I have been busy and out of the blogging circle for a little while. While I am still busy wrapping up my Peace Corps service, it’s worth pausing to talk about why national healthcare is a good idea.

Have you ever seen a sick kid? Have you ever been hungry, but couldn’t buy food? Have you ever had to choose between feeding your child or trying to cure his/her illness?

Have you ever needed a surgery? Have you ever needed a double mastectomy because a highly aggressive cancer was growing in your breasts only to be called the Friday before your surgery that you didn’t report you had acne, so your claim has to be denied?

Have you ever seen a premature baby that needed to spend weeks in a neonatal ICU? Have you ever had to wonder how exactly you will survive for the next five, ten or twenty years paying off that debt while trying to provide a decent life for those you care about?

Have you ever lost your job? Have you ever had to swap from having decent enough insurance that cost you about $200 a month to a $500 a month policy while you are living off less than $300 a week on unemployment? Have you ever had to settle on a plan that essentially only covers you going to the dentist for a period of time while you hope you get another job and can afford something better that will actually take care of you in case of an illness or accident?

Now imagine for any of these things that you have a family. Instead of one or two people to take care of, try three or four.

People are absolutely right that healthcare isn’t a right. But if hoping anyone who is sick can go to the doctor is wrong, what are you actually hoping for? To frame it like the abortion debate, you must certainly be arguing that every sick person must need to die. Prolife people want everyone to have healthcare and prodeath people want folks to suffer as they whither and die. Taking it a bit further, there are people in our country that believe a woman MUST bring a fetus to term if she gets pregnant and that the baby MUST die if she can’t afford a doctor.

That’s certainly a valid opinion. It’s also very cost effective, especially if you euthanize the sick people as soon as they show symptoms. Those people that want to compare Obama to Hitler would be mindful to remember that this is where their argument leads while Obama is against killing sick people.

I still want to believe that the United States is the best country in the world, but if countries like Canada, Germany and even France can provide healthcare for their citizens, why can’t we? In my head, I think that every country should try to do better by its citizens and keeping them healthy is about as noble a goal as education…maybe even more so because how can you learn if you are sick?

In my mind, it’s pretty simple. You are either in favor of people being able to see a doctor or you are in favor of them dying. People really need to think about what that breakdown means for them morally and spiritually.