Of all the issues screaming for our attention in this campaign season, to me the one most neglected, and at the same time most crucial, is health care. What, after all, could be more important than receiving the care our excellent doctors and hospitals provide so that we can enjoy a life as free as possible from sickness and pain? Yet this expectation is becoming a vanishing dream as health insurance soars in cost, employers cut back on benefits and the number of uninsured and poorly insured rises year after year.
Take a look at your relatives and neighbors and you will find young people skipping medical insurance on the hope they will not get into an accident. You will find older people putting off surgeries until they are eligible for Medicare and families buying cheap, high-deductible policies that could push them into bankruptcy if severe illness hits. We are very lucky to have our Dodgeville Free Clinic, but when more than a thousand people a year from our area must use its services, it is a sign that something is terribly wrong.
The campaign season is upon us, and this is the ideal time to confront our candidates about addressing our health care crisis. What we desperately need is a plan that will get a stranglehold on the escalating cost of medical care. We need a plan that will cover every individual, and the plan must provide quality coverage for all - not the moth-hole-ridden coverage that is becoming so common. Can this be done? Sure - most other developed countries have accomplished it. Ask your candidates how they intend to attack this problem. Become a health care voter.
Take a look at your relatives and neighbors and you will find young people skipping medical insurance on the hope they will not get into an accident. You will find older people putting off surgeries until they are eligible for Medicare and families buying cheap, high-deductible policies that could push them into bankruptcy if severe illness hits. We are very lucky to have our Dodgeville Free Clinic, but when more than a thousand people a year from our area must use its services, it is a sign that something is terribly wrong.
The campaign season is upon us, and this is the ideal time to confront our candidates about addressing our health care crisis. What we desperately need is a plan that will get a stranglehold on the escalating cost of medical care. We need a plan that will cover every individual, and the plan must provide quality coverage for all - not the moth-hole-ridden coverage that is becoming so common. Can this be done? Sure - most other developed countries have accomplished it. Ask your candidates how they intend to attack this problem. Become a health care voter.
