Medicare Vs Universal Health Care

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Pages: 8

Introduction
The healthcare system in the US is unique as compared to the ones adopted by the advanced and industrialized countries across the world. To be precise, the nation has neither a uniform healthcare system nor a universal healthcare coverage (Department for Professional Employees, 2016). It is only recently when it enacted a legislation, which mandated healthcare coverage for its citizenry. In addition, rather than operating a single-player system to provide a healthcare insurance framework, national health services, as well as a multi-player universal health insurance fund, the US embraces a healthcare system that is best described as a hybrid system.
A coordinated, goal-oriented, cost-effective, and efficient health care system
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The rationale of developing Medicaid and Medicare is attributable to the fact that in the early 20th century, most progressives and reformers in the US became concerned more about the human conditions (Baker et al., 2017). To be precise, they were committed to ensuring that the public services were provided at the municipal level to address matters regarding waste management and public health. They reasoned that the American families required protection against the debilitating impacts of lost wages due to inability to work, especially from occupational injuries and sicknesses. Therefore, the reformers and progressives concentrated on highlighting the urgent urban environmental concerns, which were likely to affect the livelihood of communities including their material environments (Baker et al., 2017). In addition, President Truman during his tenure proposed the creation of an institution, which could federally fund a healthcare insurance program in the years 1945 to 1949 (Markel, 2014). However, his proposal was ignored by the US Congress. Therefore, the universal healthcare program has faced several unsuccessful implementation attempts. In addition, the program has been a subject of debate by the US Congress. Barack Obama pushed for the passage of the legislation regarding universal health care since is was one of the 1960s Great Society initiative that was not achieved by many Presidents. In addition, universal coverage has been an objective, which has been attained by most American Presidents. From that context, Barack Obama had to push for the passage of this social legislation to ensure that tens of millions of Americans access affordable and quality healthcare services since the costs related to healthcare had rapidly risen over the past decades (Obama, 2016, p. 526).