PA-03: Our neighbors need our help!

In the richest country in the world, in our own communities, on our own streets, our neighbors are suffering and in some cases dying because they can’t afford health care.

Our neighbors are suffering through illnesses that are preventable and treatable, because they couldn’t afford preventive medicine and can’t pay for treatment.

One out of every seven Americans is uninsured.  More than forty million Americans are completely unprotected in the event of a medical disaster.

This is more than a national tragedy: it’s a national travesty.

I’m running for Congress because this sort of neglect isn’t supposed to happen in America.  Economically, it hurts our productivity to have so much of our workforce left helpless.  Logically, it’s ridiculous to ignore an opportunity to use collective bargaining to help consumers afford medicine.  Civically, it hurts our national character to let ourselves be divided by whether or not we can afford to receive medical care.  And morally, I cannot understand how we’ve managed to go from "Love Thy Neighbor" to "cash on demand."

I was brought up to believe that "unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required."  Well, no nation on earth has been given as much as ours.  It’s long past time we give something back to those among us who need it most.

A national, single-payer health care program of the highest quality must be the right of every American.

Recent posts by DemfromCT, Kitsap River, Jerome a Paris (who noted Tuesday that the US is now leading industrialized countries in deaths from treatable illnesses), and of course the continually troubling and touching writings by nyceve, have all made it clear to us that there MUST be a change in this country’s healthcare priorities.

And, of course, the absolute horror that the family of Nataline Sarkysian has endured shows that just getting people insurance is not enough.  We need to make certain that their insurance translates into treatment, and that the decisions of doctors trump those of actuaries.

The only way to guarantee health coverage AND health care is through single-payer health care.

In PA-03, I’m the only candidate demanding real health care reform.  Unfortunately, neither Congressman Phil English nor any of my opponents in the upcoming Democratic primary have been willing to join me in taking a stand for universal, single-payer coverage.

This is a real crisis, and half-measures aren’t going to solve it.  We need more voices calling for universal, single-payer health care in Congress, and I hope you’ll help me become one of them.