USAction – What will it take?
07/05/08 | Comment (0)
Written by Jeff Blum, Executive Director, USActionEighteen months ago, we at USAction asked a question: What would it take to win a uniquely American program of health care for all?
This is not a simple task. We’re up against the insurance industry, the pharmaceuticals, the callous ideologues who argue that health care is only for those who can afford it.
We’re talking about reforming one-sixth of the U.S. economy.
The answer was, a powerful coalition would have to come together to fight for this historic cause.
USAction has built health care coalitions, organizing them state by state and nationally, since the first day of our existence. We’re proud to have helped build HCAN because we believe that NOW is the time to achieve this critical change in American policy.
And so, the people in this coalition represent the deepest single-issue coalition in modern American history. We – and the tens of millions of people we represent – know, as Dr. King said, that “Of all the forms of inequality, health care injustice is the most shocking and inhumane.”
If there is one thing that our American government should be guaranteeing to each one of us but does not, it is the fundamental right to affordable and high quality health care. This is the human rights movement of our time – a movement that transcends race, class and geography.
A movement to attain a key missing link in “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Together, we will reach that goal.
