Health Care

What is it with Republicans and universal health care? Why is it that President Truman in 1947 tried to get health care for all citizens in this country and yet 62 years later we still don't have universal health care? Why is it that the United States is the only wealthy, industrialized country in the world that does not have universal health care? Why is it that the Unites States has 4% of the population in the world and spends 40% of all the money spent in the world on health care, but ranks last in the quality of health care among developed countries? It's simply maddening to me that this is all true. What really needs to be done is for the truth to be told as to why we don't have the quality of health care we should in this country. There was a time back before 1980, when you could walk in to a hospital and because they were mostly, by law, non-profit institutions, even if you couldn't pay, they could not turn you away. The Republicans took over the government in 1980, with the election of Ronald Reagan, all that began to change. Many state legislatures also turned Republican and they started changing the laws to allow hospitals to be for profit operations and companies began to buy them and make profit; this is of course because of the conservative mantra that government can't do anything right and corporations can't do anything wrong. Given the chance, they would privatize everything including police, fire protection, education and tax collecting.

So what is the answer to this mess? I believe we already have it and its name is Medicare. Studies have shown that it costs 3 dollars in administrative costs for every 100 dollars spent by Medicare. It is a system that is already set up and it would be much easier to just add more people to the system than to try and create a new system. This is also much cheaper than private insurance, which costs much more per 100 dollars of money spent on the actual care, due to CEO salaries and stock holder dividends, etc… I would not even mind if we had to pay into the system maybe the equivalent we now pay for Social Security. As long as every citizen in the nation is covered then to me, it's worth it. I spend much more than this on my own health care per month paying co-pays and covering deductibles, plus my monthly premium.

Now seems to be the time to try and tackle this problem again. Corporations seem to actually be more for it, and doctors are also banding together to support it. We have a President that wants there to be change and a mostly Democratic controlled Congress. Most people I talk to seem to be supportive also. So, now is the time America! Let's change our health care system and make this nation even stronger. 47 million people with no health insurance, in the richest nation in the world, is a travesty and should be a national shame!