“Why We Can’t Wait” was a book written by Martin Luther King in 1963. He was critiquing gradual, incremental reform when addressing poverty and discrimination that plagued the US then and as now. As most of us can now see “Romney care” which was a template for what became “Obama care” is a precise example of failed gradualism on a national scale. Anyone can point to anecdotal examples of how certain individuals, even thousands have benefited from these plans. But no one can argue that our health care system is not in severe crisis. This dysfunctionality becomes a target for most Republicans with their corporate Democratic allies to, like vultures pick apart the half way decent parts of the plan and victimize millions. This of course opens up the coffers of the pharmaceutical and insurance company behemoths to fund and assist these same politicians’ next campaign or worse.
This ridiculous debate for tax-funded universal health care (AKA Medicare for All) has been going on since Harry Truman was president. The mantra way back then as now is “we can’t afford it.” Balderdash! Most European countries implemented this type of system from the ruins of World War II.
We are plagued with a system whose benefits takes experts to translate, whole industries and college courses for out-of-whack billing and, if one is honest, a confused public as to what is the character of their own coverage. This is now and has been an inevitable prescription for corruption by insurance and pharmaceutical companies along with hospital bean counters. Medicare for All is the only logical first step to uprooting that corruption in the name of protecting the citizenry. An added benefit: we wouldn’t be required to refer to experts in malarkey to explain how some dysfunctional plan “works.”
What is needed is a complete rejection of anyone running for office who hems and haws over this issue. We need from them a public and loud promise that this fight is a priority and a citizenry that will hold their feet to the fire if (or when) they backtrack because of some corporate lobbyist’s sweet talk. They need to be told to stop their nonsense about “no money” when the policies they support encourage Trump when he orders million dollar missiles dropped on Syria, or support an alleged defense budget that is now soaked with our tax money competing with the money spent on the failed Iraq war. How many of us even try to imagine what exactly hundreds of billions of dollars means in the real world?
Canada’s successful universal health care fight began in 1944 in the sparsely populated Saskatchewan Province and soon was demanded by the rest of the country. We should not wait around for corrupt politicians in Boston or D.C. awash in lobbyist’s dark money and perks to have the final say in disappointing us once again.
This November we can show our numbers by turning out to vote YES on the Medicare for All referendum question appearing on some area ballots as Question 4. Franklin County Continuing the Political Revolution and an array of organizations have been working hard to give us a chance to actually vote on a real issue we all confront. This is an opportunity to demand locally that anyone running for office must get on board or hit the road. It is a litmus test for anyone claiming to represent people’s needs.
Time after time one trick pony politicians who have only one answer for all problems – austerity – shrug their shoulders claiming this is not a relevant local issue. Greenfield recently faced a nurses’ strike where a major issue was health care for the nurses themselves. Can it get more absurd that health care providers themselves have to pay through the nose for their own health care? Only a faction of the Greenfield City Council supported these nurses. The rest (including the the mayor, a trained nurse himself) remained mute. Some of those busied themselves with plans to cut the school budget. Health care costs is one of the flash points in almost all union negotiations. Medicare for All would for the most part take that confrontation off the table for all town unions. Studies have shown that Medicare for All could save towns millions.
At one point in our history, people used to be outraged that organized crime skimmed casino profits for their nefarious activities. Where is the outrage when a coterie of pharmaceutical moguls, insurance company CEOs and over-paid hospital executives skim obscene amounts of cash off the actual physical health of our population?
“Why We Can’t Wait” is a statement as relevant today as then, as more people of all races slips deeper into poverty. Experts can give you easily found statistics on the annual death toll because of inadequate health care. Others point out that unlike in countries with humane health care systems, here thousands lose their homes and life savings because of catastrophic illnesses. Those members of the so-called middle class who smugly assume it won’t affect them because they saved and invested properly, should note that literally millions after the economic debacle of 2008 lost their homes, livelihoods and of course their health care. Should we stand proud like myopic fools explaining away this ugly phenomena as an example of “only in America”?
Thomas Swetland is an activist in Franklin County Continuing the Political Revolution (FCCPR) and a Greenfield resident.