We Need A Public Option

Healthcare reform in America has become the number one issue in American politics today. Reminiscent of 1993, advocates of both sides of the issue are out in full swing making their pitch to America about why their particular position on the issue is the right one.

Watching cable news, reading newspapers and listening to people on both sides of the issue, one can’t help but fall on one side of the issue. I believe that I am on the right side of the issue, that we need comprehensive healthcare reform in America that allows for a public healthcare option that will give coverage to all Americans who want it.

American Presidents from FDR to Bill Clinton have tried their hand at healthcare reform and failed. In large part because of the distortions and the well financed anti-reform machine that has always existed.

Ignoring the facts, the supporters of the status quo are once again trying to stop any reform to the out of control healthcare system that is in place today in this country. “Government run death panels” and “socialized medicine” is two of the false charges that the anti-reform advocates are throwing around today.

To inject a few facts into this debate, healthcare related costs are the cause of 60 percent of personal bankruptcies in the United States.

We rank 39 in the world on length of lifespan and infant mortality, we spend over $2 trillion or over 16percent of our total GDP on medical related expenses and the one statistic that should scare people the most is that over 46 million of our fellow citizens or 15 percent of our population currently have no healthcare coverage.

These are the facts that the people who don’t want any change to the current system won’t tell you about. Unlike false charges of death panels and socialized medicine, these statistics are real and are not just lies and hot air.

It does not help either that the leading proponents of the status quo on both sides of the aisle are the biggest recipients of campaign money from the healthcare industry.

Between 2003 and 2008, the healthcare industry donated a total of $5.2 million to the entire North Carolina congressional delegation. Republican Senator John McCain received $546,000 from the healthcare industry; Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell received $425,000.

In the House of Representatives, Minority Leader John Boehner received $257,000 from the healthcare industry while his Minority Whip Eric Cantor received $249,000. With these kinds of eye popping numbers it is easy to see their motivation for lying and supporting the bankrupt healthcare system that we currently live with in this country.

Having a strong public option in this country that insures everybody does not just fill a moral obligation that we have to our fellow countrymen but also has tangible benefits. A public option would allow for those small businesses out there who spend so much on healthcare for their employees to have a low cost public option that would free up more capital to spend on the things that matter, like growing their business.

It would lower cost for those currently enrolled in private healthcare plans by giving uninsured people coverage and keeping them out of the emergency rooms which drives up the premiums for those enrolled in private healthcare plans. The biggest benefit of all is that America would finally be on par with its western counterparts, all of which have government run healthcare systems.

America is at a crossroads today with the healthcare debate. We could live up to our ideas outlined in our constitution that says congress shall provide for the general welfare of the people of this country or we could take the corporate route and continue to ask ourselves what we can do to help corporations increase their bottom line at the expense of the have-nots.

If America is to one day truly be that shining city upon a hill that John Winthrop and Ronald Reagan dreamed of we must become compassionate and do everything we can to give our fellow American healthcare coverage regardless of preexisting conditions. This is America’s moment to live up to its best ideas. I hope we make the right decision.