Obama Makes History

On the far right of the Republican Party, socialism is seen as something ignorant, or as something that acts in bad faith only. However, the United States, after various attempts and much hoopla, is about to join the rest of the advanced democracies and put a universal health care system into place.

The House of Representatives approved on Saturday, by only two votes, with the defection of 39 Democrats and the affirmative vote of only one Republican, a bill that still needs to pass through the Senate before the end of the year. This a already a great step in the revolution promised by Obama’s campaign given how North Americans usually react to government control. According to the plan, 36 of the 46 million citizens that lack protection, 96 percent, are going to have access to a fundamentally free health care system which can also serve foreign residents, but not illegal immigrants.

The plan, with a cost no less than a billion dollars over the next 10 years, consists of an increase in free medical coverage (Medicaid) for the poorest and subsidies for people with modest incomes so they can afford private health care coverage. This approach has been opposed by both the far right and some on the left who think this idea will not work. The first group balks at the loss of freedom – among them, for sure, are some dying without medical insurance. The second group, more circumspect, argued that it was not the time to spend because of the economic crisis. But the same reasoning can be used for the opposing argument: the impoverished are asking for more public investment so their situation will improve, improving the economy as a whole. The administration assures that the system will put an end to abysmal management of public resources. Each North American costs about $7,300 every year in medical attention, double of the costs in European countries supposedly with socialized medicine like Germany or France.

The citizens who earn too much to receive a subsidy have to sign up with private insurers or use the costly coverage of their own company, if they enjoy such benefits. And it is not necessary to state that after all the patriotic exclamations about the liberties the founding fathers fought for are pushed aside, the interests of the insurance companies and preventive action against illness and physical decline are all that remain.

We are on the brink of what could be a great achievement of the Democratic president, of what could be the first great defining element of his term. Soon we will be able to say: “Yes, we could.”