The tragic and horrific shooting of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, as well as the public’s mostly gleeful reaction to it, contain a sobering lesson. Americans have had it with the injustice and cruelty of our current healthcare system. Their rage has hit a boiling point. I abhor violence; it is never, ever justified. But it is clear that something has to change.
The author Joyce Carol Oates wrote yesterday that the outpouring of negativity “is better described as cries from the heart of a deeply wounded & betrayed country; hundreds of thousands of Americans shamelessly exploited by health-care insurers reacting to a single act of violence against just one of their multimillionaire executives.”
She’s not wrong. Americans are really, really hurting. We’re angry. We’re fed up.
The solution to this terrible situation, in which millions of U.S. citizens are being saddled with staggering amounts of debt, going bankrupt, or even dying because of our utterly broken healthcare system, is some form of single-payer healthcare. There is no other way.
Will it be easy? No. Will it be perfect? Definitely not. But can we afford to keep going down the deadly road of healthcare-for-profit? I think it’s clear we can’t.
Please co-sponsor and support S. 1655 / H.R. 3421 The Medicare For All Act. The time for change has come. We can do this if Congress has the will. It must. Because we, the people, surely do. Thank you.
First sent on December 6, 2024 by Jess Craven
