Compare health care to public safety

I read a story in high school about a working class family whose youngest child suffered from a rare heart condition that required surgery. Unless the child received the surgery, he would certainly die within months.

The father's HMO health insurance didn't cover the operation and Medicaid was reluctant to pay for it because the operation was very expensive and had a low chance of success. The sad story above illustrates the problems with the current health-care system.

When did health care become a privilege instead of a right?

We expect the police or firemen to provide service when we need them but somehow only the privileged can receive service from doctors. In the late 1800s, police and fire protection service was provided only to those who paid for the service. If you paid the local fire station a monthly fee, you received a star to put on your door. However, if there was a fire at a house with no star on the door, the fire truck would drive right past that house.

Towns soon realized problems such as fire and crime are not individual problems but rather problems of the common so the services were soon provided to everyone regardless of wealth.

The U.S. is currently the only Western nation without universal health care. How did we fall so far behind?

The story I mentioned at the beginning about the child ended when people realized that he should not be denied surgery because of money and pressured the stat government to pay for it. The surgery was successful and the child survived despite the unfavorable odds. When society comes together and helps each other out, we can achieve great things like in that story.

David Gui

Palatine