Healthcare
Issue: The United States has a health care system designed to profit off of patients first, and treat them second. We are the richest nation in the world, yet we are alone among our peers in the international community both in our failure to guarantee health care to all citizens and the skyrocketing costs of care we burden patients with.
As the chart above demonstrates, there is simply no comparing the role the profit incentive plays in health care here to any other developed nation. We pay the most by an absurd margin, without getting anywhere near the care we pay for. As if the situation weren’t dire enough for those who can’t afford the care they need to live, with Trump’s efforts to undermine the Affordable Care Act, 12% of Americans are now uninsured.
Solution: Support for the expansion of medicare and medicaid into a single-payer health care system that guarantees universal coverage should be voters’ litmus test for Democratic candidates in 2018. If we are going to take back Congress, we need a real alternative to the havoc Republicans are wreaking, and that alternative needs to be single payer.
The ACA set us on a course towards universal coverage by expanding our existing single payer programs, and it’s time for Democrats to step up and finish the job President Obama started. Senator Sanders has continued to engage in a nationwide tour of rallies that show there is massive, growing grassroots support for medicare-for-all throughout the country. It’s time for the Democratic party to get on board - for our own good and the good of our country.
We must also introduce common sense cost-cutting regulations as part of health care reform. Most importantly, medicare must be allowed to negotiate prescription drug prices with companies to get the best deal possible for patients. Additionally, international purchase of prescription drugs and medical devices should be legalized, advertising of all prescription drugs should be banned, and cash bonuses for doctors from drug companies should be banned.
References:
https://qz.com/1022831/why-doesnt-the-united-states-have-universal-health-care/