Checkpoint: This Pandemic Needs Universal Healthcare
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One of the largest points of contention during the first Presidential Debate on September 29 was the issue of healthcare. Republicans and Democrats have long clashed over the best way to provide healthcare for the American people, and the COVID-19 pandemic that has ravaged the country has put the discussion under a microscope. This is a disease that can affect anyone, but most of all targets the elderly, the working class and minority ethnic groups. Both President Donald Trump and former Vice-President Joe Biden have their own ideas about what it will take to combat the virus, and for healthcare in America going forward.
On September 24, Trump announced a series of healthcare proposals that have been described as “largely meaningless”. The proposals are aimed at sending out prescription drug discount cards, addressing surprise out-of-network medical bills and protecting pre-existing conditions. However, the executive orders he issued in relation to the proposals are non-binding. Trump has also been attempting to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare, for his entire presidency. With no healthcare plan in place to replace it, however, such a move would do little more than kick millions of Americans off their health insurance.
Biden, on the other hand, wants to expand on the ACA to include every American unable to afford private health insurance. During the debate he repeatedly stressed that private health insurance would not be going anywhere under his presidency, and rejected Trump’s claim that he wanted to force “socialized medicine” on the American people. Unfortunately, in the age of COVID-19 both candidates are wrong in their stance on healthcare.
Over 7 million Americans have been infected with the virus since the pandemic began earlier this year, and over 200,000 have lost their lives as a result. America has 4% of the world's population and 20% of its COVID-19 deaths. Healthcare has always been one the biggest concerns in the life of the average American. They live in a situation where a disease like diabetes puts them in the position of choosing to either pay for the insulin that keeps them alive, or paying their rent. What happens when millions of people suffering from the ancillary effects of the coronavirus (including fatigue, a racing heartbeat, shortness of breath, achy joints, foggy thinking, a persistent loss of sense of smell, and damage to the heart, lungs, kidneys, and brain) need medication that they cannot afford?
If Trump’s only guarantee on pre-existing conditions is a non-binding executive order, then for him to win a second term would spell disaster for the millions of Americans who are infected right now. The situation will only get worse if his nominee for the Supreme Court gets pushed through before or after the election. Amy Coney Barrett has previously criticized the ACA as being unconstitutional, lending legal muscle to Trump’s desire to destroy anything connected to the legacy of his predecessor.
The American healthcare system is a system in which insurance companies make huge profits off the suffering of human beings, leaving many people to choose between healthcare and other necessities. The Declaration of Independence describes Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness as “unalienable Rights”, but how can a person have a right to ‘life’ if the money in their bank account decides if they get the medication they need? How can they have ‘liberty’ if they are held hostage by an employer who controls their access to insurance? How can they pursue ‘happiness’ when a visit to the Emergency Room means sacrificing food for the week?
To truly fulfil the promises the Founding Fathers made, the United States must move over to a system of Universal Healthcare. Each and every person living in the US is a human being who deserves to have guaranteed access to affordable healthcare. While Trump may decry the idea as a “radical left” plot, there is nothing truly radical about the idea that everyone should be able to afford healthcare. In fact, the US is one of the only countries in the developed world that does not guarantee healthcare for its citizens.
Friedrich Engels, co-author of The Communist Manifesto, recognized the problems with allowing the capitalist pursuit of profit to govern healthcare back in the 1800’s. In The Condition of the Working Class in England, he outlined the connection between poverty among the working class of London and the spread of disease within those communities. Nearly 200 years later, the coronavirus has shown the world that Engels was right in his belief that access to healthcare should not be based on the ability to pay for it.
The universal healthcare model has its own issues, of course. Wait times for surgeries can increase, as can doctor-to-patient ratios. On top of this, the Government would have to spend more on improving the healthcare system, which means an increase in taxes. However, given that billionaires in the US have increased their total net worth by $637 billion during the COVID-19 pandemic, the bulk of the increased tax load could be shifted to the top 1% without even mildly inconveniencing them, and more importantly without putting more financial pressure on struggling working class Americans.
Biden has thus far refused to support calls to implement universal healthcare in the US. That being said, many of his Democratic colleagues, most notably Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, have been outspoken in their support for such a plan. Despite losing the Democratic Presidential nomination to Biden, Sanders has probably done almost as much to get Americans thinking about universal healthcare as the COVID-19 pandemic itself. The American healthcare system was never fit for purpose, and it is even less fit for purpose now. America, and the world, will have to deal with the aftershocks of the coronavirus for years to come, and universal healthcare is the only way to guarantee everyone in America will be able to effectively get through it.