunity” in our government is hindering the nation from effectively reforming healthcare. Too many people oppose the passing of healthcare reform bills simply because they want/feel the need to be on the opposing side. Many of them refuse to step out of their ideologies to learn more about healthcare, and terms such as “socialized medicine” are spread as scare factors among the public. As a result, healthcare reform becomes such a troubled and long journey, and many people remain uninsured and are unable to pay the high price of receiving healthcare (until the Affordable Care Act, which helps extend affordable healthcare insurances to more people). Therefore, I believe that education and compromises are keys to moving the healthcare system forward.
    To answer your question, I think the future of U.S. healthcare reform will be focused on the Affordable Care Act. Whether it will be progressed forward or abolished all together, it all depends on which political party will hold the majority say in the government. But in my onion, I believe that the government should address the problems with ACA first. Incrementally revising and improving it can help attract more support for the act, and in such way more people can get insured and can get the healthcare they need.

    1. I agree with the point of too much disunity among our government being a roadblock in passing healthcare reforms. I don’t however think that it is a result of one side being too ill-informed or too stubborn to agree with the other. In my opinion, everyone who has a vote on these healthcare acts are extremely knowledgeable in the subject and have good reason to vote on whichever direction they chose. There are parts of the Affordable Care Act that are both beneficial and detrimental to the American people, depending in large part to your social status. Instead of wasting energy trying to persuade people to change their minds about ACA or trying to abolish it all together, I think we should try to incrementally adjust the act until both sides are happy. While this may not be the most groundbreaking or immediate way to reform healthcare, I think it is the most efficient way to ensure both sides of the argument are satisfied.

  23. I completely agree with you. The disunity in our government between the President, Congress, and Democrats/Republicans in general has prolonged significant progress in Health Care. Sadly, I think health care reform will only become more tedious from here on out. Especially due to this current election cycle, there is a significant discord in our nation. If Donald Trump were to become president we would probably regress in health care reform. If Hillary becomes president there will probably be progressive reform.

  24. I agree with you, as well. In addition, I also agree that healthcare reform will only become more complicated at this point. During this election year, people are more divided than ever. This will mean that there may or may not be progress in terms of national healthcare coverage. Obamacare might even be nullified.

  25. Healthcare is a sensitive subject to a lot of people because it is tied with a lot of politics and opinions that sometimes are unrelated. Because of these reasons it makes it very difficult to gain approval rates for bills. People agree or disagree with the reforms based on their political party and how they are voting instead of researching and finding out what these reforms are actually about. So any reform that is presented now after could take another 70 plus years. Hopefully the future of healthcare moves in the right direction and improves so it helps people and is not a problem.

  26. I do also think that the biggest obstacle in improving healthcare is a disunified government. Our government has two different agenda’s and for just about everything and that is why not only healthcare bills but also education bills and other things that could benefit the people of the United States. We need to find a better way of getting things done in our government system. A large part of the people in Congress only pass bills that will help them.

    I also agree with what you said that the biggest success in healthcare was the Affordable Care Act. While many people have mixed opinions on the effectiveness of the ACA, I believe it benefited many people.

  27. I definitely agree that the disunity in our government has prevented healthcare, as well as a whole slew of other policies, from being improved. Politics nowadays is a rancorous den of “which side are you on?” a negative environment where people with differing opinions often find it difficult to resolve their differences and reach a conclusion together. This problem has divided our nation, our people, and our policies into two distinct categories that can’t seem to accept each other no matter what.

    Obama Care was certainly a step in the right direction; It was a great victory for healthcare that marked a pleasant transition, but the silver lining to this victory is that the next one won’t happen until deep into the future. Unless the American government can find a way to resolve the bitter discord between both political parties, it will be a long time before healthcare is significantly improved.

  28. As someone who grew up oversea I don’t have much to say about the American health care system. All I know is that the health expenditure of this country is 17.1% of the GDP in 2015, yet people are still complaining the high medical expenses and high insurance price. In China, the health expenditure is 5.6%. Insurance for people with agricultural occupation is equivalent to 20USD/year and it covers 90% of the medical bill over 30USD at local hospitals, 70% of the medical bill over 90 USD in county hospitals, 50% of the bill over 180 USD in non-local hospitals. For non-agricultural occupations, the employer plays 6.2% and the employee plays 2% of the salary for insurance (this 2% goes to a deposited that can be used on imported non-insured medicines so it’s basically free). This insurance covers 80% of medical bills. Insurance for unemployed is 45 USD per year and it covers up to 18K USD per year of hospitalization cost. Average GDP per capita in the US is 55805USD. In China it is 7990USD. The standard domestic student insurance recommended by Uof M is 5000USD per year. The real problem is not increased health care will cost more money. The real problem is how to use this money more efficiently, how to reduce the profit of hospitals and pharmaceutical.

  29. I completely agree with you on the increasing discord within current government. Especially now, with such a polarizing election, people are more and more determined to prove that their side, and only their side, is the right one .
    This makes passing any sort of legislation, including healthcare reform, a near impossibility. While Hillary being elected would result in a continuation of Obama’s legacy, Trump’s election could result in a complete undoing of all the work Obama has done in the last eight years.
    Either way, the election is so divisive that passing either party’s legislature would take an incredible amount of time; it seems that healthcare reform might be put on hold again after this election.

  30. I totally agree with the statement that the reason healthcare has been a problem, is because of the disunity of our government. Our government has been a problem for many years. People have been in disagreements and rivalries that have caused a strain in the process of the healthcare reform.

    With Obama’s health care plan, many lives were changed and actually improved, but with our two new presidential candidates, I don’t know if they can do the same. Health Care plans being passed requires a long and hard process and I don’t know what the future has in store for us with Hilary or Trump. Seeing how much hatred and backlash Obama received for his healthcare plan, it’s bound to be worse for Hilary and especially Trump.

    I feel that the future health care system is going to be disastrous. It’s always going to be difficult to please every American, but health care is important. This is something that is needed and a great plan needs to be provided.

  31. In my eyes health care is just one of those things that should you can not take lightly. The system is flawed in many ways and also carries certain aspects that has helped the well being of many living Americans. I completely agree with the fact that our biggest struggle in improving the health care system is disunity of the government. Obama care has helped the lives of many, but there was still disunity while he was in office. Don’t forget the government shutdown we have had in the past year. The election is coming up and i honestly do not believe they will take health care as serious as it needs to be taken.

  32. I completely agree that the largest problem with healthcare in our country is the disunity among our government. To dig deeper, I think this stems from the over-capitalized state of privatized healthcare in America. Doctors and health professionals backed by the American Medical Association want to make as much money as possible, so they support lobbies and government officials who vote for legislature that is against a more socialized healthcare system. Most privatized medicine makes a majority of their profits from those who can pay their dues outright, which is the top 1% of the population, but everybody deserves healthcare. I think the future of healthcare in this country is going to follow the same path it has in modern years–slow and steady improvement towards easily accessible health insurance for everybody. However, as the government continues to become more and more polarized, it is going to become extremely hard to pass any laws, not just healthcare legislature for many many years to come.

  33. As mentioned in many previous comments, governmental disunity is the greatest challenge healthcare reform faces. There are many reasons for this especially the privatization of the medical sector. Despite my knowledge of the subject being limited, I hypothesize that healthcare reform would be far easier in a country with a nationally provided system of health care. Without changing our system lobbyists will continue to persuade government officials to oppose health care reforms due to the fact that their profits will likely be cut into. In response to the question you asked, with the upcoming election providing two candidates who are seemingly polar opposites, it is unlikely either of them will have much success gaining a majority vote to pass any healthcare reforms in the near future. Both parties seem unwilling to compromise which makes Obamacare’s passage even more impressive.

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