Student reaction paper related to our health care system

This is a student reaction paper, and I'm offering it here without any of my comments.

Reaction to our health care system

A baby gets sick and the parents take it to the doctor, a child breaks its arm and it gets taken to the doctor, an elderly woman is ill and she gets taken to the doctor.  This is the way that it should be.  When people get sick they should be able to visit the doctor in order to help them get better.  Unfortunately, this is not how it is in reality.  In the United States people go to the doctor without worry only if they have health insurance.  Many people do not go to the doctor or get much needed medicine because they can not afford it.

Whose responsibility is it to pay for health care?  Right now in our current society costs are put on individuals and employers who pay for health insurance, and then the insurance companies are supposed to pay most of the doctor bills.  Is our current health care policy effective if many are going without medical attention because of lack of funds?  I don't believe it is.  If our policy on health care is not allowing for a portion of Americans to receive the coverage they need, then the policy is failing.  Our pastor asked us today in church if any of us had health insurance; not one person raised their hand because no one asked has health insurance.

Should the government create a program that allows anyone with or without insurance to receive medical benefits for a minimal fee based on their income?  Yes, I think they should.  Everyone should have the security of knowing that if they get sick then they can go to the doctor.  By keeping people healthy this could help slow the spread of disease.  By slowing the spread of disease this policy would lessen the amount of citizens having to miss work because of illness, or stay home because their kids are sick.  Also, the healthier people are, the more energy they have to be productive and to go to work.

Critics that oppose a national health care system say that this would be a waste of tax dollars.  They say that if people work hard enough then they will succeed.  If  they had their priorities straight they would find the money for health care.  Many suggest that if health insurance was mandatory like car insurance, that would force people to find a way to pay for health insurance.  Some of these statements have some truth to them.  However, there are many of us, like my father, who have worked hard our whole life, and do not have money for necessities. How can we pinch pennies when we have no pennies to pinch?