OPINION & EDITORIAL
Universal health care not just a dream
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Also by Rob Rossmeissl:
- Trolley proposal deserves thought (May 1, 2007)
- U.S. should re-evaluate free trade agreements to improve economy (April 24, 2007)
- High quality city inspires progress (April 17, 2007)
- Comic relief important in movies (April 9, 2007)
- Shout outs harbor hatred (March 26, 2007)
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- Children's health care should expand (September 27, 2007)
- Bush's health-care plan adequate (February 1, 2007)
- California health-care plan best yet (January 18, 2007)
- Chill out man, budgets take time (September 14, 2007)
by Rob Rossmeissl
Monday, October 24, 2005
Although people in Wisconsin can pretty much write off having universal health care anytime in the immediate future, perhaps not all hope for taxpayer-funded coverage must be lost.
Thursday, State Sen. Mark Miller, D-Monona, and Rep. Chuck Benedict, D-Beloit, unveiled their proposed "Wisconsin Health Security Act" legislation at the State Capitol. If passed, this bill would essentially establish a state-financed health care system guaranteeing medical coverage for every Wisconsinite. Although the fate of this altruistic legislation seems dismal, perhaps its proposal was more than just a symbolic act.
The United States has long been sinking into a health-care quagmire of exploding costs and massive inadequacy. Although their proposed measure is almost certainly doomed in Wisconsin's Republican Legislature, State Sen. Miller and Rep. Benedict must be credited for bringing attention to a glaring problem that is increasingly causing misery and financial hardship across the United States.
Although it may be difficult, try to remember the innocent days of the early '90s. The harmonic crooning of "Boys II Men" was just beginning to take off, Americans were infatuated with their beloved "Three Ninjas," and President Bill Clinton was promising a vast overhaul of the nation's health-care system to ensure coverage for every citizen. Before long, "Boys II Men" started to seem pretty creepy, the "Three Ninjas" hit puberty and the U.S. health care industry united in one of the biggest scare campaigns ever to hit the airwaves.
After spending ludicrous amounts of money, the major health insurers had frightened Americans away from being guaranteed health-care coverage, and vilified Hillary Clinton for having attempted to provide it.
Fast-forward 13 years. Health care in the United States is in a sorrier state than ever before. According to www.americanhealthcarereform.org, 45 million Americans live with no health care and the problem is growing exponentially, with that number expected to exceed 51 million by 2006.
To put the problem in perspective financially, a Harvard study showed that medical bills are the leading cause of bankruptcy declarations in the U.S., a majority of which are made by people who have health insurance. Even many people who are covered cannot afford the skyrocketing out-of-pocket expenses charged by health insurers.
Regardless of their country's general swing toward conservatism in recent years, it seems that Americans might soon be ready to hear ideas on health-care reform.
The United States is the only industrialized nation on the planet without a system of universal health-care coverage. It is an embarrassment that the economically disadvantaged in the world's richest nation are left helpless when faced with life-threatening illnesses. Perhaps an even bigger tragedy is the fact that millions of children are unprotected, without any health-care coverage whatsoever. The time to act on this issue is long past due.
Maybe the fears of U.S. industrial and commercial forces regarding government-provided health care were once understandable and even well founded. However, much has changed in recent years. In trying to remain competitive in a global market, American corporations have run into huge troubles with the expanding costs of providing health care for employees.
To understand the magnitude of this problem, one has only to look as far as the health-care compromise struck last week between General Motors and United Auto Workers. How can an American car company subsidizing worker health care have a chance to compete with a Japanese car company whose workers are insured by the government? Instituting a program of universal health-care coverage for all Americans would ensure a level playing field for U.S. economic interests abroad.
For the first time in years, the U.S. political climate seems to be shifting toward a tolerance of health-care reform. Americans have been said to vote with their wallets, and the next few years could see this trend extend to the issue of medical insurance.
The legislation proposed by State Sen. Miller and Rep. Benedict may not get far, but it may just be a sign of things to come.
Rob Rossmeissl (rjrossmeissl@wisc.edu) is a senior majoring in political science.
Anonymous (October 24, 2005 @ 10:27am):
Rob,
Having lived in Spain and Austria my fears are not created by Insurer's but by actually having witnessed rationed health care. You did a poor job of researching your topic and failed to even mention that our scarey structure has Canadians flocking to the US for Heart surgery and non-americans flocking to Houston for Cancer treatment. National health care might be great when you have a cold, but that is not what you or those crying for it are worried about.
Your worried about the really expensive year long hospitalizaitions or an illness that can kill in a few months if not treated. National Health Care fails to work on those problems as they must ration high cost items to folks who say haven't abused their liver into failure. Which is why Private Hospitals and Physicians abound in Europe, something proponents of Nationalized Health Care never mention. I broke ribs snowboarding in Austria, took a week and a friend to find a Doc who would accept the national health care. I could have gone to a clinic but all my co-workers advised against it.
Dreaming towards Stalin is not Progressive.
Anonymous (October 24, 2005 @ 2:17pm):
The ramifications of a universal health care system are drastic and far-reaching. If you look at the different nations that have a nationalized health care system (ie Canada, Great Britian), their results are less than appealing. While everyone may have access to health care, it is often delayed (up to 15 months for surgery in GB). There has even been a trend towards private hospitals and private insurance in those countries because of the poor wait time and overall care in the nationalized system. Before you dive in and argue your point, do a little research first to see the downside.
Anonymous (October 24, 2005 @ 3:44pm):
Wait, so in a universal health care plan, I have to wait in the same line as poor black people? Screw that. If God didn't see to it that they got health care, I don't see why I'm expected to be more gracious than Him.
Anonymous (October 24, 2005 @ 8:03pm):
I am an 18 year old female and i see my future fastly approaching and not looking too good if our country doesn't do something very quickly. I totally agree with you that the U.S. should be embarrassed, a country is only as good as it treats it's people and right now i think that we are ranking pretty low on that scale. Our government,under President Bush, is an embarrassment and quite frankly scares me. We, as a people, are kept in the dark about so many issues and blindly are led around to think that we are the best nation and that everyone envies us, im sad to say that right now we are the last nation that anyone should envy. I'm so glad to see that other people my age get out there and speak their minds, it's refreshing. Thank you for being involved in our future.
Anonymous (October 24, 2005 @ 10:01pm):
Rob, have you ever been to Europe? Get out there and see what it's truly like. After you start paying ridiculous taxes to get mediocre healthcare ("for free") you'll start to see more of the pros and cons to both sides, rather than having idealistic but sheltered opinions. Europeans are not living some sort of dream world, they pay heavily in taxes and utilize less than perfect technology.
Anonymous (October 25, 2005 @ 1:32am):
Shut up. That is such a stupid argument.
Citizen Kress (November 14, 2005 @ 9:03pm):
Hey Che, move to Cuba free health care there.
