Health care should be provided to all citizens
The United States Declaration of Independence lays out certain unalienable rights Thomas Jefferson and the Founding Fathers believed should be bestowed on all U.S. citizens — life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It established the idea of the rights all Americans are entitled to. In today’s world, this should include affordable health care.
I am sure James Madison did not consider health care when he drafted the U.S. Constitution — it was designed to be a “living document.” It is 2009, and things have changed. On Saturday, the House of Representatives approved the Affordable Health Care for America Act with a narrow 220-215 margin, taking the first important step toward making sure health care is affordable for everyone regardless of socioeconomic status or pre-existing condition.
The United States is one of the only modern democracies without some form of national health care. Canada, Great Britain and Germany have it. Even China and Cuba provide health care to their citizens. Our nation has become too concerned with “making a buck” instead of seeing what we can do to help our neighbor.
The insurance companies are spending millions on advertising and lobbying to ensure health care reform is not passed in its current incarnation. It is a similar strategy the tobacco industry took when Senator John McCain pushed for a cigarette tax in the 1990s.
Health care should be a right, not a privilege. It should not be determined by a patient’s bank account.
There are certain medical procedures that everyone should have access to in order to stay healthy. Women should be able to get mammograms and, if pregnant, prenatal care. Men should be able to get colonoscopies.
These are procedures that could help save lives in the long run.
Children are our future. Parents should be able to take their children to the doctors for checkups and not have to work about how much it is going to cost them. As a people, we need to make sure our children are not only safe, but healthy as well.
One of the arguments against the newly passed bill is that federal funding will pay for abortions. This is not the case. A coalition led by conservative Democrats managed to tack on an amendment to the bill stating that no abortions will be paid for by the federal government.
Even though I believe women should have a choice on what to do with their bodies, the cost of that choice should not be shouldered by the taxpayers.
However, no one should have to stay home sick when they have, say, H1N1, and risk getting others infected. Or worse, become critically ill because they could not afford adequate health care.
The House has taken the first important step in ensuring that Americans will have access to affordable health care. The Senate must pick it up from here and follow the House’s lead.
