I admit it. I am one of those people who have always felt that health care is a human right. Personal experience has only reinforced this view, such as the yard sales we held to pay the modest rent of a neighbor who was dying of cancer or the story of the local couple that had to choose between paying their health insurance deductible or heating their home in December. These are our neighbors, and all of us could be in their shoes tomorrow if our health care continues to be unregulated and in the hands of for-profit insurance companies that only exist to earn money for their stockholders.
My passion for health care led me to become a volunteer for Organizing for America Sonoma Valley. I have had opportunities to speak with people of many persuasions and nationalities. Some speak of personal responsibility and ask why they should have to pay for someone else’s health care. I answer that even if you don’t want to pay for others, it is still matter of public health. For example, think about going out to eat and having your food prepared by someone who needs, but can’t get, medical treatment. It is also in our national interest to have healthy citizens who can work up to their optimal potential.
We are the only industrialized democracy that does not offer health care to all its residents. Whenever I worked at an OFA table at the local Farmers Market, people from Canada, Switzerland, France, Germany, or Italy came up and said that they wished that we had what they have because they never have to worry about losing everything if they get sick.
With the passage of the health care bill we will have the historic beginning of health care reform in America. I worry that the current plan doesn’t go far enough to reduce costs because of the lack of a public option and the continuation of for-profit health care companies. However, I do support the bill because it establishes health care as a human right and does contain many positive actions.
Some of things the bill will do in the next year include offering tax credits to small businesses to make employee coverage more affordable, eliminating co-payments or deductibles for preventive services, banning insurance companies from dropping people when they get sick, prohibiting the denial of coverage to children with pre-existing conditions (beginning in 2014, this prohibition would apply to everyone), banning lifetime limits on coverage, giving immediate access to affordable insurance for Americans who are uninsured because of a pre-existing condition, allowing young people up to their 26th birthday to remain on their parents’ insurance policy, and increasing funding for Community Health Centers.
President Obama was elected by a sizeable majority of citizens and health care reform was one of the promises of his campaign. I am thrilled to join Americans from all walks of life in celebrating this achievement.
Beth Hadley, a Sonoma Valley resident for over 25 years, is a retired special education teacher. She is a co-host on Mornings in Sonoma with Ken Brown and is the host of the Dance Diva show, both on Sonoma Sun 91.3 FM, and volunteers for Organizing for America Sonoma Valley.
