On Monday, Bernie Sanders posted an Op-Ed in the Guardian, urging Congress to "overhaul healthcare, minimum wage and education" for working class families. "As a nation, we must focus on the reality that the function of a rational healthcare system is to provide quality care for all, not simply huge profits for the insurance industry," Sanders wrote about the system, detailing that 85 million are either uninsured or underinsured. "We spend the astronomical and unsustainable sum of nearly $13,000 for every man, woman and child, twice as much as most developed countries and almost 20% of our GDP." I commend him for publishing the op-ed in a public forum, to allow Americans to back him in this fight that we so desperately need. Yet, I am pessimistic that our Congress which took days to even elect a House Speaker have the rights and needs of working-class people on their minds. My partner is currently searching for Health Insurance that she has to pay, yet is bogged down by the insanely high monthly premiums that eat up so much of her paycheck. Anna Porretta writes, "In 2020, the average national cost for health insurance is $456 for an individual and $1,152 for a family per month." That is anywhere from 39 to 98% of her monthly rent. No individual who needs to pay for the healthcare they need should be paying that much. That's why Bernie Sanders is right, America needs a complete overhaul of the Health Insurance system. Yet, while researching the catastrophic system and what a complete overhaul into a single payer insurance system would look like, I came across this interesting graphic from The Balance. I've never seen a pros and cons list prove the point of one side so accutely. I can't believe someone spent the time crafting a pros and cons list so misguided and lopsided. This is our future. Our current system is hurting so many people. 85 million people uninsured vs 572,000 health insurance employees. Congress has a clear directive to help the entire population of the United States. This includes revamping our healthcare system to ensure that everyone, regardless of income has affordable health, dental, and vision insurance. And they have the responsibility of ensuring that any jobs lost on a system that is clearly better are compensated or even given another opportunity. You can have both.
It brings to mind the climate crisis and how, to save the planet and everyone living here, that does mean harder times for some (which are experienced by people across the US and the World already due to the climate crisis). To close coal mines to build the infrastructure for clean, renewable energy, people have to lose jobs. But it's also the government's responsibility to make sure those who work and support their families from outdated, dangerous industries can still live and support themselves and their families. Congress needs to act now, not only on health care and the climate crisis, but also on a multitude of issues that are hurting so many working class families, like education and minimum wage, as Senator Sanders so elegantly puts. If our elected officials can't help the people they represent, then why are they in office? It's long overdue to overhaul these systems and now is the time to act.
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Rob EnglishJust a kid from Pittsburgh trying to figure out my place in the world and write some things along the way. Archives
February 2024
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