Jalen ELrod

Guest columnist

The Trump administration has failed in its attempt to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. Now we have an obligation to continue the fight for the poor and disenfranchised in our community. We still face a great challenge as a nation: the need for universal healthcare.

While the ACA has had an undeniable, positive impact for Americans who lack affordable healthcare, we must also acknowledge the Affordable Care Act is flawed. It leaves too many hard working Americans out and does not adequately alleviate the burden of rising healthcare cost for some many more. We, as a nation, have a moral obligation to make true universal health care a reality in this country.

Due to this obligation, we must move to enact a single-payer healthcare system here in the United States.

For those who aren’t familiar, a single-payer healthcare system is a system in which all citizens of a nation receive full health coverage regardless of their income or socioeconomic status. Most developed nations have some variation of a single-payer system. Americans have heard inklings of an American single-payer system in recent years. In his presidential bid, Bernie Sanders prosed a “Medicare For All” system. Others have sought a more incremental approach on the march toward the goal of single-payer healthcare. Hillary Clinton floated the idea of lowering the eligibility age for Medicare. During the 2008 Presidential election, then Sen. Barack Obama supported a robust public healthcare option for Americans to buy into that, regrettably, was left out of the legislation that came to be known as the Affordable Care Act. A single-payer healthcare system would be the culmination of the march toward universal healthcare that has spanned nearly a century.

The implementation of a single payer system in the United States would reap profound benefits for millions of Americans facing hardship and poverty. According to Gerald Friedman, a professor of Economics at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, 95% of American households would save money under a single-payer system. Millions of neglected, working class Americans, who make too much money to qualify for Medicaid or ACA subsidies, would finally see a huge financial burden lifted off them and their families.

A criticism often levied against single-payer healthcare is the cost of insuring every American through this system. It’s a legitimate concern. This would be a costly undertaking. An American single-payer system would be paid for by using all federal funds currently allocated for Medicaid, Medicare, and SCHIP. According to Friedman, that would leave 30% of the needed revenue unaccounted for. This funding would be raised by asking the American people to pay a little more in taxes in place of their more expensive premiums. This would induce savings by ending costs like hospital overhead, billing costs, and prescription drug costs.

As a nation, we must accept that healthcare is a right for all and not a privilege enjoyed by those with means. There are too many struggling and trapped in poverty for us to believe otherwise. For that reason, we must complete the unfinished work of Theodore Roosevelt, of FDR, of Ted Kennedy, and of Barack Obama and achieve our goal of universal health coverage in America.

A single payer system is that goal.

Now, we are not naive. Significant challenges remain as we seek to finish this work. We must ensure that the quality of care is not diminished in our striving to make sure every American has health care. As Americans, we have always had a skepticism of government and rightly so. The people of our nation would have to have a comprehensive understanding of our new system and it would have to be implemented in a fiscally responsible manner that will better their lives and the lives of their loved ones. The political resistance to the tax increases that will replace insurance premium will surely be fierce.

Yet, time and time again, the American people have shown a willingness to do what is right no matter how hard it is. This time will be no different. I have faith in our nation. History will mark this time not by the cruel attempts to repeal the ACA or petty partisanship, but as the time we began to complete the good work of universal healthcare in this country. It will be the moment we guaranteed healthcare for all our people.

The voices of the impoverished and hurting call to us. I know we will answer.

Jalen Elrod is president of the Greenville County Young Democrats.