Dear conservative,
I see so many of you ranting and raving about the idea of Medicare for all, “HOW WILL WE PAY FOR IT?! SOCIALISTS! OH, THE HUMANITY!”
I believe your fear is sincere, but that makes it even more sad. Sad as in depressing, not sad as in pathetic, like our President uses the word.
Do you not have friends outside of this country? Through an internet based nonprofit I run I have the privilege of having friends in Sweden, Norway, Canada, Great Britain, Ireland, Scotland, Australia, and Germany. You know what they don’t stress about? Healthcare. Despite the bad information you have gotten from Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, and Laura Ingraham, people in these countries do not go months and months in urgent situations dying without being able to see a doctor. If you believe this, why don’t you ask some actual citizens of these countries instead of listening to someone who is paid to scare up television ratings or web views?
Know what else they don’t stress about? Going bankrupt from healthcare bills. They simply do not think about healthcare, it is just there for them if they need it and using it won’t haunt them for years to come.
Finally, the biggest busted myth you’ve been scared into believing, that they spend an arm and a leg for it, is also shown to be wrong by the numbers. They simply don’t – we spend far, far more.
If you are someone who is fiscally conservative this should be the number one or two issue for you, but not for the reasons you think. We already spend a great deal more than any other nation on healthcare and what do we get for our expense? We have a lower life expectancy than all of the countries I listed.
The facts and the numbers simply do not back up the hand-wringing. We’re into willful ignorance territory at this point, so I realize trying to convince you of anything is pointless. With that in mind, the best part about all of this to me is that my generation will make sure that your side will lose. It is inevitable. Just as your side stood in the way of racial equality and lost, stands in the way of female equality and is losing, stood in the way of marriage equality and lost, you now stand in the way of a fair, humane healthcare system. In this too, you will lose.
Sources:
The World Health Organization – https://www.who.int/en/news-room/detail/19-05-2016-life-expectancy-increased-by-5-years-since-2000-but-health-inequalities-persist
The World Bank: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SH.XPD.CHEX.PP.CD?year_high_desc=true
