Denied Access to Care

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Healthcare professionals do what they can to care for as many people as possible, but they cannot treat everyone. Even if they try, sometimes it doesn’t work. In the National Review, a well-known conservative magazine, Kevin D. Williamson explains the opportunity cost of free healthcare nationwide. The scarcity in the healthcare system will make it hard for everyone to get equal amount of care; therefore, Williamson proposes that poor people should get money from the government to pay for their care.

For certain health conditions only a few skilled doctors can treat it. For example, there might be only a few doctors that can treat a rare cardiac condition. If there are more people to be treated than there are doctors, they might not be able to treat them in time. Therefore, many people might not have access to care even if they have free healthcare.

A small amount of people would be able to benefit from the doctor’s help. “Even if they worked 16-hour shifts, seven days a week — even if we pressed them into slavery — they could see only so many patients and perform so many procedures.” There needs to be a way to decide who would be treated and who wouldn’t. Right now it is money, but if healthcare is free there would have to be another way. In some countries, doctors and healthcare providers have to say “no”, but is that good enough when citizens are supposed to be getting free healthcare? People that need care immediately should be taken care of.

One possible solution is keep the healthcare system as a free market, but give low income people money to pay for healthcare. If these people get the money, then they will be able to decide how much care they need and where to get it.

Future Research Question: How does healthcare in other countries compare to healthcare in the U.S.?