Hot-Button Issues in Roanoke, Virginia - Universal Healthcare or Universal Failure?

Roanoke, VA - Healthcare is a shaky subject for many Americans. Without a doubt a lot of people are not able to afford healthcare when it is not supplied by their workplace (IE: temp workers). Moreover, as temping agencies continue to grow in popularity the issue of healthcare becomes even fiercer of a battleground around the nation.

Most temp agencies around Roanoke do not provide healthcare for the first part of employment. Moreover, when you change assignments that healthcare might lapse and you might have to go through another waiting period on the next assignment. Because of this a lot of temp workers will forgo the agency insurance and pick up private medical insurance... if they can afford it. Since these people will not get a group plan or rate the cost of insurance is likely to be quite high as well, which is not offset enough by the higher temp pay rates. Regardless of the circumstances these people get the chance at healthcare.

What about people who do not get such a chance? Should men and women who simply cannot afford healthcare over other necessities such as food and shelter go without protection? How about homeless people? There are a variety of reasons people do not have health coverage, but is healthcare not a basic human right? Every human being deserves the chance to have their health looked after not just those who have enough money to pay for it.

In light of this we do have programs such as Medicaid to help out people who cannot afford healthcare. Now it would seem that everyone has access to healthcare either by paying for it or being given it. Why then is universal healthcare for everyone in America such a big issue? After all the United States is the only developed country with private insurance surrounded by other countries using universal healthcare. Perhaps people think it is the next step in America's evolution since so many other countries have already gone down that course.

The fact is that there are still millions of Americans who go without healthcare either through intermittent coverage, no coverage, or low coverage. Our current healthcare system has flaws that lots of people see as being fixable through universal healthcare. My question to you is: are they right?

Presumptive Democratic nominee Senator Barack Obama is in favor of universal healthcare while Republican Senator John McCain is not. It is a clear cut line between Democrats and Republicans. Party lines aside, though, will universal healthcare work in America?

A few days ago I had a discussion with a Democratic co-worker about this very issue. She struggles with healthcare costs for one reason or another. Just last week she went to the doctor for a set of allergy shots to find out she is allergic to every substance they pricked her with. I mean she is allergic to everything from oak trees to cockroach poo. Beyond all of this she always complains of one physical ailment or another. Hurt back, soar hip, sprained ankle... the list goes on and on constantly. I, on the other hand, went to the doctor for the first time in over nine months just to have a prescription renewed. As you can imagine I have no problem with my healthcare whereas she constantly complains about it.

Is it fair that her healthcare costs continue to stack up? Not really. Is it fair that I should have to pay her healthcare costs for constant-hypochondriac-health concerns when I have next to none? Not really. Which is fairer or more important? That is a question for the voter in November.

Wherever you stand on the issue I urge you to consider the following points.

Firstly, how many programs does the U.S. Government run efficiently? I have not seen a lot of them; have you? Maybe back in the days of F.D.R. you could argue that kind of point. Now, though, every politician has so their own political agenda that almost nothing gets done. Program wise we already have healthcare plans that, frankly, suck. Medicaid is one of the worst healthcare solutions I have ever seen. Besides being terribly under funded the program is run inefficiently and there have been numerous fraudulent claims.

On another note how comfortable do you feel giving our government a large bank of money to keep track of? Does Social Security ring a bell? When the government needed money they used to take it out of Social Security, thus draining it to its current low levels. What is going to stop them from doing the same to a universal healthcare fund? After all, healthcare is such a huge business in America that there will be immensely more money in such a fund compared to Social Security was. Can the politicians stay away from that much money? After all they do need to take $300 million from somewhere to fund the new bridge in Alaska!

With all of this you need to decide the risk versus reward in giving our government such access to that much money. It would be a shame for us to switch to universal healthcare only to find out that, upon a visit to the doctor, there is no money left to pay for the healthcare.