Gazette-Times LTE Isn't it time to make the change to universal health care?

In the December 30, 2014 issue of the Corvallis Gazette-Times, MVHCA's Roger Blaine refers to the opinion in the Chicago Tribune Ebola didn't have to kill my uncle, Thomas Eric Duncan. He makes some great points about the need for universal health care.

An article in the Chicago Tribune (Oct. 16) states that Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person on American soil to die from the Ebola virus, was turned away from the hospital on his first ER visit because, as a visitor to this country, he had no health insurance. This failure to treat put Mr. Duncan’s family and the whole of their community at risk of the disease. Indeed, it quite possibly led to Mr. Duncan’s death.

This lack of treatment for those without medical insurance is another example of the costs that a for-profit health care system puts on the well-being of some patients and the health of the community.

The Affordable Care Act does not prevent this situation. Only a universal health care system where everyone is in and no one is out will address it. Here in Oregon such a system goes by Health Care for All, Universal Medicare, and Single Payer Health Care. Universal health care implements the moral concept that health care is a human right, endorsed by the United Nations and World Health Organization and is the medical standard of most of the developed world. Our repeated failure to pass a single-payer health care plan is one of the reasons why we place 37th globally in health care outcomes, a Third-World ranking, all the while paying more than twice as much for healthcare than any other country. Universal health care will reduce the overall cost of medical care and improve its availability. Isn’t it time to make this change?

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