With Liberty and Health Care for All

Amid all the talk about stimulus and the debate on Capitol Hill about the most effective way to create jobs, one important campaign topic is being ignored in much of the mainstream media. The issue of health care has been pushed to the background of much of public political discourse in favor of the ongoing economic troubles. However a recent study done by the research arm of the California Nurses Association shows us that those two issues may not be as mutually exclusive as once thought. Their study chronicles how the single payer system of health care can not only solve the current health care crisis but also the economic crisis.

For those unfamiliar with health care talk, the single payer system refers to the government being the sole financial provider for everyone's medical needs. This is an idea that has been supported by many for quite some time and with good merit. Such elected officials as Congressman Dennis Kucinich(D-OH) and former Congresswoman and Green Party Candidate for president Cynthia McKinney as well as current Senator Bernie Sanders have all supported at one time or another the single payer system. If the single payer system could help the economic peril the United States is in, there is little argument as to the effectiveness of such a change in health care policy.

The actual research done by the Institute for Health and Socio-Economic Policy make a compelling argument as to the financial benefits of the single payer system. The first point they make is of the impending job growth that would result. The study claims that 45 million new jobs would be created directly into the health care industry as well as to other related industries. The study also shows that this job creation would provide the needed boost in tax revenue that so many local, state and federal governments desperately need. According to the study in 2006 alone, taxes from the health care sector totaled $824 billion dollars.

In addition to the growth and stimulant it can be to the economy, converting to a health care for all single payer system would actually cost less money than many of the "bail-outs" that are going on now. To convert the nation to a single payer system would cost the government about $63 billion dollars. Mind you, this is after AIG was given $150 billion and Citigroup was given $350 billion. In fact, if the federal government only sought to provide for the 47 million Americans who do not currently have health care, than the price tag would go down to about $44 billion. All of these figures don't begin to address the money private business owners would save in real profit since they don't have to worry about insurance packages for their employees.

Through all of this analysis we haven't begun to touch on the social relevance of having a healthy society. I understand that in the United States the business of America is business. However some things should be so necessary to everyday life that they simply shouldn't be "for-profit". The health and welfare of a society is one of those things. Generally, this type of issue is largely debated by conservatives who aren't for the type of government spending it would take to do something like this, but even the most cynical observer would agree that the United States is already in a "spend or die" situation. Since the nation must spend, why not do it in a way that not only address the economic needs but finally puts an end to ridiculous reality that one of the richest nations on Earth has some of the poorest health care around. This should be the type of bi-partisan effort everyone rushes to get behind.

To read the study for yourself:
http://www.calnurses.org/research/pdfs/ihsp_sp_economic_study_2009.pdf