Give It Up For The California Nurses Association

We need organizations who aren't afraid of what is politically possible and talk about was is morally right. Today the CNA placed a full-page ad in 10 Iowa papers arguing strongly for not-for-profit health care, Medicare for All, taking the example of Dick Cheney's multiple heart problems, and noting that if he wasn't receiving the finest in government-run health care, he'd be dead by now.

The patient’s history and prognosis were grim: four heart attacks, quadruple bypass surgery, angioplasty, an implanted defibrillator and now an emergency procedure to treat an irregular heartbeat. For millions of Americans, this might be a death sentence. For the vice president, it was just another medical treatment. And it cost him very little.

Unlike the average American, the president, vice president and members of Congress all enjoy government-financed health care with few restrictions or prohibitive fees. They are never turned away for pre-existing conditions or denied care for what an insurance company labels “experimental treatments.”

The rest of us deserve no less.

We call on the presidential candidates to support HR 676, the National Health Insurance Act— an expanded and improved Medicare for all that:

• provides complete medical, dental, vision and long-term care
• eliminates deductibles, co-pays, hidden fees
• allows you to choose your doctor, lab, hospital, health care facility
• is completely portable and not tied to employment
• is free from interference or second-guessing by insurance companies.

We should have these conversations out in the open. The vagaries of what it politically possible should never be the outer edges of the debate. Let's actually find out if America rejects a Medicare-for-all system; they certainly haven't rejected Medicare. It takes an organization like the CNA to jumpstart this debate. Good for them.