American politicians do have government health care. They don't have to buy insurance. It comes out of tax payer money. That's the real issue. How can they deny government health care to others when they enjoy the full benefits of it each and every day.
People with uber-health insurance plans could end up with less under a socialized medicine plan (which isn't even the issue here because everyone gets to keep their plans if they want), but for people w/o insurance like me, there is no way it could be worse than what I have. If I ever get cancer, the ER would treat me for immediate life-threatening symptoms until I'm stabilized, but cancer treatment is off-limits to me. I actually work in a cancer center part-time playing music, but know that it isn't something I could ever benefit from if I need it. Almost everyone I work with in the arts is in the same boat. I know the talking heads dig up horror stories about Canada's medical, but I hear about serious problems every day from the actual people around me.
My co-worker at the school where I teach, a 26-year-old musician, had a serious bike accident a year ago and has suffered from neurological problems since. Her latest series of tests cost her $1500. She was charged three times the amount the same procedures are billed an insurance company because the hospital has so many people who can't pay w/o insurance. They bill individuals to see which ones can absorb those costs, and they become their own "mini-insurance" companies so to speak. This girl makes well under $20K a year. She has been advised to not apply for health insurance until she can get a clear bill of health because the fees would be really high if she has a pre-existing condition.
There are also 50+ year-old women co-workers who have no health insurance and know the clock is ticking when they get their first breast tumor which they won't be able to afford to have removed. An older man I work with has had serious health problems and so now no insurance company will take him for less than $3,000 a month. These are not lazy people. Most have graduate degrees in their fields. They are intelligent, work hard, and plan the best they can, but they fall through the cracks because they are not part of a large corporation who can afford health insurance for its employees. It is obscene the real condition of medical care here in the U.S. I realize people with their Blue Plus plans can't imagine it. I know because I used to have one before I got divorced. Everyone adores you at the hospital and treats you like a queen when you are fully insured.
How many people would be willing to do away with public education? We believe that people, regardless of their start in life, have a right to be informed. Don't those same people have a right to live? I see universal healthcare as a more fundamental human right even than education (and I am a teacher). Should we do away with the police force or firefighters? These are all socialized programs. What if a person who is raped or robbed can't report the crime because they couldn't pay the fees? What if someone with a missing child had to pay $25,000 to have the police look for him, or pay $10,000 to have the fire in your home put out? Having those kinds of programs on the free market like healthcare looks obscene, and yet we accept that someone can't be treated for cancer unless they have the money to pay directly or for insurance. It is an irrational inconsistency to single out health care as not being a basic human right.
We support socialized programs like public education, police, and firefighters because we believe that the entire society benefits from these programs. It is also a way to lessen the gap between the haves and the have nots. How is medical care different? Isn't it even more fundamental to the well-being of society as a whole?
The politicians in Washington have exactly the help they have denied others. I am pretty tired of the scare tactics from such people about socialized medicine, even when that isn't what is being implemented at this point. I can't get scared when told the government is just going to let the old people die, or that people will die standing in line, because I'm already there. I hope they turn it around.
