TheLoop21.com

By: Marvin King (Add to your loop)
Tue, 11/24/2009 - 08:37

Only people who support health care access for all should be given health care.

America is a bountiful country, and I am so thankful to live here. We have the best of so much and much to be proud of. We have a fantastic fighting force of volunteers who put their lives on the line to defend us from enemies.

I am so thankful for the fantastic collection of colleges and universities that are without a doubt the best in the entire world. I am lucky enough to have attended a few and taught at a few more, and I know firsthand the value of an affordable public education.

Yet, I am also thankful there are many people recognizing that our K-12 system of public schools is not good enough; we must continue to improve our schools. We might disagree on how to improve our public schools, but no one is dumb enough to say that we cannot or should not make our schools better. They can and must get better.

I am so thankful for the access my family has to health care providers. Competent doctors and nurses and other professionals give many of us the opportunity to live life longer and healthier than our parents and grandparents ever dreamed possible.

But I am certainly not thankful for all the people who fight tooth and nail to preserve a system that does not give everyone the same health care access that I have. I am not thankful for the tea-bagging reactionary zealots who refuse to open their eyes to the myriad problems confronting our health care industry. They shout, "keep government hands off my health care," but they also scream bloody murder if a politician even mentions Medicare. Where do they think the money for that is coming from?

We should not leave health care to the province of the well heeled and well connected. Any of us could have been born into circumstances in which health care were out of reach. Denying people — children or adults — access to health care because their employer chooses not to offer it is shameful.

Another thing I definitely am not thankful for is many people's inability to see beyond their individual needs. Too many of us do not want the government paying for anything else for anybody else. I believe this is what fundamentally separates the two main political persuasions in this country. Sure, there are hazards to aid and taxpayer assistance, but I'd rather be guilty of being too kind than too selfish.

If it were up to me, I would pass a law limiting emergency room doctors to only saving patients who support using tax dollars to help anyone in need, not just those who can afford it. You would see some people change their minds on health care reform very quickly.

Marvin King is an assistant professor of political science at the University of Mississippi and writes the blog King Politics.