Universal Health Care
Many years ago people didn’t have to worry if they got sick, because they could afford to go to the doctor. Doctors made house calls and it’s unlikely anyone can recall people going bankrupt because of medical bills. Today, the number one cause of bankruptcy and ensuing homelessness in the United States are medical bills.
Back in the 1950’s Jonas Salk invented the polio vaccine. He was asked: “Aren't you going to patent that, you know, you could make a lot of money?” Dr. Salk’s reply was: “No, I'm not going to patent it. That would be immoral. This belongs to the people.” Medical researcher Willem J. Kolff invented the kidney dialysis machine, but wouldn’t patent it. He said: “I'm giving this to society.”
Harry Truman proposed national health insurance in 1948, but we remain one of the few countries in the world that doesn't have it. Of the top 25 industrialized countries, we’re the only one that doesn’t have universal health care. Health Care should be recognized as a human right not a privilege, and there is no reason a person shouldn’t get health care in America.
Americans are for the most part generous people, especially when a tragedy occurs. In fact, we have a tragedy taking place every year in America. Eighteen thousand people a year die in this country for no other reason than the fact that they don’t have a health insurance card. That's six times the number of victims on 9/11, every single year in America.
We have a broken health care system. Most other industrialized countries have the attitude that if too many of their people fall between the cracks, their society as a whole suffers. They’ve made a commitment to making sure that there’s a safety net.
The quality of America’s health care is very good and there’s no doubt that we have some of the best doctors in the world. Unfortunately, that health care doesn’t apply to the forty-seven million people without health insurance. Furthermore, many people that have health insurance think they’re fully covered, but find out differently, when the insurance company tells them their not covering that particular illness or procedure.
Back in the 1950’s Jonas Salk invented the polio vaccine. He was asked: “Aren't you going to patent that, you know, you could make a lot of money?” Dr. Salk’s reply was: “No, I'm not going to patent it. That would be immoral. This belongs to the people.” Medical researcher Willem J. Kolff invented the kidney dialysis machine, but wouldn’t patent it. He said: “I'm giving this to society.”
Harry Truman proposed national health insurance in 1948, but we remain one of the few countries in the world that doesn't have it. Of the top 25 industrialized countries, we’re the only one that doesn’t have universal health care. Health Care should be recognized as a human right not a privilege, and there is no reason a person shouldn’t get health care in America.
Americans are for the most part generous people, especially when a tragedy occurs. In fact, we have a tragedy taking place every year in America. Eighteen thousand people a year die in this country for no other reason than the fact that they don’t have a health insurance card. That's six times the number of victims on 9/11, every single year in America.
We have a broken health care system. Most other industrialized countries have the attitude that if too many of their people fall between the cracks, their society as a whole suffers. They’ve made a commitment to making sure that there’s a safety net.
The quality of America’s health care is very good and there’s no doubt that we have some of the best doctors in the world. Unfortunately, that health care doesn’t apply to the forty-seven million people without health insurance. Furthermore, many people that have health insurance think they’re fully covered, but find out differently, when the insurance company tells them their not covering that particular illness or procedure.
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