Prior the Great Recession, the US healthcare system covered only about two-thirds of Americans. That’s 103 million people uninsured or left to pay for private companies. Within a system that relies heavily on employer-distributed health insurance, it can be expected that both the unemployed, as well as the self-employed will not reap the benefits accept for the small percentage of those who can afford the privatized system. During the Great Recession the United Kingdom’s healthcare system, The National Health Service, moved to closer resembling the US system. This move towards free-market competition among insurance companies should have been known to be risky since the US took steps to reverse the effects of a privatized system during the Great Recession with the passaged of the PPACA or Obamacare.
What does this say about our healthcare system if the providers are the ones being provided for? The insurance companies, hospitals, and drug companies all get the benefit of our healthcare system. Since recessions are connected with increasing unemployment, and receiving health insurance is highly dependent on your employer, harsh austerity reforms during times of recession are detrimental to public health. Unemployment means more depression, anxiety, sleeplessness, and self-harm, which also means more spending on the medication to treat these conditions, as well as the higher government spending that is contributing to more unemployment checks. Reforms should focus on fixing the root of the problem, rather than treating the effects of austerity.
