Global Integration

One of the many questions that seems to keep coming up about globalization is the effect that it is having on the American health care system ,and, like most things in politics, their doesn’t seem to be any good answer to the problems globalization is causing in health care. Corporations no longer seem like the right resource to provide benefits because jobs security no longer exists, while at the same time private health care remains enormously expensive. The percentage of
US citizens living without health care has risen for the last half decade, the largest increase occurring as recently as 2005. According to the Economic Policy Institute, the greatest decrease in this percentage comes from full-time workers insured through their employer. It seems to become increasingly clear that some form of government sponsored health care is necessary. One idea to address the problem is the Medical Savings account which allows money to be placed into individual accounts tax free. While this is a good idea, and to me seams to be the future of the health care system, any direct change would severely damage the health care pool, and the transition period could be devastating to the current health care state. With the current power of the AARP, any sort of reform that could disturb the immediate future of health care seams unlikely. Tax credits for businesses that offer health care have also been suggested, but they seem more like a temporary fix than any sort of permanent solution. Another band-aid solution is to allow for the expansion of the State Health Care Insurance Program to cover the cost of health insurance for those who can’t afford it and are not eligible for Medicare. Another interesting solution to this problem has been to allow government regulation of patented drugs so as to gradually reduce their cost, making health care more affordable. The United States currently funds American drug companies by allowing them to drastically overcharge the US customers while other developed countries (such as
Canada) pay much smaller premiums while also reaping the benefits of drug research.  In other words, the
US is “subsidizing” health insurance for other countries at the expense of American consumers. But if the United States is loosing jobs to countries such as
India, why should it be forced to pay the majority of health care costs? If this change does occur, it is imported that it occurs gradually so as not to cripple drug companies who will need a transition period in which drug costs will likely increase in other developed nations. However, this plan seems sketchy for the same reason individualized health care does, the transition period have the possibility of upsetting the current system.