Imagine living in a futuristic world where society is divided into rich and poor. The poor die on the streets from diseases due to the high price of healthcare, while the rich lead lives of luxury, able to afford good healthcare. This summer I read a dystopian novel called Want, by Cindy Pon. Its vision of a world without healthcare, revealed through example situations like the above, inspired me and gave me a more realistic view of the state of the world. The book helped me gain a deeper understanding of critical healthcare challenges we face currently. Healthcare in several countries is inadequate to the needs of their people (Asare). The relationship between the two main characters, Daiyu and Jason, was enlightening. Daiyu is the daughter of a billionaire CEO. Jason is poor and lives on the streets. I have three reasons for believing it is fair to give free healthcare to everyone. The first relates to the overall health of the people; the second, how inequality is removed; leading to the third, creating a stronger community.
Healthcare plays a major role in all countries by helping people with illnesses, contributing to fulfilling and healthy lives. The healthcare systems in place throughout the world are the main reason why people are able to live the lifestyle they want. A healthcare that most people can’t afford is less able to help people and be useful to society. Only around 51 percent of the population in the United States can afford the price of healthcare, according to the Gallup Healthcare studies (Witters and Maese). Nearly over half the population is unable to benefit from treatment. An illness such as leukaemia, which has a higher survival rate when treated, will become deadly to most people who can’t afford treatment and medications, according to the Canadian Cancer Society. In addition, the amount of children that don’t have health insurance has grown significantly over time (Yu et al.). This poses a threat towards the future population of the country. Without having health insurance, the future generations to come, don‘t have adequate health care treatment. This leads to the next generation not having proper healthcare treatment. Having free healthcare for everyone is an essential step to support people who have illnesses, diseases, and major problems, who can’t afford healthcare. By doing so, we are able to maximize the potential of the healthcare system, and save many lives.
Another essential impact of free healthcare would be the reduction of inequality in healthcare systems. For a long time, there has been social inequality within the healthcare system connected to determinants like income, gender, and race. Throughout history, there have been many cases of inequality both outside and inside of healthcare systems. These inequalities result in disparities in access to care, unfair treatment when they do receive care, and poorer health outcomes (Woodward and Kawachi). This is a huge problem as we try to be fair and give proper and equal healthcare to all individuals, disregarding their race, gender or income. We should strive to reduce the health inequalities in all countries because if we don’t, it would result in consequences that will affect the whole community. Due to the inequality of treatment towards one person, that person doesn’t receive proper healthcare, which could potentially result in it spreading through the community they live in; as a result causing more problems. Another reason why we should work towards solving inequality, would be that it is unfair towards the individual getting healthcare. No matter the differences in individuals, we shouldn’t treat certain people with less attention than others. I believe that eliminating inequality throughout the world will show our unity and respect to each other. In closing, free healthcare in all countries will be a vital step that can help eliminate inequality in the healthcare system.
Not only would free healthcare have an immense effect on people’s quality of life and life expectancy, but it would also help to strengthen the community. Having a healthier population because of healthcare access would result in more people contributing to make an impact in the country. The country would be more efficient in working and decision making, compared to a country without a free healthcare system in place. Think of it as a soccer team; when the team is missing players it is less productive in scoring goals, compared to a full soccer team which would be more productive in scoring goals. When half the people in the United States aren’t able to afford healthcare (Witters and Maese), which means they won’t be able to fully contribute to the community; this would result in the United States being less productive, compared to a country like Canada who has free healthcare in place. This is important because in this case we would prefer to have a full soccer team, where everyone will contribute to make the team stronger. By doing so we can have our country portrayed as a strong team where everybody will be able to make a contribution to society.
There are numerous reasons why healthcare should be free for everyone. By having free healthcare available for everyone, it would improve the general health of the community, reduce the inequality in healthcare, and strengthen the overall community and systems around the world. In essence, I think that having healthcare that is accessible to everyone, will bring multiple positive benefits as a result.
Works Cited
Asare, Janice Gassam.“How The American Healthcare System Is Failing Its People.” 2024.
“Survival Statistics for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.” Canadian Cancer Society. https://cancer.ca/en/cancer-information/cancer-types/acute-lymphoblastic-leukemia-all/prognosis-and-survival/survival-statistics. Accessed 15 Sep. 2025.
Witters, Dan, and Ellyn Maese. “In U.S., Inability to Pay for Care, Medicine Hits New High.” Gallup. https://news.gallup.com/poll/658148/inability-pay-care-medicine-hits-new-high.aspx. Accessed 15 Sep. 2025.
Woodward, Alistair, and Ichiro Kawachi. “Why reduce health inequalities?” Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health. 2000. https://jech.bmj.com/content/54/12/923. Accessed 15 Sep. 2025.
Yu, Justin, et al. “Underinsurance Among Children in the United States.” American Academy of Pediatrics. 2001.