The number of American citizens that did not have health insurance was 47.9 million in 2012. That is just over 15 percent of the United States population, according to healthcare.procon.org. As one of the richest nations in the world, no American-born citizen should go without healthcare. The people who can not afford healthcare are the ones most vulnerable to illness and poor health. With healthcare provided to everyone native to America, all citizens born in the United States would be entitled to a healthy life.

In 2014, 33 million American citizens remained without health insurance, 4.5 million of those being children said Anna Maria Barry-Jester and Ben Casselman on fivethirtyeight.com. Data has shown that the majority of people without health insurance are poor, black and Hispanic. The rise in the addition of healthcare throughout the years can be awarded to President Barack Obama’s “Obamacare“, but still 10.4 percent of the nation remains without health care.

Should healthcare be offered for free?

• Yes
• No

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The people of America should be granted free healthcare, even if they do not qualify for Medicaid. Medicaid is a program set up by the government to help low-income people to get medical care. But some citizens are not eligible for Medicaid, which defeats the purpose of the program. This is not enough, all American born citizens should receive free healthcare regardless of the circumstances.

Our friendly neighbors to the north, Canada, are granted free healthcare. Everyone is automatically covered at birth, and the system puts people, not profits, first. The system is the same for everyone. Rich or poor, all citizens receive the same coverage.  Under Obamacare in the United States, it is pay or not be covered. If you can not cover the cost, you do not receive healthcare. Too many citizens will die because they cannot get proper diagnosis or treatment in time. As stated on businessweek.com, America is the 33rd healthiest country in the world, while Canada.This shows that the quality of the free healthcare system is able to be of excellent stature.

The majority of Canadian citizens love their healthcare system, while most of the American public sees their system as too expensive, with premiums going up, and coverage is going down, and the quality of the care is being tested. There is a problem with the American system when Wal-mart decides they want to become the biggest healthcare provider in the United States. The point is, Canadians are happy with their free healthcare while Americans are still struggling to find a system that works.

“We have to see that we are a part of each other, and we have to take care of each other. The reason they have universal healthcare in Canada and Britain, these other places? Because they believe if one suffers, everybody suffers,” said Michael Moore, according to quotemaster.org.

There is the chance that citizens will abuse the healthcare system, by going to the doctor for things that can be easily treated from home. But to many in America, this will mean so much to them. For the people who can not treat themselves, free healthcare is a way for them to remain healthy. Some think, if healthcare is free, medical service may become of lesser quality because facilities would not be kept up, and the best physicians would not be on staff. But, this is proven wrong by Canada being the 14th healthiest country and America being 33rd. Even with free healthcare, the quality did not go down.

The United States should put free healthcare into action by maintaining competitive physician wages, and up to date facilities and equipment. In order for free healthcare to work, there must be proper funding, and ensure all users are going to get quality coverage. Free healthcare is a chance for many struggling Americans to gain the health to get themselves off their feet, and price should not stop them from living a life no different than those who are fortunate enough to afford health coverage.