It is widely believed that good health is the most essential need in human life, so for-profit companies should run medical services. While I accept that this suggestion may have several benefits, I strongly believe that its advantages are eclipsed by the disadvantages involved.
Undoubtedly, private healthcare centers can be advantageous to a certain extent. Regarding the first advantage, taking care of public health is the top priority of many private healthcare sectors. It can be explained by the fact that in many countries, the state-run system is not sufficient to meet the basic needs of citizens; therefore, it is necessary for the involvement of the private sector, reducing the amount of time people need to wait to receive health services. A pertinent illustration can be seen in England or Canada, where an increasing number of personal healthcare centers, inhabitants are obliged to receive quick healthcare checkups with well-equipped facilities and hospitable staff. Nevertheless, this case only happens in some developed countries such as the USA, England, or Canada since in developing nations, private sector services are only affordable to the high social class. the impoverished people cannot afford those services, forcing them to opt for a state-run healthcare system.
The disadvantages brought about by this phenomenon, nevertheless, could far outweigh the aforementioned advantages. The private sector’s provision of healthcare may lead to a wide range of unpredictable problems. Chief among these is that in order to generate revenues and maximize earnings, the companies may give prescriptions for unnecessary medicine and redundant examinations, which leads to a huge waste of time for the patients. For example, some patients who want to make annual and basic healthcare checkups such as heart rate, and blood examination, are usually convinced to examine more on other health problems such as cancer, and the respiratory system, when these checkups require a high amount of time to finish. Another major drawback of this suggestion is that the services of the private sector are normally higher than the state-run ones, leading to higher prices and driving up medical expenses for citizens to afford. For instance, people who are underprivileged may not have proper access to high-quality medical services in those centers.
In conclusion, medical services provided by for-profit companies may offer several benefits. as lowering the amount of time waiting for healthcare checkups. However, this phenomenon can also produce some negative impacts on the patients.