The waiting room chatter disappears with the despair that frowns on the doctor’s face. The family’s hearts drop to their stomachs as their hands grasp the cold reality that their salaries could not afford their son’s life.

Why was he being punished for his parents’ lack of income? Why would anyone let a young boy to die because his parents could not pay for his health care?

With credits to President Obama, America will now have a health care plan that will help all Americans receive the medical attention they need and deserve. He believes this plan “cannot wait another year” because so many families are suffering now.

The money-hungry power that greedily strips away at the soul and ruptures our minds in to believing that human life is only worth less than money, swims to the topic of discussion in the Obama health care debate.

The health care plan will only aid those who cannot afford health care insurance and leave the higher income citizens with a choice of public or private health care. People still find a reason to bicker and like a fortune teller, he is thrown questions at every angle.

Of course, the first thing people want to know is if their doctor will be of quality. Well, whoever misinformed them of medical standards changing was wrong. Medical school was and will remain a tough course to trek. The standards for a medical degree will not change; therefore, the quality of doctors will not decrease.

Of course, if they are still not satisfied will the public health care that will be provided, they can always chose to have their own private health care.

It may seem too be good to be true, as the cost of his plan is concerning a lot of citizens. As Obama stated in his speech to the American Medical Press, he did underestimate the initial cost of the plan. But, he also states that if we do not take action immediately, we would end up spending more money from our federal budget later.

Think about those who go in to emergency rooms, uninsured. They take money from the hospital, which eventually raises our insurance premiums. With Obama’s new plan, he also hopes to keep insurance companies’ rates down by making them compete more with each other.

Another way to pay for the plan will be to make a soft drinks tax and a tax on businesses that sell consumer goods, while taking preventive action towards life-threatening diseases.

Since business owners are now required to provide health care for their employees, business owners are concerned with how they will pay for their employees’ health care.

Obama, of course, already thought this through, and is willing to give them help from the government once the amount of health care reaches a certain limit. Extremely small businesses will not be required to provide health care to their employees. This will make health care costs for even business owners reasonable, and is a pretty flawless plan considering that universal health care will also be provided.

All in all, we are ignoring the fact that universal health care has and is working in numerous countries. In a documentary called ‘Sicko’, Michael Moore explores the universal health care systems in Canada, Great Britain, and France. According to ‘Sicko’,

Canada has a lower infant mortality rate, and a longer life expectancy rate than America. Twenty four percent of Americans don’t seek health care due to cost, and over fifty million Americans have no health insurance at all. Only five percent of Canadians don’t seek health care due to cost, and everyone in Canada has health care insurance.

This is only one example of how beneficial universal health care can be for our country as a whole, and for you as an individual.

11 comments

Your name

Tue Oct 27 2009 16:45

Gavin,

I agree with you, except the part about the gov't plan being the same as re-directing your income to Uncle Sam in the form of taxes being the same as paying your premium to some office in NC. In the history of the United States, there has not been one single entity the government has been able to run as efficiently and cost-effective as the private sector. Social Security is bankrupt. So is Medicare. The Post Office (which Obama himself) compared government health care to is flat broke. Wonder what everyone thinks is going to happen once the government runs this thing... something this big, expensive, and bulky. Costs will RISE, RISE, RISE, more and more every single year... The cost of this plan will be more expensive than what we pay private insurers mostly because the government has never been able to run anything as efficiently as private industry. Get ready to pay much more than anyone is talking about... And, I'm talking big tax increases, Mr. Middle Class. If not, we can always print more money I guess. Heck, no one in congress is worried about inflation... hyperinflation... quality of life... mass unemployment... interest rates through the roof. This selling our future to pay for our present garbage is only going to last so long... It will catch up with us.

ali

Tue Oct 27 2009 10:27

i have many stones in my kidney

Gavin

Mon Aug 24 2009 10:30

If you truly understand our "private" health care system you'll come to the realization that it is a collectivized system. Insurers pay a premium that is dispersed amongst a large pool. Those premiums help towards paying doctor's visits, emergency care, surgeries etc. The reason premiums are steeply rising is because collectivized systems are not sustainable. Because a persons medical costs are much reduced (through insurance) they feel as if their treatment is actually obtained at a lower value. In truth, the other insured members are paying for their procedure in the form of higher rates. Obama's proposed government plan is in no way different from our current "private" system. Though, instead of paying my premium to some office in NC, I'll have to re-direct my income to Uncle Sam in the form of taxes.
As for quality of medicine staying the same, I definitely disagree. You have to remember that the main motivator of a businessman is to make as much money as possible. Making a living is the reason people go to work. It's no different in a doctor's state of mind. If another country offered better wages to American doctors (presumably because of a private system) what would stop him from leaving the U.S.?
Also you failed to mention that Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security were all collectivized programs that our federal government robbed and has now bankrupted. Universal Health Care will no doubt share a similar fate if the free market and political integrity are left by the way side.

Donald King

Wed Jul 29 2009 15:43

RE: dougish

RE: Kidney transplants

I have had a kidney transplant for 7 years now, and was on the transplant list for 6 years, while I was on dialysis 3 times a week, not in a hospital room. And, in fact, another person who started dialysis the same time I did, got a transplant within a couple weeks of getting on the list. But not because he was in better health, but because of a matching kidney coming up at the right time.

I'm unsure whether you are relating a personal experience and comparing the current kidney transplant selection procedures to what you think other medical procedures will be like with government funded health care; or if the situation you described is a hypothetical situation that you think will happen with government funded health care.

I think the selection procedure used to determine who gets an available kidney does need to be changed, but realize it is a very difficult to thing to do fairly and ethically. Unfortunately, I do think that the health of the potential transplant patient needs to be taken into account.

Batmanhatguy

Wed Jul 22 2009 07:29

Do you think Universal Health Care = bottomless supply of money to pay whatever medical costs you have?
The government has to justify spending, and they tend to try to keep it at a minimum. If they decide that your 80 year old grandmother has lived sufficiently long, they may just decide to stop treating her multitude of ailments. After all, couldn't the money be better spent on someone younger who has a productive life ahead of them?

dougish

Thu Jul 9 2009 14:16

What a touching example you used to start off your article... I have one myself:
Some one close to you, a sibling, a parent, whomever it may be, is sick. They need a kidney transplant. and are put on the list. After waiting for three years their name comes up and everyone is elated that a donor kidney has finally become available and is looking foward to the loved one regaining strength after spending the past three years in a hospital room. Oh wait... it looks as if someone else, someone who is just a tad bit healthier needs a kidney as well. Sure they have only been on the list for two weeks but the doctors believe that the other person has a slightly better chance of accepting the kidney than your loved one. So the doctors give the kidney to the other person while your loved one is still left on the list to wait. Who cares if the other person can't afford the procedure. Meanwhile you can... Plus you'll actually be paying for the other person's procedure. People obivously think your loved one doesn't deserve the kidney and you have no say in the matter. You better start hoping a kidney will come soon and then you better hope some more that doctors give it away yet again otherwise your loved one may die. And there is nothing you can do about it.
Hooray for the new healthcare system because that is what healthcare is going to be should Obama have his way.

Miguel

Tue Jul 7 2009 11:07

It would be a good thing to have health care for all. Unfortunately people are focussing on the wrong factors and misinterpreting the statistics. There are a lot more factors that contribute to infant mortality and life expectancy than universal health care. Until we address the root cause of why these factors are low, and not just assume it's a lack of health care, we will never fix the problem.

The plans being promoted are being driven by this misinterpretation of that facts, and are in fact NOT universal Health Care. The plans in work now are universal health insurance controlled in a big part by a government that is incapable of doing anything right. The Obama followers and members of the DNC are really excited about putting the current political club in charge of their health insurance, but what happens when the pendulum swings the other way and the Republicans are in charge?

As long as our government in controlled by corrupt selfish political clubs we the people will suffer.

Your name

Fri Jul 3 2009 17:21

Terrific article, agree 100%

zander deitz

Tue Jun 30 2009 23:07

im so very proud of you

Scott Greene

Sun Jun 28 2009 12:17

The product of health insurance is to provide you with medical coverage when you need it.
Unlike other businesses that need to provide you with their product in order to make any money, health insurance companies actually make more money for themselves when they restrict and do not pay claims.
In other words, they make more money when they do NOT provide the product that you have paid them for.

Read the 50 to 70 pages of your health insurance contract.
Pay particular attention to the section entitled “limitations and exclusions”.
People’s health is not a product that needs to be left to the whims of money motivated CEO’s and stockholders.
If that is your thinking, you might as well have your police and fire department protection based on insurance premiums you pay.
Then you can go to the police and fire protection insurance page for ‘limitations and exclusions’ on whether or not the police or fire department would come out to your house in the event of an emergency.

The point is, you would never think of discriminating against another citizen if he was the victim of a fire or crime.
So why would you be ok with health insurance companies discriminating against fellow citizens who have pre-existing medical conditions?

Callie Reeve

Sun Jun 28 2009 11:26

GOOD JOB ERIN! I am very proud of you.

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