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I do not like to watch people suffer. I believe that every American should have access to high quality healthcare regardless of their income. According to the pundits who dominate our airwaves and the politicians who lurk in the halls of Congress that makes me part of a fringe left-wing special interest. Never mind that polls show that a large majority of Americans agree with me that we should have Universal Single Payer Healthcare, in today’s political realm the average person is considered to be on the fringe while the Insurance industry is supposedly representative of America’s best interests.
I will have no more of it. Over the past six months I have watched a person close to me suffer the symptoms of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. It is not easy for me to watch her suffer seizure like episodes on a regular basis, it has not been easy for me to see her lose the ability to speak because of a panic attack, or to watch helplessly while she breaks down crying because of the effects of her illness. I want the day to come once again when she can get out of bed and go out to have a good time, yet she is not able to get the help she needs to make a recovery.
Fortunately she has insurance, unlike the tens of millions of other Americans who are completely left out of the system. Unfortunately however, the HMOs and the insurance industry want to make a profit off her so they don’t provide nearly the coverage that she needs. When a person is working full time and still living paycheck to paycheck there is a limit to how many co-payments they can afford to make.
I am sick of living with a system that provides less coverage to our citizens than any other developed nation, while simultaneously leaving a huge percentage of our population out completely or else underinsured.
I am sick of all the talk from all the Republicans about further privatizing the medical field and cutting government aid. I am also sick of all the pandering from the DLC and far too many elected Democrats about making health care “more affordable” while failing to call for the major changes that the large majority of people want. Making healthcare more affordable is not good enough, we want good coverage for everyone. A simple five minute in-and-out doctor visit easily runs into the hundreds of dollars, anything that requires more extensive work and the cost is through the roof. The ONLY way to make health care affordable is to provide universal coverage. And don’t give me that lame Massachusetts plan that basically turns people into criminals if they don’t pay for health insurance, there are so many people that simply can’t afford to pay even if they don’t fall into the income bracket that allows them to get state aid. We need Single Payer Universal Coverage, not window dressing. Why can’t our elected “leaders” understand this? I am sick and tired of being given candidates who are afraid of speaking out and saying the three simple words “Universal Health Care.” The Democrats know the vast majority of their base wants this and the vast majority of Americans want this, yet far too many of them still cower. I am tired of watching people suffer, they have no excuse. It is time we start using the words “Universal Health Care” as a litmus test for determining who we use our resources in campaigning for in any election. Talking about “affordable” health care is not good enough.
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