Recall about five months ago, a certain change in our history occurred. The United States had an election to find a leader for the world’s strongest free country. Do you recall one of the pressing issues, arguably the one that determined the result of the election? Yes, I am talking about health care.
Health care is a pressing issue; one that needs to be dealt with immediately. The state of Florida, which played a large role in determining our president, and which also has a large elderly community, considered health care the foremost issue in the 2000 presidential election. So, the logical question that should come to mind is this: How has one of the biggest issues of the election been handled by our new President?
I am sorry to report that nothing successful has happened, and I fear nothing productive will happen soon. Unfortunately, the administration of President Bush has taken steps to thrust health care into an abyss, destroying what ex-President Clinton attempted to accomplish by modernizing our system of care. In his proposed budget, President Bush eliminates health care funding by 86 percent for programs that assisted ill citizens who lack insurance. The administration cited “”efficiency”” as the reason for the drastic cut in the program that helped the people who need help the most.
Wow! What a drastic action by our president. But we must give him credit for trying, right? Furthermore, he must have a program he will institute that is more efficient and a better system for providing health care. Sorry, I don’t think so!
President Bush’s administration has cited no plan to alleviate the mounting need for assistance for the millions of people who do not have health insurance in our country. Furthermore, the plans that have been announced seem to mainly help the rich, a recurring theme in the Bush administration. I beg the president to rethink what he plans to do.
Health care is not a privilege — and it should not be — although it has become so in our capitalist society. Ultimately, health care relates to the right and ability to live. As I recall, this country was founded on the fact that everyone — every last human being — has the right to life. By giving one person a better chance at living than another, one demeans the ethical basis of medical service that each of our doctors vows to accomplish.
Thus, Bush’s attempt to cut back the current health care system is a strategy amiss. Clearly, we should realize that Bush’s budget cut for health care is directly related to his attempt to pass the largest tax cut in American history. Drastic budget cuts are necessary to implement the tax cut. In this tax cut, what Bush attempts to explain as giving back money to all Americans, one sees clearly that the rich of America will profit more. So, ultimately, Bush’s administration takes money from programs to help the poor and gives it to the rich. If only Karl Marx could see us now!
This policy implemented by the president is incredibly misplaced. One should look to the countries whose health care is more successful than ours before implementing any plan that affects our citizens’ health.
Australia, with arguably the best health care in the world, is one such country. Australia provides health care to every citizen regardless of their type of insurance, or lack thereof. A true socialistic program, Australia’s health care system has been implemented to treat any person, no matter where they may be in the country or what their income is.
Although the taxes in Australia are higher due to the government’s economic duties to pay for this program, universal health care helps not only to stimulate economy at lower levels of labor, but also at high-level, white-collar jobs. Also, citizens never have to worry about paying for medical service. Wealth is never an issue in treating the country.
The United States must realize this, and fund such programs, rather than cut them. The class of citizens that mostly suffers from lack of health insurance is that of lower class laborers, who are the basis of our economy and production. By providing for these people, America benefits as a whole.
Proponents of Bush’s actions may cite the future as time for Bush to fix our health care system. However, as cited by the White House, future allotments for health care will go mainly to research and training of doctors and nurses. This does nothing for the millions who lack proper health care due to lack of insurance. This is merely to help prevention of diseases, and it is critical to note that citizens without insurance will never benefit from this.
Clinton, who made many strides to mend our health system, realized the basis of health care is tending to the poor. Without realizing this, the health care system is solely another capitalistic company that preys on poor victims who work hard to get through each day.
Health care should not to be a privilege only certain men and women can have. Rather, our president should realize that it is a necessity to make America the great country that it is. His actions should be to foster programs to help the poor, and not to cut their legs out from under them.
