OntheWilderSide

from If We Only Connect

Pat Mcquade, a longtime nursing activist, presented materials from the AARP and Kaiser Permanente comparing the healthcare proposals put forth by the Republican and Democratic candidates for president.   The Democratic nominee’s position proposes “affordable and high-quality universal coverage through a mix of private and expanded public insurance”; the Republican stance is “to provide access to affordable health care for all by paying only for quality health care, having insurance choices that are diverse and responsive to indivisual needs, and encouraging personal responsibility.”   The common element in both of these proposals based on these stated goals is that most Americans will still need to buy into some sort of health care plan.  In other words, private insurance companies continue to set the agenda for the candidates for the Democratic and Republican parties.

Starkly absent from these materials were proposals advanced by any other presidential nominee, including the Green Party’s candidate, Cynthia McKinney.   The Green Party platform and thus Cynthia McKinney supports universal health care for all.  Is this socialized medicine? Call it what you will, but I would feel much better about my taxes going into a pool to make sure the person standing next to me in line at the grocery store has free and ready access to treatment for, say, tuberculosis.   Right now, a large portion of my health care premiums go towards screening out people who are sick.  What kind of sense is that?   If loving your neighbor as yourself means providing everyone access to decent healthcare, well-stocked libraries and competent schools, then I’m all for that.

It’s not surprsing to me that 2 insurances companies —  an yes, that’s all AARP really is — would exclude a single payer universal healthcare proposal.  What’s also not surprsing is that, in essence, our tax dollars pay for those promotional materials since they are not labeled correctly as a campaign contribution to the McBama campaign.  That is why the Green party candidates do not accept corporate money, that leaves them free to base their platform on policies that are best for the voters, rather than their corporate funders.  — ISW

Filed under: activism, Green Party Websites, Healthcare, Political Websites, US Politics Tagged: | insurance