I have been meaning to write this blogpost for days now.
It is a subject that has been near and dear to my heart for most of my life. There are several issues that I think are supremely important in terms of the forward movement of our country. In recent times, so many of us have been much more focused on the backward movement of the world and our country that we cannot even think of things like this. Nonetheless, these items would help that overall situation. In my head, we need to have equity for all in the areas of healthcare, education, and opportunities. I think they all go hand in hand. Today, I will only focus on healthcare.
Greed.
Greed and money are at the root of the entire problem. Greed and money from a small group of individuals and companies do not want to see the important measures many of us think as being necessary for forward movement and progress. How is it that a supposedly, and here I underline supposedly, civilized country can continue to exist with the inequities that are a poison to ourselves? The example of the Pandemic and the poor handling of that matter alone would have been so simply dealt with had we had a national, one payer, national health plan. By taking care of all, we provide, strangely enough, even better care for the entitled people at the forefront of those who want to continue to torture our country. In the long term, it would end up keeping all of us healthier and free from so much exposure, for example, to simple disease prevention that the people on the lower rung of financial well being don’t access. Greed, however, keeps us from solutions.
Think of how many people don’t go to the doctor just because of not having the proper healthcare. Two of my sons are currently suffering because of not having the proper healthcare and benefits. One of them is currently operating his own business and well, that makes it tough to get simple health and dental care. For the most part, vision and dental care doesn’t even exist in the health plans of entitled whites like myself who actually has a decent healthcare program.
A few short Saturdays ago, Dr. Claudia Fegan, the National Coordinator for Physicians for a National Health Program, invited us to her home for a meeting to raise money on its 35th Anniversary celebration of the group. A group of concerned physicians talked with us and explained how easy it would be to make this happen, all using the base of the Medicare System. It was explained to us that everyone within our borders could be treated and it would not produce the huge costs mentioned by the people against the idea. Frankly, even if it were to cost more, would it not be better just because of the humanitarian aspects? How can anyone believe that the American people and system could not do a better job, that is, after all, what American ingenuity is all about. This group has done the number crunching and when they presented the information some 35 years ago, they thought it would be a slam dunk. As with so many things, powerful people with pocketbooks overloaded with money, have squelched the possibility for change. We need to change that. We need to all demand that our elected officials see this as a serious need.
It is time to stop squabbling and time to do the right thing once and for all!
