Quentin Young, M.D., National coordinator, Physicians for a National Health Program
Published March 20, 2003
Chicago — Health care in the United States has gone from the absurd to the obscene. The March 11 commentary is a shocking revelation of what seeking services has come to mean for hard-working, everyday people. It asks them, literally, to weigh the costs, to gamble with the well-being of family members, because they cannot afford health care, even after paying for health insurance.
Tens of millions of us are uninsured or poorly insured. The basic tragedy, of course, is that it does not have to be this way. We Americans already spend more than twice as much as any other nation for this dysfunctional way of providing health care. Jamie Smith contrasted her personal experience in the United States with the national health insurance system in Scotland. She describes her care there as prompt, professional, cheaper, safer, smarter and accessible.
All other industrialized democratic countries have, over the years, recognized access to health care to be a basic human right, which can best be achieved by a not-for-profit, government-administered system. When will we create a better health-care system–a single-payer national health program?
