Some people think that maintaining health is a basic human need, so medical care should not be run by profit-making companies. Do the disadvantages of private health care outweigh the advantages?
Access to basic medication service is deemed to be one of the most fundamental human needs, which is emphasized by all nations and is a standard to judge a nation’s governance capacity. Some people declare that governments should take the main responsibility for providing health care service for ordinary people and the right to run medical institutes should never be given to private companies. However, this essay argues that allowing private health care enterprises to offer medical services brings more advantages than disadvantages.
获取基本药物服务被视为最基本的人类需求之一，各国均予以强调，并以此作为评判一国治理能力的标准。有人宣称，政府应当为普通民众提供医疗保健服务承担主要责任，医疗机构经营权绝不应交给私营公司。然而，本文认为，允许私营医疗企业提供医疗服务利大于弊。
It can not be denied that private companies tend to prioritize profits without supervisions from governments. The nature of companies is to make sufficient profits to guarantee the long-term operation so that some illegal actions for maximizing profits are likely to be taken. Unlike other sectors, medical service is closely related to people’s life security, since any wrong or profit-oriented decisions will delay when patients’ illness can be cured. For example, some private medical institutes advice patients to take medicines that are less effective in order to sell more pills to make profits, which may intensify patients’ pain. Furthermore, the professionalism of private medical institutes is also not guaranteed. In order to lower operational cost, private companies are likely to hire doctors and nurses without official certificates or degrees, thus lowering the quality of medical service. In this way, some people concern whether medical institutes run by private companies are qualified enough to guard patients’ life security.
不可否认，私营公司往往以利润为先，且缺乏政府监管。企业的本质是赚取足够利润以保障长期运营，因此，一些为实现利润最大化而采取的违法行为很可能发生。与其他行业不同，医疗服务与人们的生命安全密切相关，因为任何错误决策或以利润为导向的决策都会延误患者疾病的治愈。例如，一些私营医疗机构建议患者服用效果较差的药物，以便多卖药片牟利，这可能加剧患者的痛苦。此外，私营医疗机构的专业性也无法保证。为降低运营成本，私营公司很可能雇用没有正式证书或学位的医生和护士，从而降低医疗服务质量。这样一来，一些人担心私营公司经营的医疗机构是否足够合格，能否保障患者的生命安全。
Nevertheless, introducing private companies into the medical system can actually enhance the efficiency and quality of medical service. To begin with, private medical institutes can relieve the pressure of public hospitals, thus enhancing the efficiency of medical service. Thanks to the mechanism of social insurance, many citizens can have access to free or comparatively cheaper medical resources. However, most countries, including developed countries like the UK, are facing an intense situation in their hospitals, with unaccountable patients waiting in the queue for surgery. In contrast, private medical institutes can provide medical service for those who are willing to pay for a more expensive medical bill but troubled with urgent health issues. Then the whole medical system of the society can operate at a higher speed and efficiency and more patients can get cured timely. Second, market competition will also force both public and private medical institutes to improve their service quality. Without private medical institutes, public hospitals will monopoly the whole medical market and medical research will advance at a slower pace due to a lack of stimulus. Once private medical institutes are added into the market, they will manage to work out more efficient curing procedure and continuously improve details such as nursery service to attract as many patients as possible. Consequently, the public medical system and other private medical institutes will be stimulated to invest in research on some rare or complicated diseases and elevate service by providing more professional training for the staff. Finally, patients will benefit from a medical market featuring positive competition.
然而，将私营公司引入医疗体系实际上可以提高医疗服务的效率和质量。首先，私营医疗机构可以缓解公立医院的压力，从而提高医疗服务效率。得益于社会保险机制，许多公民可以获得免费或相对便宜的医疗资源。然而，大多数国家，包括英国等发达国家，其医院都面临严峻局面，大量患者排队等待手术。相比之下，私营医疗机构可以为那些愿意支付更高医疗费用但有紧急健康问题的人提供医疗服务。这样，整个社会的医疗体系就能以更高的速度和效率运转，更多患者能够及时得到治愈。其次，市场竞争也会迫使公立和私营医疗机构提高服务质量。如果没有私营医疗机构，公立医院将垄断整个医疗市场，医学研究也会因缺乏刺激而进展缓慢。一旦私营医疗机构进入市场，它们将设法制定更高效的诊疗流程，并不断改善护理服务等细节，以吸引尽可能多的患者。因此，公共医疗体系和其他私营医疗机构将受到激励，投资于一些罕见或复杂疾病的研究，并通过为员工提供更专业的培训来提升服务。最终，患者将受益于一个以良性竞争为特征的医疗市场。
Overall, although it is reasonable for some people to concern about the legalism and professionalism of private medical companies, they are an ideal tool to promote the whole medical system to improve their efficiency and service quality once under complete supervision.
总体而言，尽管一些人对私营医疗公司的合法性和专业性感到担忧是合理的，但只要有完善的监管，它们就是推动整个医疗体系提高效率和服务质量的理想工具。
