(8:17) 

I stumbled on this a couple days ago. Just to give you an idea of how long the right wing in this country has been able to choke off the idea of universal health care in this country, this is a speech from 1962. That was 63 years ago. The concept of universal health care in the US goes back another 50 years prior to this speech to Bull Moose Party candidate Theodore Roosevelt in 1912.

A year plus after that speech President Kennedy was assassinated. In the aftermath of his assassination, universal health care for the elderly – Medicare – was among one of the many bills President Johnson was able to get passed. Medicare was supposed to be the first step in the move to universal healthcare in the US.

At approximately the same time Canada was passing their version of Medicare which still covers Canadians today. The US remains stuck in the mud.

Having such disparate systems next door to each other makes for easy comparisons since our societies are fairly similar. Canada pays about 11% of GDP for a system that covers everybody for damn near everything including dental and vision.

 Through various methods including insurance payments, taxes, co-payments, out of pocket payments and payments for services not covered US citizens pay about 20% of GDP. Simply stated we could save half and add more services by going to a universal system. 

The roadblock that has stalled this simple step forward is the racism that is so deeply ingrained in our country. The concept that some human is not deserving of medical care because of the color of their skin or their sexual orientation.

Our first mission that is staring us in the face immediately is to stop trump and his toadies from totally ruining our democracy. Universal health care should one of our top priorities after keeping our democracy.