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For many in the United States, healthcare reform has become such a hot topic that it’s almost untouchable. Still, that hasn’t stopped a growing number of pundits from trying to handle public perceptions of the issue. There is an increasing sense among the American public that what used to be a conversation between parties with different values is now a zero-sum game.

Healthcare costs are reaching a critical stage and that they will endanger the entire economy and the health of everyone unless the country addresses them soon. Facts and figures have given way to buzzwords, and ad hominem attacks as elected representatives pander to constituents instead of looking at measurable information. Still, the frustration of everyday Americans is being heard by some who can influence the conversation at higher levels.

It is time for a different approach to healthcare and calls for more rational discourse on the subject. Instead of focusing on ideal outcomes, healthcare leaders and politicians need to encourage the public to take a measured and considered approach to the problem by examining the current state of things and using available resources. One of the key areas is cost. Looking at the financial realities of healthcare in America is the best way to create responsible changes that will last, having a net positive benefit for the country.

Of course, it’s difficult to talk about healthcare reform in the US without addressing the Affordable Care Act. The ACA is a subject that has become even more contentious than usual in recent months, as Republicans rush to implement their new healthcare bill. Many on the right of the political spectrum view “Obamacare” as a step towards a socialist single-payer healthcare system, but the ACA has its detractors on the left, too. Many liberals and socialists feel that Obamacare is a move in the right direction, but that it is ultimately ineffectual. They claim that the ACA is not adequately funded or organized, resulting in a half-measure that greatly inconveniences many Americans by placing unreasonable financial burdens on them to support other users.

Six of One, Half a Dozen of the Other

If we take both arguments into consideration then we can see that each one has valid points. A top-down federal solution will not work politicians do not have the freedom to exercise the political will to do it. We also cannot make major reforms that would move the country towards universal care. We should be wary of single-payer systems which would be ruinously unworkable in the United States. Care is readily available in large, well-developed single-payer countries like Canada and the United Kingdom, big procedures come with long waits. America’s demographics and population size means that a single-payer system would create a new entitlement that we could never support.