Healthcare: It's My Right!

I've always been a Democrat. A Moderate Democrat for several years, I now have seen the light and lean more towards the left. I remember being infuriated in first grade when I was forced to go with my classmates to the library and watch Ronald Reagan be inaugurated since my support for Jimmy Carter was unrecognized. Of course, not that my vote would have changed the course of history had the legal voting age been six years of age.

A Democrat, yes, but I’d say I’m a Liberal first, then a Democrat. Many people will say their upbringing affects their current political views. I am no exception. I grew up watching "This Week With David Brinkley" every Sunday after church with my father while Mom cooked Sunday's lunch, and watching as my dad yelled at conservatives Sam Donaldson and George Will on the tube. However, I've chosen my own path over the past few years, becoming even more liberal than my own parents. After having lived in Canada and traveled to other countries I have seen how much this country is behind in so many areas.

Take health care, for example. There is still--still, this ill-conceived notion that a government-run health care system, or "socialized medicine" as some folks still call it, means not enough hospital beds, medicine shortages, poorly qualified doctors, and an overall inadequacy of care. People, that is communist-run health care system from the Cold War days you're thinking of, not modern-day government-run health care. The days of corrupt, communist leaders who horded money while their people lay dying on the streets and their children starving is long gone. I could base my theories simply on a Michael Moore documentary but that would lead many folks to think I hadn't researched enough before reaching this conclusion. Well, I have lived in and/or visited modern-day countries such as Canada, England, and Portugal that all have some sort of government-run health care system. I have friends and family who live in France and Australia. Government-run health care in today's world means that no one is turned away. You need a root canal? Go see a dentist. Need an MRI for that pain in your liver that's been there for 4 weeks? Don't worry--you don't have to get a pre-cert letter from your insurance company or find a doctor that's "in-network." Don't even have to worry about the out-of-pocket expenses or meeting that $500 deductible. You see, the governments in countries such as France, Canada, and Portugal believe that everyone deserves the opportunity to lead healthy productive lives. Most countries in this global environment believe that health care is a right, not a privilege.

I would like to ask the Evangelical conservatives who support the Republican Conservative agenda: How do you think Jesus would feel about health care? Was it not he who healed and tended to the sick and dying? Although we don't usually think of Jesus as a political figure he defied Roman Rule and was crucified for it. I can only imagine how he would feel about the lack of care people are receiving under our country's current "rule."

For those conservatives who love the words freedom, patriot, and democracy, my guess is that you revere that great politician and author, Thomas Jefferson. After all, it was he who penned the Declaration of Independence where he so eloquently adapted Locke's ideas into the Declaration's phrase about "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." In my opinion, the word life is clearly applicable to our current health care crisis. It is a right. Not a privilege. It is every human being's right to have a chance at life, a good quality of life, freedom (aka liberty) and the pursuit of happiness. How can the chance at life or the chance of a good quality of life be fully provided if that individual is not offered every opportunity possible when they become ill or wounded? And can't one's health affect an individual's "pursuit of happiness?" Not always, but often times it does.

Are we not, also, according to this country's constitution, "A government of the people, for the people, and by the people?" How can a government be "for the people" if it does not help keep its citizens healthy to lead productive lives? After all, without, health productive citizens how can we contribute this nation's economic prosperity?

Conservative strategists (especially the fiscal conservatives) will try to offer up statistics that disprove the theory of government-run medicine. However, these statistics don't hold up when you simply go ask any person on the streets of Vancouver, Calgary, Marseilles, Lisbon, Manchester City, or Liverpool how a government-run system has worked for them and if they'd prefer for their health to be in the care of privatized insurance companies. They will tell you unequivocally that health care is not only a right but that their country's system may not be perfect but that they wouldn't trade it for a US health care system. And there's one statistic that no one can argue with: The US health care system is ranked 37 out of 191 countries. Just ask the World Health Organization.

Everyday stories on the news portray a broken system, where human beings--citizens of this country--lose their homes, die from lack of medical care, or fall ill to various unmerciful illnesses such as cancer and AIDS. It reminds me of Voltaire and how his protagonist in Candide wondered if this was "the best of all possible worlds?" However, instead of simply pondering this question from a philosophical or religious perspective I see it in part as a political question, wondering why government is not doing more to help its citizens. (I pay taxes. You pay taxes. Where does our tax money go? We'll save that for another day, though.) I can only imagine what many of our former presidents, statesmen, and philosophers would think of our current plight.