TrumpCare or ObamaCare?
Interviews conducted by Sara Szantyr, Emily Ellington, Lillyana Brassard and Haley Davis
Story edited by ML Sibley
You may have noticed that there has been a lot of debate in recent years over health care in this country. Mainers and other citizens of the United States have been asking questions regarding health care, searching for knowledge about cost, as well as the roles of government and insurance companies in all this. Health care continues to generate conflicting views from the American people, leading to uncomfortable debates. This leads some thoughtful people to ponder: is health care a natural human right, or if it should be earned by paying what the open market requires?
The best way to address this issue is to talk to people. Three students at Poland Regional High School interviewed family members, and this is what they had to say.
First, Ryan Szanter answered four critical questions. The first question was, how do you feel about insurance companies profiting from health insurance? Ryan's response:
“I think companies profiting from basic necessities is not sustainable or beneficial to our society. Where would we be if police stations or fire stations worked on a for-profit basis? Or if our school had a profit bottom line? I think health care is just as important to our society as those other things, so the fact that the industry, through insurance, works on a for-profit basis is really unfortunate.”
Is health care a basic human right? Szantyr's response: “Yes. If it wasn’t there would be no moral obligation to help those who are sick and dying.”
Should health care availability be determined by ability to pay? “I mostly disagree with this because I believe health care availability should be determined more by necessity than financial status.”
Finally, if you cannot afford a doctor or health insurance, how should our society deal with that?
Szantyr: “I think a single payer system whereby people pay for health insurance coverage through taxes, is the best solution for our health care system.” He goes on to explain that he is not promoting socialism, but the government could help more people.
Crystal Palange, who lives lives in Sabattus and works for an oil company, agreed with Szantyr that health care is a basic human right, but she disagreed on another important issue. “The access/availability should be determined by the ability to pay,” she said. But what happens when a person cannot afford a doctor or insurance?
“If someone can’t afford a doctor or insurance there should be options for payment plans," Palange said. “ I feel it is fine that insurance companies profit from the health care system because other companies do the same kind of things. Every company makes a profit off something.”
Lillyana Brassard interviewed her father. In response to her questions he said, “Basically, everyone has the right to health care. It’s a basic human right to be healthy, and if one doesn’t have money for that, as a society we should be able to take care of that. Our insurance companies decide everything we do. Everyone needs to make money, but nobody needs to be getting filthy rich off it either.”
Steve Davis, interviewed by Haley Davis, had his own take. “Health care isn’t necessarily a human right," he said. "It is not a basic human right like freedom of speech is. Health care is something that has to be worked for. It doesn’t just fall into your lap. You either have to qualify for Medicare, have a disability, or be old enough. Yes, health care access/availability should be determined by pay in some way. Nothing is free in life. Every person should be partially responsible for their health care even if it's through work. People who can’t afford a doctor or insurance should have a fund set aside if absolutely needed. Insurance companies have to profit from our health care system to be able to make profit and help the people. They are in business and like all businesses they need to make money. I do not agree with the Affordable Healthcare Act, because they shouldn’t make people get health care if they don’t want to.”
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