When democrats think of universal health care, they see a rainbow on the horizon they can almost touch. Republicans see the horns of communism threatening to bleed out the glory of America. No one ever asks how libertarians feel. Universal or socialized medicine has had a bad wrap since FDR tried instituting a national health care. Then Truman tried. Then Nixon. Then Clinton. The only President, preceding Obama, that was able to accomplish anything of meaning was LBJ when he passed Medicare in 1965.
Universal health care goes hand in hand with socialism. Socialism is in bed with communism. Communism leads to evil-doers. Thus, universal health care goes against everything we, proud hardworking individualistic Americans, stand for. This connection has doomed our chances at a complete universal healthcare system for decades thanks to the Cold War. If there had never been a Cold War, then our path to universal coverage would be exponentially shortened. Every time a chance at universal health care has presented itself to Washington, half of congress would scream the word “socialism!” and watch those too scared of being slapped with the left hand of communism scurry away.
However, the toughest pill to swallow is the fact that, if you can afford it, America’s health care is great and works very efficiently. The U.S. is estimated to have the highest prostate and breast cancer survival rates in the world. According to Health Affairs magazine, fewer than 10 percent of patients wait more than two months to see a specialist while 41 percent have to wait that long in Canada. Our five year cancer survival rate is 64.6 percent, which is over 10 percent higher than Europe at 51.6 percent. A 2009 study by Health Affairs said the U.S. has better cancer screening rates than ten European countries. While the 15 percent of Americans who don’t have health insurance can’t enjoy these benefits, it’s easier to sweep them under the rug and blame their lack of effort for being poor.
The classic, “how can the world’s richest country not afford universal health care?” is tossed around the liberal think tanks of America. It is a valid question, yet by default the world’s richest country will have citizens who can afford privatized health care. Our standard of living after WWII became better than anywhere else in the world, and once upon a time our citizens could afford health care, not needing the government to step in and invade our sacred individualistic spirit. Further, letting the government control our health care is a very scary thought to those who implicitly can’t trust the government.
Health care is the largest private sector employer in America, at 13 percent of the workforce. Converting privatized health care into a public sector controlled by the government is a monumental task that would consist of many struggles along the way. The politicians in Washington aren’t willing to take that risk when, in their minds, it's a matter of you don’t fix what’s not broken. With half of congress being millionaires, they can afford privatized health care, and true to the individualism of America, couldn’t think less of those who can’t.
