Health care for all -- May 30, 2009!

Our country NEEDS universal health care. Every other developed nation in the world has it; our employer-sponsored system is a drag on big business due to costs and hurts small businesses that can't provide it; and so many people are without (including us currently*). The risks people face when they're uninsured and underinsured, not to mention if they lose their job or start a new job with pre-existing conditions, are enormous. The arguments I've heard against it are often falsehoods (despite what the anti-universal health care folks say, the government will not employ the doctors; medical research and innovation does take place in other countries; and the medical care in the U.S. is not the best in the world). When the arguments bring up valid problems that exist in nations with universal health care, those same problems exist and are sometimes more severe in the U.S. (for example, wait times or being denied coverage for certain procedures). Moreover, there are many varieties of universal health care programs, as each nation that offers it does it somewhat differently--thus, in the U.S. we can look at different models and decide what's best for us.

Around the nation, many groups are coming together to hold "Health Care for All" rallies on Saturday, May 30, 2009. I'd heard about one in Seattle, but today, Amy B sent me a flyer about one taking place in Tacoma, at the First United Methodist Church, 621 Tacoma Ave, beginning at 9 AM. I'll be there! For more info about the Tacoma event, see Healthy Tacoma, or to find organizations working on universal health care, see the Universal Health Care Action Network.

=====================

* Thankfully, as I've posted already, everything is OK with hubby's heart, and the little one was in excellent health at her recent 4-year checkup. Hopefully things stay this way until we obtain insurance again.