The Human Toll of our Health System
Opponents of health care reform periodically argue that legislation is unnecessary because anybody can get medical assistance through the emergency room — or that those who get in trouble have only themselves for blame by not buying insurance. My Sunday column tells the story of John Brodniak, a young man who had insurance with his job, but lost both when he developed a benign tumor in his brain. Read his story and see if you still think the need for universal coverage isn’t urgent. His story seems to me the best rebuttal of the skeptics.
Of course, my column doesn’t get into the issue of costs. They are a real issue, for universal health care is expensive. But as I’ve noted the annual cost of health reform and the annual cost of our Afghan deployment is about the same — except the former is paid for, while the latter isn’t. (And the Senate bill, in particular, does begin to address cost control.) It’s ultimately a question of priorities, and every other industrialized country has found the resources to pay for universal health coverage, so it’s difficult to imagine that the United States is too poor to do so.