Sitara posted (above) an article from Common Dreams (1) reporting that the second largest physician group in the U.S. just came out in favor of universal medicare.
“Major changes are needed,” the 159,000-member American College of Physicians are quoted as saying, “to a system that costs too much, leaves too many behind, and delivers too little.”
Oh, I so agree.
One point from among the many it makes:
“Many Americans cannot afford health insurance, and even those with insurance face substantial cost-related barriers to care. Employer-sponsored insurance is less prevalent and more expensive than in the past, and in response, deductibles have grown and benefits have been cut.”
Universal medicare, such as there is in Canada, would eliminate these problems.
A second action complemented the ACP’s statement:
“In a separate but related move to the ACP’s announcement, more than two thousand physicians on Monday announced an open letter to the American public, prescribing single-payer Medicare for All, in a full-page ad in The New York Times that will run in the print edition on Tuesday, January 21, 2020.”
U.S. lightworkers, arguing for universal medicare, now have the agreement and alignment of an entire association of doctors. I say this is truly a watershed moment.
There’s no reason that American health care should be so costly when universal medicare removes the problem.
Have we any stories that show the benefits of universal medicare?
Yes. Let me offer my own recent open-heart surgery as an example.
Having shortness of breath, I checked myself into the Emergency Ward at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver in Oct. 2019.
I was admitted, examined, given an angiogram and immediately scheduled for open-heart surgery for blocked arteries. Holy mackerel! What does that cost?
Before the operation occurred, I caught a superbug, which tacked an additional two weeks onto my hospital stay. The hospital bills should be starting to mount by now.
Echo-cardiogram, lab tests, medications – the costs must be mounting.
Then open-heart surgery itself – a whole operating room full of people – and six days recovery.
So what did that cost?
I walked out of St. Paul’s Hospital without paying any money. I never saw a bill.
I did pay for chocolate milk and ham-and-cheese sandwiches. Not included in the health plan.
I did not lose my house. I did not go into debt over my head. I did not have to declare bankruptcy.
This is universal medicare. The amount of that bill is where the rubber meets the road. (2)
Don’t listen to people who say this is socialism or communism. It’s not. It’s just financial common-sense: Spread the cost throughout the population and nobody loses their home.
To see the American College of Physicians come out in favor of “medicare for all” is for me a cause for celebration. Yes, I’m being a committed advocate here.
After the Reval, I’ll be financing universal medicare systems around the world. The matter is close to my heart, from the number of times I, my family, and friends have gratefully had to make use of the hospital.
In my opinion, we need to shift the collective consciousness on the matter of universal medicare for America and the world, for the good of suffering citizens. The agreement of the ACP helps us do that.
No one should have to lose so much when the answer is right there before us: Universal medicare.
Footnotes
(1) Jon Queally,”In Historic Shift, Second Largest Physicians Group in US Has New Prescription: It’s Medicare for All,” Common Dreams, Jan. 20, 2020, at https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/01/20/historic-shift-second-largest-physicians-group-us-has-new-prescription-its-medicare
(2) There was no stinting in hospital supplies. Everyone was helpful, flowing, and professional. Anything I wanted they assisted me with. Where’s the downside to universal medicare?