Health care is a right and not a privilege. It is as simple as that. Accordingly, I support access to universal health care coverage.
The current health care system in America makes little sense. We pay twice as much in health care costs as other wealthy countries, such as Britain, Germany, and Canada. But despite paying far more, we leave almost 50 million Americans without insurance. We fail to provide insurance for all, yet taxpayers are forced to pick up the bill when those lacking benefits inevitably end up in the emergency room. This causes all of us to pay far more in the end than we would have if the uninsured simply had access to preventive care in the first place.
Ultimately, universal health care must be done on a federal level. In the mean time, I will support programs like CHIP (Children's Health Care Insurance Program), PACE and PACE-NET for seniors, and state Medicaid.