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Universal health care is a hot-button item. It would mean a culture of encouragement about being taken care of and being well. It would mean no sore losers after the traffic police disperse from the accident scene and have the offending cars towed, leaving the drivers standing there. We tow our cars at our own expense, and without so much as a recommendation to visit the hospital while making our car insurance claims. And it's required that we insure our cars; why not our bodies? People stress themselves, saying, I can handle the pain. I'm American. I'm strong. Shouldn't the culture start saying something different? Wouldn't we like that mantra to be, I'm American, and I'm cared for? Universal health care is a controversial issue. It would mean stop-gaps backed by government and non-profit organizations for the uninsured and under-insured. This is locally available in certain progressive communities already. In fact, we have excellent models for universal health care from cities and suburbs in the US. Yet at the same time, because the concept has not yet caught fire, we have several subgroups of the population harboring a basic fear of paying close attention to their own health. Those going without insurance rightfully state: Doctors aren't free. They hold off, for example, on getting chiropractic attention to the back problems, sure to develop into something worse down the road. But that's the existent situation, not the correction to it. So what is the correction? Many do support, for instance, insurance costs split between employer, employee, and the government. And I agree we should have, as a basic human priority, some means to take care of our health, even when we don't have scads of cash on hand.

Understandably, those who have insurance or disposable income towards hospital and doctor's visits are a bit resistant about changing the entire system. They fear doctors are motivated by high salaries, and that people won't pay out of pocket for treatments not covered by their insurance companies. Again, both hot button; but doctors have a tremendous reverence for life and health that I think would lead most of them to welcome some cultural support for their position. I don't doubt our respect for doctors will retain its monetary form and doctors who are well paid will continue enjoying their special status. Especially with universal health care, we'd be supporting the doctors to have all of society agree that every life is important and worthwhile when it comes

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