By Winchell Dillenbeck

The Republican Party has long advanced the right to life in its party platform. The mission of the National Right to Life organization is “to protect and defend the most fundamental right of humankind, the right of every innocent human being from the beginning of life to natural death.” The Declaration of Independence states that “all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” The Republican Party has long been pro life against abortion and against assisted suicide or the right-to-die.

However, the right to life is denied in Trumpcare, also known as the American Health Care Act. The Republicans recently passed a bill in the House that is much more about repealing Obamacare (Affordable Care Act) than providing good health care to the American people. The bill would allow states to eliminate guaranteed health care based upon pre-existing conditions which is the most popular piece of Obamacare. The states then would then setup high risk pools that would carry high deductibles and high costs that would make them unaffordable for low and middle income families. The bill would significantly raise costs for older Americans because it is based upon age.

In a nutshell, individuals cannot afford health insurance until their income hits a moderate level because the cost of living will be equal to or greater than your income. If you can purchase “lousy” high deductible insurance, it will not cover the essential elements of health care. If you receive these benefits, you will not be able to pay the deductibles let alone the portion not covered by your insurer. In the end, these costs will be burdened on those who can afford health insurance, thus raising their costs as they have in the past prior to Obamacare.

The bill would also mandate block grants to states for Medicaid that would substantially reduce the amount of money to states by billions of dollars and ultimately remove millions of low-income Americans from Medicaid. Essentially, the Republicans are denying health care to millions of Americans that ultimately leads to the death of Americans and denies these individuals the right to life.

The main problem with health care is that the costs continue to rise substantially each year and no one seems to want to address the real issue. Per the PBS News Hour, health care costs have been steadily rising for the past 15 years at over 10 percent per year. The average American is paying higher health care costs while wages have remained stagnant over the same time. Per the “PBS NewsHour,” the cost of health care in America is two-and-a-half times that of the rest of the Western developed nations. The United States is the only western industrialized country that does not provide universal health care, also called single payer or Medicare for all.

The solution is a single-payer health care system that eliminates the profit and greed of health insurance companies with their huge executive salaries and their blatant lobbying costs. A single-payer health system, like Medicare, would allow the government to negotiate prices of medical services and prescription drugs to become more affordable like the rest of the Western world. Capitalism is based upon profit while our rights are based upon the need to serve everyone. Health insurance can simply be deducted from our paychecks just like Medicare and Social Security with no caps on the amount of income so that individuals will pay per their income and not their age and those in poverty will not be penalized because they cannot afford insurance.

If life, liberty, and happiness are indeed so important, then it stands to reason that health, which dictates the quality of our life and determines our ability to enjoy liberty and pursue happiness, is equally crucial to our welfare.

Winchell Dillenbeck resides in McKinleyville.