Health Care Is A Right

Here's a good argument for single-payer health care in America, which really is the only sensible and moral way to approach the growing crisis in this country. The fact that there are nearly 50 million Americans without health insurance is criminal and obscene. The fact that every month many poor and middle class (and even some fairly well-to-do) families go bankrupt because of astronomical medical costs is one of the biggest failings of the American system as it currently exists.

Health care is -- or should be -- a basic right of citizenship, especially in a country as rich as this one is. Those who are swayed by the ridiculous arguments put forth by the insurance industry and their toadies in the media and Congress (both Republican and Democrat) about "socialized medicine" and government standing in the way of you being able to choose a doctor or get needed care in a timely manner are being either disingenuous or willfully obtuse. The system as it is currently configured consists of faceless, unaccountable insurance executives making the decisions as to which doctors you can see, what procedures you can have done and, ultimately, whether you are even eligible for care or not. A single-payer system that covers everyone eliminates for-profit corporations making decisions about your health care based not on what you may or may not need but on what will benefit their bottom line the most.

Over the past few years, as more and more people lose their health insurance, the industry has posted record profits, in some cases well over 100% of previous years. Costs have risen dramatically while fewer and fewer people retain coverage. How is this fair, and how are we as a citizenry not up in arms over such a state of affairs? Why is government seen by some as the bad guy in this drama, and not the greedy and evil corporations?

A government-run health care system could hardly be any worse than what we have now, and would, in all likelihood, be light years better. It's long past time that we fix this terribly broken system, and give every person living in this country a chance to receive quality health care without worrying about the potential of going bankrupt while doing so.