Home » Opinion » Health care should be a right

Health care should be a right

Reader favors expanding Obamacare

You can improve your own financial well-being and that of your fellow Americans by voting for Democrats this November.

Why? Because Democrats want to make health care a right.

What does that mean? It means everyone should receive the health care they need, regardless of their income. It means that we as citizens demand that our government ensures we get health care when we need health care, not just when we figure we can pay for it.

We can do this either by expanding and improving Medicare to all of us, where we pay our taxes and simply get the health care we need, or by expanding and improving the Affordable Care Act so we have the choice to go with Medicare or private insurance and that it guarantees we are all properly covered.

Ensuring everyone has full health care coverage has been calculated to save average Americans thousands of dollars in annual medical costs, and improve individual’s health and overall medical costs by (among other reasons) encouraging people to get treatment when they first need it, rather than waiting until it becomes very serious.

Also, if everyone already has his or her health care needs covered outside of his or her employment, this no longer becomes a factor in deciding where to work or even whether to get a job or not.

In our current system, you may decide you are better off not working, because you can get Medicaid or related health care programs if you are poor enough. So the incentives may drive you to quit working. This should not be. Work should always pay more than not working. The ACA is a major step in that direction, but it doesn’t go far enough.

Democrats want to fix this, Republicans don’t seem to understand. They think everyone is better off on their own. Are you?

America is a great country, we can make health care a right, and we will all be better off if we do. And we all do better when we all do better.

Kevin M. Kuehl
Waupaca

Scroll to Top