My Lil’ Punditry Kit Part IV: For Your Health

This one’s a major issue for me that I really think should be a no-brainer, but unfortunately is not.

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For Christ’s Sake, Just Accept Universal Healthcare (9/22/07)

 The state of health care in this country is by far its most pressing concern. Frankly, I find it disgusting that the wealthiest nation on the planet fails to provide such an essential service as health care for all of its citizens, as is the case in every developed nation (and even impoverished countries such as Cuba). It all seems pretty cut and dry, but there are still so many people willing to fight to the death to deny full medical treatment from the lower and middle classes; the arguments for doing so tend to boil down to languid cries of “Sooooocialism!” For most critics of universal healthcare, incredibly sensible policies are apparently completely out of the question if they can be attached to the scare-word of “Socialism;” the same thinking was used in arguments against the FDA and federal interstates, which most people acknowledge to be beneficial and necessary today (except for guys like Ron Paul).

 

Despite the cries of naysayers who claim that universal healthcare would be unbearably expensive, most single-payer proposals would make more economic sense than the bloated and inadequate system in place today. In fact, Barack Obama’s proposed healthcare plan claims to actually save money in its removal of the current pointless bureaucracy of insurance subsidies. Government healthcare would free American businesses from the crippling costs of insurance, and other nations have shown us that a healthier workforce is more productive. Furthermore, it just makes sense from a moral perspective; no country with the means to pay for the healthcare of its citizens can deny such a service to them and claim to be working in the best interest of its people.

 

Opponents of sensible healthcare can make all their fallacious arguments about inefficient bureaucracies and strains on the federal budget, but I can’t help but hear them as simple and genuine disdain for the idea of helping poorer people. For example, Bush has recently promised to veto a bipartisan allocation of more funds to the SCHIP program, which provides affordable care to uninsured children, because he claims that giving the children access to treatment would put them “at risk”; I can only explain such an absurd view in light of simply not wanting poor kids with cancer to receive care. Several presidential candidates have already offered sensible healthcare plans to end this absurdity; please do America a favor and support them.

 

Since this column, Bush vetoed the S-CHIP appropriations bill; he accused the Democrats of being inflexible for not settling for a smaller budget after they had already slashed it by billions. Hopefully, this bill will at least come back to haunt GOP Congressmen up for election next year.