By Winchell Dillenbeck
“Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.” — Martin Luther King
Health Care is a Human Right! Imagine no deductibles! Imagine no copays. Imagine no networks!
Imagine no pre-authorizations! Imagine no denials! Imagine no for-profit insurance companies!
A single, simple, affordable, nonprofit, publicly financed and operated, insurance program for everyone. A Universal, Guaranteed, Single Payer, Medicare for All Health Care System affirms health care as a human right. Access to health care is fundamental for human dignity and well-being. It is not a commodity that can be bought and sold. We must transform health care from a profit-venture to a publicly financed system that provides comprehensive coverage to everyone, saving money and lives.
Every Western developed nation provides universal health care to its citizens for half the cost of the United States while the United States is at the bottom in overall performance, health outcomes, equity, access to care, and efficiency. The myth, promoted by health care think tanks and policy experts, that people in the United States are satisfied with their health insurance exploded in the social media rage unleashed in the aftermath of the killing of the United Healthcare CEO. Americans are angry, and as a result, health care has risen to the top of the agenda.
The Trump Administration has cut programs for health care, housing, energy assistance, food, workforce development, education, and nonprofit organizations to low- and moderate-income Americans. These programs include but are not limited to food stamps (SNAP), supplemental nutritional program for women, infants and children (WIC), school lunch programs, temporary assistance for needy families (Cal Works), preschool developmental grants, block grants to states to support social services for individuals and families, senior lunch program (Meals on Wheels), and veterans services. While all of these cuts will make it harder to afford healthcare, Medicaid has been cut, Obamacare costs are increasing, Medicare is threatened, and Social Security is facing cuts. Their effects will leave millions of Americans uninsured and thousands of lives will be lost. It is estimated that 17 to 20 million people will lose their health care as a result. This will deepen poverty, increase food insecurity, and dismantle critical supports that help individuals and families achieve economic stability.
Our health care system is broken beyond repair. It is time to end the chaos. No more foxes in the henhouse, no more poison in the system, no more profit in health care. The nation has rejected the insurance company health care model that delays and denies care, throws up barriers against care, and asserts there is massive unnecessary care while walking away with billions. Insurance companies and for-profit middlemen create barriers to care and massive administrative waste that result in unnecessary suffering and deaths. A system that collects money from patients and employers and then profits by withholding the promised care is not a business but a fraudulent, diabolical scam.
In these critical times, Health Care for All (HCA) and Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP) are conducting a campaign for Community Outreach to the public, businesses, labor unions, nonprofits, community groups, civic/service clubs, politicians, school/colleges, environmental, faith, women, seniors, BIPOC, LBGTQ, disabled, art and entertainment, and coalition health partners. Breaking the entrenched opposition to single payer will require large doses of determination, creativity, and persistence. HCA/PNHP have never wavered in their belief that California and the nation are able and morally bound to create a model healthcare system. We need to step up our call for change to show there is a viable alternative. Join the movement at healthcareforall.org.
Winchell Dillenbeck is a resident of McKinleyville.