The COVID-19 pandemic should have been the beginning of the end for our broken health care system. It should have been the catalyst for an intellectually honest discussion about the merits and morals of providing for every American’s basic health care needs.
Instead, as working-class families, both insured and uninsured, suffered under the immense financial toll of having a family member fall ill to the virus, the political discourse around serious healthcare reform was unsurprisingly muted.
What happened was an all-too-familiar pattern in modern politics. The few cries for significant health care reform were drowned out by silence or inconsequential promises by some to tinker with the Affordable Care Act while others quickly dismissed any debate with claims of “socialism” or “big government.” These efforts to stifle meaningful discussion were politically-calculated to maintain the status quo in favor of our representatives’ corporate benefactors.
It is our moral duty to alleviate the suffering of families who if they are fortunate enough to have health insurance, struggle to pay their high premiums with scant coverage in a good year, let alone during a pandemic. We can no longer afford to uncritically accept our representatives’ pretexts for maintaining an inhumane system.
If a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic could not make it clear to our representatives, we must: Stand up to your corporate benefactors and engage in good faith on serious health care reform or be voted out.
Justin Park, Pleasant Grove