Juxtaposing the present negotiations on the debt ceiling with health care as a right displays a fecundity of thought that may well assist in the presently ongoing divide between slashing entitlements and raising revenues. Here's how.
About three years ago now, I published that health care should be a right for all Americans (though I am sure I am not the first one to say this). Teddy Kennedy at the 2008 Democratic convention echoed the same thought. Back on the campaign trail in Nashville in October 2008, Obama and McCain were asked how each viewed health care -- as a right, privilege or responsibility. Obama was clear: health care is a right. Since then, many of those in Congress have mouthed the same words.
When I wrote about health care being a right, I was not referring to anything in the country's founding documents, though it being enveloped in the concept of the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness does come to mind. After all, without our health we cannot do anything; we cannot be productive to ourselves, our families, our communities, even to our employers or to the nation in a global sense. Health care is unique in the sense that we all have it, and it is just as important to any one American as it is to the next. The passage in March 2010 of what has become known as "Obamacare" was a step in the right direction to satisfy this goal, but this law only addresses accessibility to the health care marketplace, not affordability to health care by all. Now, of course, the mandate feature of that act (where everyone must purchase health insurance) is being challenged legally and will arrive in the Supreme Court some day quite soon. The mandate was never Obama's first choice -- he wanted a public option, but the health and insurance industry wanted the mandate to pay for what the law provides that was never provided for before, so to get his health care bill into law, he needed to do some good old fashioned horse-trading.
Those who require health care include the nation's seniors. Medicare is the governmental program started in 1965 to do just that. Without Medicare, millions of those 65 and older would not be able to afford health care. Now, though, it seems that those who oppose Obama want to start "slicing and dicing" Medicare as part of cutting the cost of entitlement programs before any debt ceiling is raised.
To be sure, in order to slash the budget, much will have to be done, and every sector of the economy will feel some pain -- from those who rely on a defense department budget for a living to those who do not want any more oil drilling to those making zillions of bucks and everything in between. To be fair, social entitlements are part of this mix. But withdrawing, downsizing or eliminating benefits for our older population that requires them to stay healthy is anathema to our belief that health care for all Americans should be a right. The right to be and stay healthy for anyone 65 and over is just as critically important as the health care benefits anyone in Congress has access to who votes shortly on the debt ceiling. To think or do otherwise by anyone in Congress is incredulous, and is to not recognize the forest for the trees. To those in Congress, your arrogance will show if you think your health and ability to maintain it is more important than the health of the senior population who put you into office.
But if the barber's shears are taken to Medicare in even an inconsequential way, then why not now consider inserting into Obamacare the public option, or something quite akin to it? No, I do not speak of having the government run an insurance company to compete with the private market; only having it provide seed money to an entity that will become self-sustaining in the years to come and that will provide true competition to those companies offering health care insurance to cover all Americans -- including our senior population. True competition lowers the cost of any product, including health insurance. In this way, while there might be some trimming to Medicare as part of the present debt reduction negotiations, at least seniors (and all of us) will know that an alternative would be available with a public option that in years to come will not use any taxpayer money to fund or run it.
Juxtaposing health care as a right and the debt ceiling is not such a bad idea after all.