Opinion: U.S. services are not equipped to handle the U.S. population
The United States public services are not adequate for its current population. The inadequacy will only continue to grow, affecting you now and in the future.
More than 70% of U.S coronavirus cases this past holiday season were Omicron, according to the CDC. The new variant was and is still running rampant. It is more contagious than previous variants. For this reason, rapid and quickly accessible testing is important to control the spread — especially during the busiest travel time of the year.
In the U.K., free rapid tests are available by mail daily. South Korea has free testing even for your pets. Yet in the U.S., a test is at least $20 — if it happens to be in stock at your local pharmacy or medical center. Although the U.S. has rapid tests available, they are not as efficient. For every person with a false negative, there is an extra infected individual out in the world. A remedy, according to the Western Journal of Emergency Medicine, is to emphasize a negative rapid test is “indeterminate”, and be followed by a standard COVID test.
America is behind other countries in testing, and behind where it should be given we are now in the third year of the coronavirus pandemic. This inability to provide testing prolongs result wait times and risks infection between family members. It also delays testing which extends quarantine time, leaving many individuals uncompensated for missing work and unable to get home as airlines cancel flights due to lack of unquarantined staff.
The lack of testing goes against what the CDC, a government-funded organization, is trying to do. Part of their mission is to “slow the spread of COVID-19 and to protect people’s lives and health.” Yet their actions say otherwise.
Utah State University is a public university. This means its tuition is mostly funded by the government — an example of the direct impact government funding has on your life. Education is funded by government taxes, just as other tax money is allocated to health, social security and more.
The university has scheduled appointments available for testing when students arrive back on campus, but there was time between semesters where the testing center was closed. There are also out-of-state students who have to get tested in their home state in order to fly to places such as Hawaii.
Social Security is another instance where government structure is not meant for current population levels. When Social Security was first established, the rate of birth was higher than the rate of death, creating a small elderly population being funded by the younger population.
But according to the United Nations, the U.S. population will plateau at 425 million instead of continuously growing due to a smaller birth rate. This creates a gap between the population funding Social Security and the population using it.
The Office of Retirement and Disability Policy agrees with the fact the trust fund reserves will be exhausted by 2037, followed by a decline in the amount of money being received by those in retirement.
The average age for undergraduate students at USU is 22 years old. By the time students wish to retire — around 65 in 2065 (which will probably be later due to growing life expectancy) — they will have insufficient level of Social Security even though they have spent all their working years paying into it.
There are ways to remedy structural issues like these. According to Forbes, Social Security is not necessarily bankrupt, but it will struggle and be inadequate. The government can increase taxes such as overall percentages, increasing the tax on the higher incomes, or raise the full retirement age. They can decrease benefits and increase 401(k) availability, an employee-sponsored retirement plan.
As for the current problem of the pandemic, increased money and production allocated to testing is a must, especially during times of the year with surges. There needs to be better communication between medical professionals and statisticians with law makers and businesses that distribute testing. A structural change must occur for this to happen. It is in the best interest of the health and security of Americans that changes happen sooner than later.
From the coronavirus to Social Security, the current government’s structure is not adequate for the current and future population.
Sara Prettyman is a Maryland-bord-and-raised sophomore majoring in applied mathematics. She loves drawing, running and reading.
— sara.prettyman@usu.edu