Healthcare. We all need it, but we don't all have it, and because of that simple fact, we are one of the sickest countries in the industrial world. Our life expectancy for the first time ever is going down, not up. We have the highest maternal mortality rates in the industrial world. And the worst outcomes per cost anywhere. There was a time, in our not too distant past that healthcare was not-for-profit. Then, during the presidency of Nixon, he opened the doors allowing for-profit systems to flourish, giving us the healthcare system we have now. It is clunky, expensive, cumbersome, and inefficient, with the goal of profits coming before any consideration of a healthy outcome for individuals. When people talk about letting the market decide prices, that's easy enough when it comes to things like …show more content…
But we already pay for healthcare in our taxes collectively and to insurance companies individually, and it's costing us dearly. We hear stories every day now about how someone died because they couldn't afford their medication or treatment. Of people suffering for years because they couldn't afford to see a doctor. We see the wasteland of suffering that our current system has given us, and we can't let the fear of change keep us from doing better, for all of our sakes. Now, I know there are already plans out there on how to make this a reality, I just need those plans on my desk and a reasonable timeline to institute those changes. So come on my fellow revolutionaries who have shouted the rallying cry of Universal Healthcare for All, step up and help me change healthcare in our country. Please have your plan on my desk at 6 pm the Monday following my swearing in, cuz I know you've got it written out somewhere, right now, just waiting to be read. Now that I've given that order, I'm sure at least a dozen of those will show up on my desk next Monday. We're going to take the best parts of all of your plans and make something workable out of it. I