I found this article at the Health Care Blog and wanted to share it with our readers. Obviously this doesn’t only apply to McCain. All big-time politicians get government-funded health care. It’s a sweet benefit of working for the government. And there’s no way around the fact that it makes it difficult for a politician who has never had to jump through individual health insurance hoops (or pay for it) to understand how difficult the health insurance situation is for a huge number of Americans. I don’t begrudge government employees their health care benefits. I just think those benefits should be made available to all Americans. I noticed that several people who commented on the HCB post talked about how government health care is a mess, with long lines, bureaucracy, sub-standard care, etc. But I’m sure that a good number of the 47 million uninsured Americans would find it to be preferable to their current situation.
In Mass, lawmakers are struggling with the higher-than-expected costs of the universal health care program that was implemented there two years ago. Nobody has said that it will be easy to find a way to provide health care for all Americans, but at least they’re trying in Mass. Here in Colorado, there’s also an effort being made, and hopefully we’ll see some results in the next few years. There are an awful lot of people who are wringing their hands and talking about how bad socialized medicine is, pointing to the high costs that the Mass plan has run up against, and saying that it can’t be done. But how can we continue on the path we’re on now, with more and more people becoming uninsured every year? When we reach a point where only the upper-class can afford health care, will we think it’s time for some changes?
