New universal healthcare bill best option for America

3+Bernie

3 Bernie

Bernie Sanders, the liberal dreamer of the United States, might be old but he is still up and rooting for changes in the American system of government. Bernie thinks there were flaws in the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare, and believes he can do better with his Medicare-for-all universal health care plan which already has the support of 15 co-sponsors in the Senate. While the bill will never pass under the current government, the 2020 election is on everyone’s minds and endorsing and perfecting the bill before then is critical in order for it to eventually become law.

His inspiration comes from Europe and Canada, where universal health care has been working for decades. While in America, people are insured by private companies mostly received through work. In countries such as France, however, the insurance is assured by the government. If you have an emergency in Texas, the medical transport services can cost hundreds or thousands of dollars whereas in France, it is free whether you are a homeless person or the president. These governments differ in the sense that some European countries view health as a fundamental right, while the U.S. views it currently as a right for the rich and privileged.

Of course, politicians and senators who only vote for changes that make their personal lives easier are never going to sign a bill that will help others. What U.S. citizens often don’t realize is that while this bill is for a public health care system, it does not rule out private ones. The only “losers” if this bill is ever to pass would be private health insurances who would lose customers. By paying taxes, the money would go to your health insurance but also to everyone else around you. Arguments about taxes imploding are countered by Sanders’ argument that the well being of the population should be prioritized over profit.

In a country where poverty affects 13. 5 percent of the population, privileged senators refusing to pay for others health, arguing that that’s how the free market works in America, is unreasonable. Let’s just take note of Rand Paul’s argument against universal health care: “With regard to the idea of whether you have a right to health care, you have to realize what that implies. It’s not an abstraction. I’m a physician. That means you have a right to come to my house and conscript me. It means you believe in slavery. It means that you’re going to enslave not only me, but the janitor at my hospital, the person who cleans my office, the assistants who work in my office, the nurses.” How the hell can you compare providing healthcare to slavery?

Everyone is still getting paid, labor laws won’t change. His argument is offensive and indecent. Regardless, it is true that implementing such a huge change to the health care system in the U.S. would have big consequences which should not be overlooked and discussed seriously. Sanders isn’t just trying to pass this bill out of the blue; he has thought of the process of implementing it in a country which is scared of liberalism and innovation.