Revisiting and/or adding to the to-do list as we move closer to a post-pandemic life and return to “normalcy” we see many of the items have needed attending for a long time.
We need affordable healthcare for everyone.
Every. One.
We need our friends and neighbors and the GOP to stop with the ridiculous notion that reforming the healthcare system so that it provides access to preventative care and quality treatment to people regardless of economic, social or residential status is one step closer to socialism and the downfall of capitalism.
It’s not.
And if it is but it means your daughter can get treatment for her asthma once she is off your medical plan, so what?
If it means that just because you lose your job you don’t lose access to your wife’s dialysis because you no longer have employer-provided health coverage, who cares?
If it means we all pay a little more —and businesses pay their share in taxes and fees—so that every one can see a doctor and have access to medication so that the community as a whole remains healthy and vital, what’s the problem?
We’ve known for a long time that Latinos, Blacks, and other non-whites have suffered disproportionately because of inequities in access to healthcare.
The point was driven home like a Tatis Jr. line drive to the forehead this last year during the pandemic.
Chula Vista and National City bore the brunt of COVID-19 cases in the county because, in part, of their significant Latino populations and their underlying health conditions caused by inadequate healthcare.
Many of our friends, neighbor and relatives who live in South County work in the service industry outside the region or in jobs that do not provide adequate, if any, health insurance.
They are the same people who cannot afford to miss an extended period of work because of the significant hit they would take in income: you can’t pay for the $200 visit to the clinic if you don’t have the money. You don’t have the money unless you work. But you can’t work if you are too sick or if your boss sends you home of if you are laid off from work because of a pandemic. So, you suffer.Without a change to the system we all suffer.
