Healthcare for All

By Dick Eiden

All Americans deserve access to affordable health care. The Medicare system should be expanded to serve us all, not just our seniors.

Among the facts that highlight the need for health care reform now are these: 1) 122 Americans die every day because they lack health insurance; 2) health insurance companies exist to produce profits for their shareholders; their primary concern is the bottom line, not your health; 3) the U.S. spends nearly twice as much per capita on health care services as the next most costly nation, but ranks 32nd in life expectancy, and 41st in infant mortality; 4) skyrocketing medical costs have left family after family bankrupt while 1 in 6 Americans still lack access to adequate health care.

A single payer system means universal access to health care for everyone, uniform coverage (no Cadillac plans for the wealthy and Pinto plans for everyone else), and never a lapse in coverage if you are unemployed or change jobs. Just as importantly, this system would encourage all to see doctors for preventive care which would reduce the expense involved in providing care for preventable illnesses.