For years, U.S. citizens have debated about whether we should have access to free healthcare. In many ways, universal healthcare would benefit citizens and it should be offered here like it is in many European countries.

Dozens of countries that have a majority of low- and middle-income people are taking steps to provide their citizens with universal healthcare. America has been considered a high-income country since the 1980s, according to World Population Review, so it’s completely reasonable that U.S. citizens should have access to free healthcare as well.

With universal healthcare, the U.S. could build healthier communities and stronger economies like other countries, according to Health For All. Aside from that, free healthcare means all people can get the healthcare they need when they need it without having to worry about finances. 

The U.S. certainly has the funds to make healthcare free. It would not cause an economic crisis, nor would it make our current healthcare status unavailable. More money should be taken out of other things and put into healthcare to make it attainable, like military funding.

Of course, the military should continue to be funded, but the U.S. spends more on its military than any other country. In fact, according to VisualCapitalist, the U.S. still spends more on military than the top ten other countries combined. This leaves plenty of room for some of that funding to contribute towards free healthcare.

Free healthcare would also make medicine more accessible for chronically ill Americans. A chronic illness is a disease that is long-lasting – in turn, this means people affected by chronic illness need a lot of medicine over the course of time just to survive. According to chronicdisease.org, “Nearly 60% of adult Americans have at least one chronic disease.” This statistic does not even account for people under 18 who are affected by chronic illness.

Chronically ill people could be anyone: your classmates, your teachers, your parents, your friends, even you. Some are lucky enough to have health insurance to cover their medicine, doctors’ appointments and hospital trips – but what if people aren’t lucky enough to have that health insurance? Sure, there are programs intended to aid those Americans, but those programs wouldn’t be needed if healthcare was free and accessible to everyone.

Healthcare is a basic human right, not simply a privilege; it only makes sense that citizens in a first-world country should be treated as such and given free access.