During the Presidential debate last night Barack Obama firmly
communicated why he thinks healthcare is not a privilege but a right.
Citing a difficult moment in his own life, Obama spoke of his mother
who, when diagnosed with cancer, found herself fighting her insurance
company to prove her sickness was not a “pre-existing condition.” “In a
country as wealthy as ours,” Obama said, “for us to have people who are
going bankrupt because they can’t pay their medical bills…there’s
something fundamentally wrong with that.”

Obama continued on the topic, identifying what he sees as the key problems
with healthcare in America: exponentially expensive premiums, rising
costs of co-payments and deductibles, and barriers that prevent many from accessing basic health insurance. “We have a moral commitment,” he said, “in addition to an economic imperative, to do something.” Obama asserted that all
Americans should have the kind of health insurance that he and Senator
McCain enjoy because they are federal employees. With regards to the
McCain healthcare plan, Obama pointed to an oft-overlooked
aspect—taxing employer-based healthcare benefits —saying
with McCain’s plan “one hand giveth, and one hand
taketh away.”

–Marissa Colón-Margolies

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