This is essentially the question that I have always asked American opponents to any move towards making our healthcare system more similar to those already in place in western Europe. Although, truth be told, that is deceptive, because Americans always seem to point to Europe as the other alternative when it comes to healthcare. In fact, every other industrialized country other than the United States has such a system in place already, and the United States stands alone as the only country that fails to provide it's citizens with affordable, universal healthcare. That means that all of the countries in Europe have such a system. So do others, including Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Taiwan, Israel, and South Africa.
Many American opponents are deathly afraid of such a move, since they are convinced (or are trying to convince you, anyway) that modeling the healthcare system in such a manner would be a huge step towards an inevitable headfirst leap into Communism/Socialism/Fascism (as if each of these things were identical to one another). Remember protesters in Washington slapping Hitler mustaches on an image of President Obama, when he was trying to pass Obamacare?
But look at all of those countries that have it, and tell me if they are nightmarish regimes. Canada? Great Britain? Australia? Japan? Ireland? All of the other countries of western Europe?
Those are all democracies, and the people of those countries have free access to information. In fact, I would venture to say that most of them have access to freer information and press than Americans o with their mainstream media.
Yet, despite being democracies, and being exposed, like Americans are supposedly, to free information, they continually choose their healthcare systems over the privatized healthcare system that exists in the United States. Why would that be, if ours is supposedly so superior?
Going one step farther with that, why do almost all American ex-pats seem to also concede that those healthcare systems are indeed superior to what we Americans have here? Why are outrageous healthcare expenses always making news here, and why is it always an issue every election cycle, if it is so damn good and the model for the rest of the world to follow?
The answer is, of course, that our system is not a model. In fact, it is a for profit system where a handful of greedy executives reap huge profits off the pain that they create by denying coverage and/or setting the cost of medicine at exorbitant prices.
Simply put, our healthcare system is a failure, and it is the American people that it is failing. Polls continually show that Americans are in favor of serious changes to the healthcare system towards a model that would be closer to those in Europe and elsewhere, and polls are even showing that more and more Americans are favorable to a healthcare system that many Americans have traditionally dismissed as "socialized medicine."
We have one presidential candidate who is in favor of scrapping the current system for a fairer, single-payer system that would cost Americans less money, and would cover more equally.
Like so many things, it is getting closer, but we are not quite there yet. Still, the information is there, and we need to get out the word, to continue to pound away at those who still hesitate because they do not want to believe what is right there in front of them.
Here is a powerful video of doctors who favor a turn towards such a fairer healthcare system for Americans, and it is sponsored by Expats for Sanders. Please take a look:
Universal Health Care Message to Americans From Canadian Doctors
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