This story was originally published in the GenZeal feature of LNP on Sunday, December 14, 2025.
By Joshua Masenge ’26
Amid the ongoing political discourse in this country, one thing that both sides agree on is that the current health care system is failing. The biggest problem within the current system is that it costs too much for users. So why is it such a problem in America specifically and not necessarily in other developed countries?
According to an article published by The Commonwealth Fund, health care spending — both per person and as a share of gross domestic product — “continues to be far higher in the United States than in other high-income countries.” The expensive nature of health care in the United States can be directly tied to the private health care industry. Individual private insurance companies have to negotiate prices with health care providers, resulting in different prices for the same services.
Those covered by government health insurance have lower health care costs because the government can demand lower prices and health care providers have to grant them or lose business.
If a single-payer health care system was implemented in the United States, the government would cover health care costs for every citizen in the country, taking funding directly from taxes. An article by Andrea Sylvie for Harvard Health Publishing states, “Universal health coverage would be a major step towards equality, especially for uninsured and underinsured Americans.” It would help to ensure everyone gets the same quality of health care, regardless of their socioeconomic status.
This solution does raise concerns. For example, a video from the news site Vox states that under a single-payer health care system, powerful organizations representing doctors, hospitals and drug companies could still lobby for higher health care prices.
We would need the right government officials in power, ones who have morals and truly care about the country.
We can’t label our country as a successful one until we start to treat health care as a right and not a luxury.
Everyone Should Have Access to Free Health Care
This story was originally published in the GenZeal feature of LNP on Sunday, December 14, 2025.
By Joshua Masenge ’26
Amid the ongoing political discourse in this country, one thing that both sides agree on is that the current health care system is failing. The biggest problem within the current system is that it costs too much for users. So why is it such a problem in America specifically and not necessarily in other developed countries?
According to an article published by The Commonwealth Fund, health care spending — both per person and as a share of gross domestic product — “continues to be far higher in the United States than in other high-income countries.” The expensive nature of health care in the United States can be directly tied to the private health care industry. Individual private insurance companies have to negotiate prices with health care providers, resulting in different prices for the same services.
Those covered by government health insurance have lower health care costs because the government can demand lower prices and health care providers have to grant them or lose business.
If a single-payer health care system was implemented in the United States, the government would cover health care costs for every citizen in the country, taking funding directly from taxes. An article by Andrea Sylvie for Harvard Health Publishing states, “Universal health coverage would be a major step towards equality, especially for uninsured and underinsured Americans.” It would help to ensure everyone gets the same quality of health care, regardless of their socioeconomic status.
This solution does raise concerns. For example, a video from the news site Vox states that under a single-payer health care system, powerful organizations representing doctors, hospitals and drug companies could still lobby for higher health care prices.
We would need the right government officials in power, ones who have morals and truly care about the country.
We can’t label our country as a successful one until we start to treat health care as a right and not a luxury.
Sources:
https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/single-payer-healthcare-pluses-minuses-means-201606279835
https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2023/jan/us-health-care-global-perspective-2022
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2906992
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1857763