Health Care Reform
While most conservatives are coming up with excuses on why our country does not need health care reform, liberalists are doing everything in their power to finally get reform passed. A liberalist is simply someone who believes in liberty for everyone. A liberalist feels that the government should involve itself in order to help social needs. Right now it is clear to most that our current health care system is broken. Health insurance companies are taking advantage of American citizens by constantly raising their premiums and decreasing their quality of care. These companies seem to be much more interested in their share holders rather than their members. The government has come closer than ever to passing health care reform, but the process is now stalled due to the strong opposition of the republican party. However, it seems that each liberalist who believes in passing reform is not going to let the recent progress die due to false claims.
With health care premiums rising and the quality of care plummeting, liberalists are constantly protesting for reform to the system. Many liberalists believe that there is no use for health insurance companies and that they only serve as a middle man, which seems rather pointless. One health insurance company in California announced that they were going to raise their premiums by almost forty percent. The same company also recently reported record profits and increasing earnings for its top CEO. If the company is profiting more than expected, why does it need to raise costs for its members? The company has not made it clear where the extra money will be spent. This is just one example out of many that have liberalists furious. Each liberalist believes that the government needs to fix this problem immediately.
The republican party has always been against health care reform. Any liberalist would most likely blame the republican party for blocking health care reform in 1994 under President Clinton. There are several possible reasons why the party of no is against reform. Most importantly is the notion of conservatives to keep the government out of people’s lives in every aspect possible. Conservatives generally believe that the government’s role is to allow people to be free and basically govern themselves or fix their own problems. A liberalist will find this belief troubling when thinking about both our health care and financial systems as two prime examples. A liberalist would argue that any institution that deals with money will allow room for financial greed by those in power. If those in power are taking advantage of the people under them, there is no higher power to stop them. This is why liberalists believe in bigger government in order to prevent this from happening and to fix the problems that these situations create. Another reason why republicans are against health care reform might be because of the insurance company’s role in their current positions. Many elected officials, both democrat and republican have received millions of dollars each year from the insurance companies. Whether it is to help their campaigns or to influence their vote on certain pieces of legislation is unclear, but one cannot not deny the influence money has on politicians.
It should not just be a liberal view that all American citizens should have access to affordable quality health insurance. At a time when our country is facing extreme financial hardship, we should take advantage of every opportunity we get in order to make the American people healthier.