The Crier Inquires: Should the U.S. adopt universal health care?

All the buzz around the Trump Administration’s blueprint for healthcare — or lack thereof — has got the Conant community wondering: Would it be best to simply adopt universal health care — like many countries in Europe have — and give all Americans the access to quality preventive and primary care? Is coverage-for-all worth a possible hike in taxes?

Max Weinstock, ‘19:

“No. [It’s] too expensive to maintain. [Doctors] are constantly finding new medical conditions that affect people, so if we had nationwide coverage, we would have to help everyone, which isn’t possible. Also, this could lead to more illegal immigration.”

Adrian Piekos, ‘20:

“I would say no, [because] we already have a stable system. I think if we offered free healthcare to people, they would abuse it. There’s a reason why we have our current healthcare systems in place.”

Labdhi Jain, ‘21:

“Yes. There are a lot of elderly people in our nation [who] need healthcare. Sometimes their children don’t provide the housing money or healthcare money they need [because] it’s too expensive. [The elderly] deserve to be taken care of.”

Vinusha Venkatesh, ‘22:

“I think [universal health care] would be a bad idea because costs for the normal person would go up. The healthcare benefits wouldn’t counteract the higher taxes people would have to pay, as well as the higher cost of living.”

Tony Miller, Business Education teacher:

“I’m not big into socialism. I’d like to preserve [America’s] capitalistic values of limited government and the free market. I think that that’s the beauty of America and what makes America different from countries like Sweden. I would agree, however, that prices for certain things in the medical industry have gotten out of control and that something needs to be done. There [need] to be more restrictions on big insurance companies and medicine producers. I mean, Obamacare had its flaws, but it was a system that sought to cover poor people who couldn’t pay for their healthcare and put food on the table. Another issue is, where would that money come from? Taxpayers? The lottery? Illinois is already severely in debt; it’s the second largest tax state in the country. Universal healthcare would just open up a Pandora’s Box of possibilities for socialist [policies] and ideas.”

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