Special Message to the Congress Recommending a Comprehensive Health Program

[HM2VikingRN, RN]

http://www.pnhp.org/news/2008/december/special_message_to_t.php

By HARRY S. TRUMAN

November 19, 1945

To the Congress of the United States:

In my message to the Congress of September 6, 1945, there were enumerated in a proposed Economic Bill of Rights certain rights which ought to be assured to every American citizen.

One of them was: "The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health." Another was the "right to adequate protection from the economic fears of . .. sickness ...."

Millions of our citizens do not now have a full measure of opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health. Millions do not now have protection or security against the economic effects of sickness. The time has arrived for action to help them attain that opportunity and that protection.

[3rdcareerRN]

President Truman's words, echoed today, were themselves echoes of a century earlier:

https://allnurses.com/general-nursing-discussion/160-yr-later-351416.html

"WE BELIEVE that the conditions of perfect health, either public

or personal, are seldom or never attained, though attainable ;-

that the average length of human life may be very much extended,

and its physical power greatly augmented ;-that in every

year, within this Commonwealth, thousands of lives are lost

which might have been saved ;-that tens of thousands of cases

of sickness occur, which might have been prevented ;-that a

vast amount of unnecessarily impaired health, and physical debility

exists among those not actually confined by sickness ;-that

these preventable evils require an enormous expenditure and

loss of money, and impose upon the people unnumbered and

immeasurable calamities, pecuniary, social, physical, mental,

and moral, which might be avoided,--that means exist, within

our reach, for their mitigation or removal ;-and that measures

for prevention will effect infinitely more, than remedies for the

cure of disease ."

In a more recent publication is an excellent summary of the current situation. Read at least the

Main Conclusions (about two pages) of the Congressional Budget Office overview of current proposals for healthcare/insurance reform, at http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/99xx/doc9924/12-18-KeyIssues.pdf.

[Iam46yearsold]

at last maybe we will have an effective democrat in office.

Step 1 the economy

step 2 end the illegal war

step 3 health care for all

step whatever job works program, old concept long over due for renewal and revamping.

[patrick1rn, MSN, RN, NP]

at last maybe we will have an effective democrat in office.

Step 1 the economy

step 2 end the illegal war

step 3 health care for all

step whatever job works program, old concept long over due for renewal and revamping.

I normally keep my opinion to myself, No not today, One.. I dont believe I fought in a illegal war, Two.. Only the American people can ultimately control the economy .. but I dont claim to be an economists.. Three... How about affordable health care for all.... i stress the word affordable, not free.... an Finally, you mention job works programs, another idea of socialism that would ultimately do nothing for the economy or maybe it would, I dont know.

[Iam46yearsold]

I respect your beliefs and also those of my family who have been over there and those of my father who was a casualty stemming from Nam. However It is not only I who claims the war is illegal. I put the blame straight on the Bush Clan and Cheney, I know where the blame. As always I support the troops. Not the Commander in chief.

Check your history books, jobs works programs established and built a significant part of our infrastructure why cant it be put to use and done again. Seems simple enough

Actually making health care free , if your on minimum wage you cant find anything affordable. However health care should be a privilege shared by all.

[herring_RN, ASN, BSN]

all i want for christmas is less charity cure the plight of care

the most heartbreaking e-mail alerts that crossed my computer screen this holiday season arrived from an active, progressive union that has set up a fund for medical benefits for widows and orphans of their former members.

reliance on charity rather than a public safety net symbolizes what has become a perversely unique american solution to social problems, especially in the bush administration era.

in "critical condition," a searing 2006 indictment of the collapse of our medical system, donald bartlett and james steele described how pervasive this dependence has become. garage sales, spaghetti feeds, livestock auctions, pancake breakfasts, walkathons, bingo tournaments, pie socials, carwashes, church suppers, raffles, barbecues, basketball shootouts, even hot-air balloon rides, all to help families drowning with un-payable medical bills....

...in an era when our government has intervened on behalf of citigroup and aig and freddy and fannie and all those financial wizards on wall street, maybe we can bail out the tens of millions of americans without having to count on auctions or widows' funds to pay for medical care....

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/dec/21/co-all-i-want-for-christmas-is-less-charity-cure-t/news-opinion-commentary/