The Voice of the LC Dems: What's Left at Luther

Since the start of this race for the presidency over nineteen months ago, one key issue has remained in the headlines. Because of this, many people have become desensitized to this important subject, and while bringing it up once again does not seem like the most logical way of re-energizing a populace on that subject, the state of America’s health care coverage is far from satisfactory and needs to be discussed and improved.

While most students at Luther College are very fortunate and do not have to think about paying for their health insurance, many Americans do. We all know the facts; 47 million Americans have no health insurance — that includes 12 million children — and if these people get sick or injured there is no one to take care of them or help with their bills. Forty other nations have an infant mortality rate that is lower than ours. Nobody in their right mind would argue that this is okay and nothing needs to be changed, because this is an enormous problem that effects one out of every six of our fellow Americans.

Not being able to pay one’s medical bills is the leading cause of bankruptcy in America. According to a study conducted by a joint effort of Harvard Medical School and Harvard Law School, in 2001, roughly 700,000 Americans filed for bankruptcy because they could not pay their medical bills. That is half of everybody who filed for bankruptcy in that year. More startling is the fact that of these 700,000 people, three out of four of them (525,000) had insurance. Their insurance providers used disgusting legal tricks and found loopholes to avoid paying their fair share of the medical bills. And even more astonishing is the fact that, according to Consumer Affairs, over half of the people that filed for bankruptcy because they could not pay their medical bills (over 350,000 people) were middle class and graduated from college!

Americans pay more than anybody else for health care. The average American spends over $5,000 on health insurance every year and is still required to pay even more for different surgeries, medications and appointments. Meanwhile, French citizens pay far less than we do, roughly $2,500 a year. While their average life expectancy is consistently in the top ten longest worldwide, the United States currently has the 43rd longest life expectancy, somewhere after Bosnia and before Albania. Are we really going to let forty-two countries outdo us on this one? I mean, they are all having their cake and eating it too; they pay less than we do and they live longer.

Thanks to Sen. Barack Obama’s well-crafted health care plan, which he plans to implement upon entering office, those who want to stay with their current health insurance plan may continue to do so. His approach allows for individual people and families to choose which health care plan suits them best. What is more American than the freedom of choice?

With the troubles our current system possesses, a nationalized solution does not sound like a bad idea. We could all pay less, receive the same — if not even better — care, and all the while quality health care would move beyond merely a wealthy man’s privilege and become an American standard.

Future doctors should not fret; their salaries will not be on the fritz if a nationalized health plan is put into action. Thanks to Canada’s nationalized health care system, doctors have much lower overheads and insurance premiums, making their incomes comparable to American doctors’.