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Really, now. Hillary just unveiled her healthcare plan and, frankly, it sucks like an electrolux. Not that she's alone in this. All the top-tier candidates have these cobbled-together, Freakenstein Monster plans that are little more than giveaways to the insurance companies and ridiculously onerous for the average citizen in the long run.
I particularly didn't like Hillary's quote about envisioning a day when providing proof of insurance would be a part of a job interview. We're Americans. We pay taxes. We should be getting something beyond rampant military/industrial and prison/industrial complexes for our money.
Do we really think this is the best we can do? The best we can get? Well, apparently so, since only a few of us have started kicking up a fuss about this here on DU. Anyone with half a lick of sense would reject ALL of these plans as being bad for Americans and bad for America. They're like slapping a bunch of bandaids over a festering gut wound.
We need something simple and effective, not something you need a PhD to decipher. You want to sell Americans on your healthcare plan? Just say "It's not complicated. You're sick or hurt, you go to the doctor, and WE pay for it. We ALL pay for it."
We could easily fund such a program by earmarking cigarette and alcohol taxes for healthcare rather than allowing the states to pull it into a general fund. Some state sales taxes on cigarettes borders on exploitation, since they provide very little benefit to those who are themselves harmed by the behavior in question. Using it to fund universal, single-payer health benefits for all, however, would definitely be a positive step.
We could also legalize cannabis as well, and tax it too, but that's an argument for another day.
Regardless, universal, single-payer healthcare is within our reach and we shouldn't tolerate anything less. We should all stand up and respond to these so-called plans with a resounding "NO WAY!"
They can do better, and it's up to us to make sure they do.
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