Last night, CNBC featured a segment on "Is Health care a right or a privilege?" and invited two speakers to debate the question.
One of the speakers was Dr Mai Pham, senior policy advisor at the National Physicians Alliance (NPA). The NPA fimly believes that health care is a human right and its campaigns and mission speak directly to that. The other speaker was Michael Cannon, director of health policy at the CATO Institute, a free-market, libertarian organization.
Make your own conclusions about some incendiary statements made in this debate, but I must highlight one here.
"Saying health care is a fundamental human right is one of those simplistic nonsense slogans" -- Michael Cannon, CATO.
Unbelievable. No it's not. Saying health care is a fundamental human right is an important statement that we must embrace fully as a society (and to an extent have already embraced).
i do not deserve a good job, or a beautiful home, or health care because i went to school and got my degree. i deserve them because i am a human being. if i were to say that i deserve them because of how many years i spent in school, or how much money i paid to go to school, or the number of letters behind my name, then i am saying that i deserve basic human dignity because of my educational privilege.
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I applaud Dr. Pham's calm and composure in the debate. I think we could learn some tips on how to stay on point and how to debate an issue, from her.
In any case, it was a pleasant surprise to see this issue covered by CNBC; perhaps the station will cover such issues in the future.
The Republican Presidential CNN/YouTube debate is just around the corner (November 28th). As with the Democratic Presidential debate hosted by CNN/YouTube, Americans are submitting videos of questions they have for the candidates.
Above, the national leaders of the American Medical Student Association framed the healthcare debate with a well-crafted question for the candidates. Friends, these are the future leaders of American organized medicine, and there are thousands of them, and thankfully, they're progressive, patient-centered, and dedicated to the public health of America.
Hope comes in many forms, and this is just one of them...
John Edwards seems to have taken the stage and even won over the mainstream media with his stellar performance at the Democratic primary debate. Here's a video that's being shared around the online world (note that he is NOT afraid to state that the insurance industry and the pharmaceutical industry are barriers to universal health care).
At the AFL-CIO democratic presidential candidate debate this past week, retired union member Steve Skvara asked a simple health care question of the candidates. In response, he received a STANDING OVATION from thousands of audience members in the stadium. This is phenomenal, it is amazing how front-and-center health care is in the peoples' minds, during this election. Check out the video:
And Mitt Romney was challeneged on health care while giving a stump speech in a restaurant, where he mentioned his desire to export "healthcare diplomacy" to other nations, and a waitress really prodded him on the american health care system. Video below:
What is health justice? How are health & human rights fiercely connected to the wellness of our neighborhoods? How do we reframe policy debates? How do we continue dreaming and building instead of just reacting & surviving? And how do we support each other in our healing?
Cure This is an online space for storytelling, discussion, & radical transformation. Create an account to write a diary or comment. Questions or thoughts: lotusfeet [at] hotmail [dot] com
News: CureThis was part of an exhibit in Chicago: "Visual resistance in feminist health movements, 1969-2009" [link]
