An argument for universal health care

The conservative argument against universal healthcare in America is that universal healthcare amounts to socialism. While it’s true that socialism tends not to work, universal healthcare is not socialism. The American political right wing — which believes that capitalism is the best solution to every problem because it encourages competition which drives down prices and increases quality and choice — just likes to describe universal healthcare as socialism because it sounds scary and anti-American, and because the notion of universal healthcare threatens the corporate base which keeps the right in power. But the problem is that the US doesn’t practice capitalism at all. We practice greed. We allow corporations to run rampant in dangerous, unregulated ways, and allow industries critical to the well-being of our citizens to place profits before the common good. Worse, these corporations and industries are allowed to use their huge profits — profits earned mostly from the middle class — to influence our government through lobbying. The end result is a system which fails to fulfill its promise. If our system of capitalism worked, every American would be able to afford full healthcare coverage for life, for any illness, regardless of age, no matter what, no exceptions, no deductibles, no denials, no mazes of bureaucracy. Instead we have a tangle of sleazy insurance companies in business to make a profit. Think about that for a second. What this means is that whenever an insurance company pays for a medical procedure or a drug prescription they are losing money, so naturally their drive is to cover as little as possible. In other words, where healthcare is concerned, capitalism fails by not being humane. So what’s the solution? Socialized healthcare. Not socialism, mind you, just socialized healthcare. Big difference.

The fundamental ideas of capitalism are sound, and both John McCain and Barack Obama support them. But capitalism is not a solution to every problem. Pure capitalism is uncaring and cruel. It needs rules and regulations to keep it in line. When these rules are not enforced, as is typical in the US, capitalism breaks down and the people suffer.