Medical insurance is an extremely problematic issue to the low-income Americans. Benefits of the insurance are obvious: it covers the expenses of regular examinations as well as numerous health care services which are inevitable in case the illness has been revealed. Bills for these services may jump sky high for uninsured individuals which is a right way into debts.
According to the US Census Bureau, about 10 percent of Americans do not have health insurance which more than 30 million people. With these figures, proponents of the universal health care insist that medical services shall be prepaid by the government to be sure that no citizen is left behind. Such demands have a purely socialistic nature which makes way to the controversy.
The idea of the quality health care at a reasonable cost for all people first emerged in the early twentieth century, however, the possible legislation never gained enough votes to be pushed through the Congress. However, the Obama administration finally passed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in 2010. But it does not cover all uninsured people which makes the issue of universal health care still urgent.
Currently, healthcare is an industry with market-like relationships. However, if we take healthcare for granted as an internationally recognized human right it may seem unethical for clinics to set their prices according to the demand. On the other hand, the federal government cannot possibly pay for all the healthcare expenses in the country. Hospitals and clinics need to make profits to regularly update their equipment and pay salaries to the staff. Clearly, the universal health care will impose higher taxes on citizens. That is why the system in which individuals, companies, and governments partially pay for the healthcare seems to be the best option at least for the federal government. But indigent part of the population has to survive relying on no one else but themselves.