Health reformation
Nick Olson
Issue date: 11/17/09 Section: Commentary
But then again, according to the Congressional Budget Office, the health care plan will pay for itself. Cutting back on legal and corporate overhead, Medicare costs and all the other extraneous spending in our current health care system will actually cover the costs of providing a public option.
So if not fiscal responsibility, what is keeping America from supporting the public option? With the addition of the Stupak Amendment, it's not abortion concerns. Are we afraid of waiting times? Because in Germany, where there is universal health care, the waiting lines are actually shorter than they are here in the U.S. Are we afraid of longer hospital stays? Or are we still paralyzed with fear of the notion that the government actually might be able to help us?
I've argued before that American health care consistently ranks behind all countries that have already legislated universal health care. But I was wrong - Americans over 65 have the best health care in the world. Americans over 65 live longer than those in any other industrialized country - because Americans over 65 have universal health care coverage: Medicare.
Universal health care is fiscally responsible and morally responsible. To neglect our country's duty to provide it would be nothing but mere shirking.
So if not fiscal responsibility, what is keeping America from supporting the public option? With the addition of the Stupak Amendment, it's not abortion concerns. Are we afraid of waiting times? Because in Germany, where there is universal health care, the waiting lines are actually shorter than they are here in the U.S. Are we afraid of longer hospital stays? Or are we still paralyzed with fear of the notion that the government actually might be able to help us?
I've argued before that American health care consistently ranks behind all countries that have already legislated universal health care. But I was wrong - Americans over 65 have the best health care in the world. Americans over 65 live longer than those in any other industrialized country - because Americans over 65 have universal health care coverage: Medicare.
Universal health care is fiscally responsible and morally responsible. To neglect our country's duty to provide it would be nothing but mere shirking.
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