Freedom is a complicated thing.
Freedom of speech and expression per the First Amendment? Sure. Freedom to fly a Confederate flag? Erm, ok, but why would you want to?
The right to bear arms as stipulated by the Second Amendment. Yes indeed. Freedom to own a semi-automatic rifle and bump-stock while mentally ill? Hmmm, can I get back to you on that.
How about the freedom to avoid being ill because you can’t afford to be or the freedom to not go bankrupt through truck-loads of medical bills?
The most likely reason for an American to go bankrupt? Out of control medical bills, while more than 25% of Americans frequently struggle to meet their medical costs.
In stark contrast to the rest of the Western world, the US is blanketed in a patchwork quilt of profit-minded medical providers, insurance companies and price-inflating pharmaceuticals. Such is the nature of the beast of a “for-profit” medical system.
American or Un-American?
“American Exceptionalism” does not apply here as there are never any exceptions to getting sick. Accident and illness are universal to us all – as healthcare should be too.
Health-care is a right, not a privilege. It truly is that straight-forward. If the Trump administration can propose spending eight billion dollars on a “Space Force” to militarize space, then the money to spend on single-payer, universal health care in the US could just as easily be magicked up.
And here’s the deal – a healthier population is a more productive, tax-revenue generating population. Healthier workers live longer lives and are less prone to sick days. The US economy would only be strengthened by the introduction of a single-payer, universal health-care system.
It is lamentable that the so many of the Republican right in the US like to holler that such a system is “un-American” or “socialized medicine.” Some things simply need to be held in the collective, common stock. Or are the enemies of such “socialist” ideals going to read this article in disgust at work and then drive off home on their own private roads? Good luck with that.
Put another way, there is zero reason to think that single-payer, universal health-care is un-American. On the contrary, it is surely the more patriotic thing to do to support a health-care system that protects all Americans, irrespective of cost?
Just why shouldn’t everyone contribute something, equitable to their ability to do so, to the common good of America’s health?
