Currently, healthcare in the U.S. is a privilege, not a right. Yet currently, the United States, according to the World Health Organization and the Physicians for a National Health Program, spends twice as much per capita compared to other countries – Canada, Britain, and Germany – who have already achieved universal healthcare. Those who support the healthcare initiative believe that everyone has affordable, quality healthcare, not just a privilege. However, a barrage of opposition – rationing, government interference, economic recession, therefore, cannot afford to make universal healthcare happen – has been clouding up the ideology of the reform. The reform will continue push through until everyone has affordable, quality health insurance. I support Obama’s reform, universal healthcare, because 47 million Americans can no longer afford health insurance, the constitutional right that they deserve.

The healthcare system in the United States, a private (Health Maintenance Organizations, HMOs) system, fails to provide 47 million Americans with health insurance. Even working middle class families who have health insurance, where both parents have a stable payroll, struggle to pay for health insurance, or have to risk losing their home because their health insurance providers might bail out on them when in the time of need.

“Holly trips in a hole in the ground and falls down and screams. I whirl around and she's crying, her face gone from dead-white to crimson. ‘Something snapped,’ she sobs, ‘I heard it snap.’ I help her up, ordering Marge, who's been standing there with her mouth hanging open, to take her other arm. ‘We've got to get you to an emergency room,’ I say ‘get X-rayed right away.’ But no, all she’ll consent to is calling Ted from the next house.” - (Barbara Ehrenreich, Nickel and Dimed)

Ehrenreich’s experience displays that in order for the working class poor to “get by”, they often choose to delay the care they need. In 2001, about 1.5 million Americans families filed for bankruptcy, half of it due to the inability to pay for healthcare. The United States spends 31% of medical expenses on administrative costs, compared to Canada’s 16.7% administrative costs.

Sadly, in 2005, I passed out in the bathroom and was rushed to San Francisco General Hospital. A few days later, the hospital billed a couple thousand dollars. Luckily, Healthy Families, the state funded health program, covered my medical expenses. If Healthy Families did not cover this incident, it would create financial problems for my legal caregivers, my retired aunt and uncle. Countless others, who have similar or worse situations need universal healthcare because if not for programs like Healthy Families, Medic-Aid, etc., that provide free or reduced healthcare, more families will have to file for bankruptcy. And resulting in an even worse economic crisis.

Although in the last couple of decades, we have observed many potential solutions to this growing problem, healthcare reform did not take place. To make matters worse, premiums soared and coverage reduced. If the private system lacks the ability to cover 47 the million uninsured Americans, then the time to change to something more efficient and effective has arrived. Britain’s healthcare system – universal, tax funded system – provides everyone with free doctor visits and 24-hour helpline, where doctors can give an in-home check up. Britain spends on average, $2,992 per capita. France’s healthcare system – social insurance system – provides insurance to all legal residences. The government regulates the budget and the salaries for the hospitals. France spends on average, $3,601 per capita. Not to mention that these countries have a long life expectancy than those of us who lives in the United States.

To Americans who are unfamiliar with the healthcare system in the United States, the HMO system, this system allows healthcare providers to charge premiums for health insurance. The healthcare provider decides whether or not they should cover for your medical attention. And often times, these health insurance providers bail out on their customers. And over the last few years, insurance companies tripled their profit and the United States ends up spending $7,290 per capita. If we spend twice as much per capita than any other country, why not make universal healthcare a reality?

Everyone has a right to healthcare, especially in the respectable democracy we live in. Due to the recession, many Americans become one of 47 million uninsured Americans. These Americans need quality and affordable healthcare the most. The United States can afford everyone to have healthcare especially when we spend twice as much per capita and health providers tripled their profit in the last couple of years. By making universal healthcare happen, there would be less bankruptcy, a better economy, and everyone would be better off.

Wing Huang immigrated to the United States when he was five. He attends high school in San Francisco and lives with his legal guardians, an elderly uncle and a retired aunt. He worries about his healthcare after he graduates from high school. Wing was encouraged by his English teacher to submit this essay as part of a teen perspectives series on healthcare.