During the Presidential campaign of 2008 Senator Barack Obama promised to reform the health care system in America. Now, more than halfway through the 2009 calendar year, President Obama is fighting hard to fix the health care problems that he talked about repeatedly during his campaign without adding to the nation's debt. This is no easy task. In fact, the last time any substantial reforms were made to our health care system was in 1965 under President Lyndon B. Johnson with the creation of medicaid and medicare.
Politicians on both sides of the aisle agree that health care reform is necessary. Their differences lie on their views of what kind of reform is needed and where the money will come from. Politicians who oppose Obama's plan have called it nothing more than pure socialism, a government take over of the nation's health care system. These are the same politicians who have drawn charts to represent the President's plan. Charts that can be described in one simple word. Confusing.
Just hearing the words socialist health care and looking at a chart that looks like a maze leading to nowhere has made many American's think twice about the President's health care initiatives. Hell, I don't like the sound of it either. Who wants the control over their own health taken away from them and put in the hands of the government? Who wants to be led on a long journey to nowhere? Not I.
In the mean time close to 50 million American's live every day of their lives with no health care insurance, millions of American's can barely afford the coverage plans they have, and millions of American's may think they have great health care coverage until they get sick or injured and learn that their health care provider won't pay for their treatment because of a pre-existing condition.
There is something wrong with this picture. There is something wrong when roughly 1/6 of the population of the "greatest nation on Earth" is uninsured and even more underinsured. There is something wrong when nearly every westernized country has universal health care with the exception of America. There is something wrong when we equate a persons health and well being with corporations making a profit. Yes, there is something wrong.
Universalizing the health care system in America is not going to be easy. It is a complex issue with extremely complex solutions that the majority of Americans, including myself, will not be able to grasp. It will not be easy to pass in congress nor will it be easy to figure out how the system will work and how it will be paid for. But one thing is for certain, health care reform in America is long overdue.
