Another Call for Health Care Reform

Today, the special interests are pumping out the lies about health care reform, especially reform that offers a public option. 47 million are uninsured and many have poor-quality care that give them little coverage, but this coverage still costs a large amount of money. 8 out of 10 working poor families are uninsured and in a recession people are losing their jobs, and jobs are the source of 90% of working Americans' health care. These numbers will only go up if competition is not created that will help lower premiums. Our country spends more on health care than any other advanced country, and we still don't get any results. Why? Because there is a huge flaw in the system.
To tell you the truth, I really don't think reform will be as effective if it does not include a public option or some sort of move towards universal coverage. Attacks are coming left and right of the public option. Conservatives are angry because people won't have to work for a "privilege" like a good health care plan. Health care is not a privilege, but it will soon be one if action is not taken. If it were a privilege, people who don't have good health care would not go into poverty if they got sick. Having a television is a privelege and if I don't have one, it does not dramatically affect my life or put me in bankruptcy like health care can do. Right now health care to most people is a necessity and if the market cannot make it accessible to everyone, than the government may have to use its guiding hand to point us in the right direction. We must be reminded that a public option still requires citizens to pay for health care offered in its exchange, so the public option is not just an incentive to do nothing.
Many people ask how we will pay for a public option. Reducing the number of deductions the wealthy can take would help pay for a large portion of the public option. Some will say that the wealthy create jobs and deserve tax cuts to keep creating those jobs. If that were true, the Bush tax cuts would be reinstated and the number of jobs being lost in this recession would not be so high. If we had a country that achieved shared prosperity, worked towards providing everyone with equal economic opportunity, and didn't favor a minority over the majority, we wouldn't need health care reform so urgently. I hate to be the bearer of bad news to the middle-class, but the past eight years weren't in your favor and didn't want to provide you with financial security. Even though the deficit is high, due to low taxes during an expensive war and no fiscal responsibility shown by the Bush administration, universal coverage (or at least something close to it) is needed now. People are losing their jobs, a huge source of people's coverage. If we do nothing, people will lose jobs, lose their health care, the government will keep spending billions on health care and get no results (leading to a higher deficit than what a public option would eventually lead to), and then America is in worst shape than it was before.
There is also the complaint about expanding government. George Bush expands the executive department at the expense of the other two branches, discards the rule of law and open debate in the name of unity, makes foreign policy an "executive only thing", and wiretaps American citizens without a warrant and with little judicial oversight; no complaints. Obama wants a health care plan that will drive down premiums, provide quality care at a cheap price to compete and keep insurers honest, and he wants everyone to have health care that will keep them standing when an illness tries to kick them down; people start complaining. I must remind everyone that there are only a select few, who if they don't have quality care, will avoid financial ruin if they get seriously sick.
Many are also concerned that the health care industry will suffer from a government monopoly. A public option needs to create competition that is healthy, not the kind that hurts. Private insurers will still be encouraged to compete, and honest and reliable insurers will be able to lower prices and compete with the public option. Those who will be weeded out are those who have been cheating the American people for decades.
There are economic reasons to achieve major reform; security for the poor and competition in the health care industry. There are also moral reasons for major reform; help the poor and help the disadvantaged obtain security when they get seriously ill, and force greedy company's to be honest. Financial ruin should not be an end result of a serious illness. The American people have spoken. The special interests and small minorities who don't want everyone to have affordable and quality health care cannot stop us. If there is a time for this to be done, it is now. If there is a moment in which all the American people won't have to worry about getting sick and heading towards financial ruin, that moment is coming. The alternative is national ruin and insecurity.