In his article “The Tragedy of the Commons,” Hardin contends that access to common resources is often abused by people pursuing their self-interest, which eventually leads to the complete depletion of these resources. The United States government allocates trillions of dollars to support healthcare which, following the aforementioned idea, is unsustainable because it encourages people to exploit the system (“Historical,” n.d.). Affordable Health Care Act significantly increased federal funding for healthcare programs, yet it resulted in diminishing marginal returns, and people still do not live longer than in countries with lower healthcare expenses. Despite substantial funding, there is still a latent demand in the healthcare market since not everyone can afford the opportunity cost of paying for insurance or spending a day in a hospital. The United States can learn from the United Kingdom, where the government covers all essential health needs of every citizen, with private insurance still available for those who want to have faster access to doctors.
The Canadian healthcare system can be implemented in the United States since its universal access to medical services for every citizen recognizes the fact that the demand for such services is inelastic. The United States could introduce Canada’s single-payer system and act as a demand shifter by making healthcare, a product without substitutes, available to all people citizens, thus guaranteeing utility to every citizen (Araujo & Mansa, 2020). Another feature that the United States can borrow is the Swedish high-cost price ceiling for medical services, which prohibits providers from charging citizens large sums of money (“Healthcare,” 2021). The main feature of healthcare systems such as Germany’s is mandatory insurance which entails considerable implementation problems in the United States since it can be viewed as unconstitutional. Practically due to the same reason, the United States will struggle to implement Singapore’s mandatory savings account for every citizen as the main source of funding healthcare services.
References
Araujo, M., & Mansa, J. (2020). What is single-payer health insurance? The Balance. Web.
Healthcare in Sweden. (2021). Sweden. Web.
Historical. (n.d.). CMS. Web.