Universal Health Care

Universal healthcare. Oh how those words strike fear in the hearts of rich, greedy men. I’ve heard a few arguments against universal healthcare. Always, of course, from people with healthcare insurance. Most of us without healthcare coverage know how important it is to move forward and join the rest of modern civilization. People who are currently wealthy enough to afford private healthcare argue that they don’t want the government choosing their doctors for them and they don’t want to be put on a waiting list for routine procedures.

Those same people have no qualms with the rest of us not even being afforded the luxury of that waiting list. When you don’t have healthcare coverage you are on a different kind of waiting list. It’s called the “wait until you’re having a near-death experience” list. However, there is a simple solution for this. If you want private healthcare, above and beyond government healthcare, then go buy it.

Remember when you went to the amusement park years ago and everybody had to stand in a really long line for hours on end? And now, all the people with more cash than time can pay extra to jump to the front of the line. Why can’t that work with healthcare? That guy over there can go to his really great doctor, in the fancy office, with the plush waiting room chairs, and all the best magazines, on the good side of town, and I’ll be sitting over here just happy to finally be in any waiting room.

I’ve heard people argue that the heaviest burden will be on the rich and it’s like penalizing the wealthy for being so darn wealthy. This is absurd. If the wealthiest person on earth lived on a deserted island and thought up this great idea, he’d (face it, it’s a man…but that should be saved for another rant…) be as broke as any of us. That guy is rich because I liked his idea and am willing to pay him for it.

Without me, he is nothing. The least the guy can do is buy me a pap smear once a year. Why wouldn’t he want to keep me alive and feeling good? After all, I can’t buy his latest if I’m dead and/or paying off exorbitant medical bills. And I know there are some of the people still who are naïve enough to believe that everybody in the world was born into the same family, with the same upbringing, in the same type of neighborhood, with the same amount of money, and the same opportunities for education, and the same two parents who were annoying but loved them nonetheless.