Yes it's Time for Universal Healthcare!

I resonate with the family of Sen. John McCain. I know what it’s like to hear the word “Cancer”—the utter horror of it all. 

Thirty-six years ago my father and I heard that horrid word from a surgeon who had just operated on my mother. “She has cancer and has maybe a year to live” he told us. It’s the first time I had ever seen my father cry.

Our whole family was devastated.

I know what it’s like to lose a parent to the most equal opportunity disease we know: Cancer!

My mother lived two years but during that time she received the best healthcare available to her at that time. But what if she had not had access to that healthcare? What if John McCain is not able to afford the care he needs? Of course he will as well he should.

I am blessed to have been given the opportunity to provide for my family by having accessible healthcare for them when they needed it. Not once did they have to sit in an Emergency room waiting to be treated for the flu or chicken pox.

I was not born into poverty. I was born on the right side of the tracks. I was given opportunities to make a good life for myself that so many others do not have. Doors were naturally open to me that are otherwise closed to so many others. I recognize this now.

John McCain’s brain cancer is horrific and sad. So was my mother’s cancer that took her life. 

But the real tragedy in this great country of ours is that access to healthcare has become a political football kicked around mostly by those who already have healthcare for themselves and their families. 

I believe it’s time for universal healthcare for all Americans. Healthcare is indeed a moral issue. The only reason it should be associated with politics is for the common good of all Americans and not as a football to be kicked around for political gain.

We are one of the greatest and most resourceful countries the world has ever known.  We were the first to land a man on the moon. Chances are we will land humans on Mars sometime this century. We have led the world in scientific innovation and medical research. We have some of the best universities and research facilities in the world. 

And yet, for whatever reason, we cannot look past our own partisan politics and agree on a system that would provide healthcare for all our citizens.

Canada does and so do most all other developed nations of the world. But not us!

Shame on us.

Shame on those politicians living in their own insulated bubbles of affluence while enjoying access to their own healthcare programs. Shame on those Washingtonians who have lost touch with their humanity for the sake of political expediency!

Shame on me for not speaking up sooner. Shame on me for not wanting to offend anyone’s political sensitivities. Well this isn't about partisan politics folks, it’s about discovering our moral compass as a nation. Healthcare is a human life issue.

Let’s quit playing games. Let’s tell our leaders that we will no longer allow them to use healthcare as a political football in order to make political hay. I don't care what you call it or what name you attache to it—Just do it!

What have we become for God’s sake? Are we that morally bankrupt? Do we not care? Is healthcare really all about dollars and cents? 

I find it morally reprehensible that Americans do not quiver over a fifty billon dollar defense budget but will scream foul over the costs of universal healthcare.

Yes it will be expensive but so is the loss of human life. Wake up for God’s sake!

Where are our priorities?

Do I sound a bit angry? Hell yes I am angry. I am angry over the way our leaders are acting towards what should be one of the most important things they can provide for us all: Universal Healthcare! 

I am praying for John McCain and his family. I feel their pain. I’ve been there and done that, but so have so many other Americans who were not afforded the care he will receive; nor the care my mother received that extended her life for another year. 

That was a big deal for our whole family. It should be for all.

The time for Universal Healthcare has arrived. 

Let’s just do it!