Choice detail: Health Care

Choice 3: Create a national health care system to make sure everyone is covered

Decent health care ought to be a basic right, not something that depends on the job you hold, and coverage should be portable and guaranteed to all Americans. Our patchwork health care system of private insurance and government programs simply isn't working. It's time to try what Canada and most European countries already have: a national, government-run health care system. The system would work much like Medicare, except that everyone would be entitled to coverage, regardless of age, income or job status. Like Medicare, you'd still pick your own doctor, but the government would get the bill. We've debated what to do about health care for years, but so far we haven't come up with a solution. This is the only way to solve the problem of the uninsured, once and for all.


Therefore, we should:

  • Create a Medicare-style ‘single payer’ system, where the government provides health insurance for everyone.
  • Allow patients to get a standard list of covered health services from any doctor or hospital in the program. 
  • Raise taxes or repeal existing tax cuts to fund the program. 
  • Impose stricter government controls on the prices that health care providers can charge.
  • Tie the new health insurance system into existing government programs to promote good nutrition, mental health awareness and exercise.

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