Despite all the luxuries that come with living in America, there are still many issues we have yet to properly address.
 
One of those issues is health care. In recent months we’ve begun to scratch the surface of the problem, but there is much work to be done.
In this country, our health care system is based on individual citizens paying into private insurance companies. This is done so that the government does not have to fund a health care system for the people of this nation. This results in lower taxes, which is nice.
However, the problem lies in the cost. Health insurance is expensive, and a vast number of Americans cannot afford it.
Insurance companies can also overcharge or deny certain coverages to people with pre-existing conditions such as cancer or HIV.
Regardless of whether this is right or wrong, they maximize their profits and are able to stay in business.
Despite our many health care woes, our neighbors across the pond have what is called socialized medicine. In the U.K., citizens pay substantially higher taxes than in the U.S., but the government fully funds their health care system. You get sick, you go to the doctor and you get medicine all for either little or no cost to the patient.
The U.K. also has private doctors and hospitals for affluent citizens. While they are more expensive, they may provide a better quality health service to the patient.
My solution to the problem is that we model our system of health care after that of the United Kingdom.
Good health care should be available to every American citizen simply because it is the right thing to do. Regardless of the cost or taxpayer burden, it needs to be done. We can still have private doctors and hospitals for those who can afford it, but those who cannot still need a health care option.
 
The problem is that not just our government but governments around the world are first and foremost businesses. They have debt, they have credit and they are paid by us to perform services for us. If they don’t have enough tax dollars to perform that service, they either borrow the money based on their credit rating, they print new money out of nowhere or they just don’t provide the service. 
Since government is a business, the ethics of an issue rarely make it to the table. Our government, like a business, typically does whatever is cheapest and will maximize profit.
In a time of recession, this makes sense. However, even in a time when sacrifices need to be made, they cannot be at the expense of our citizens’ health. 
The more conservative half of the nation will argue that individuals need to provide themselves with their own health insurance plan so that they are not a burden on the government or the middle to upper class.
These same conservatives will quote the Bible, saying things like, “Give a man a fish, he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish, he eats for life.” They would like us to believe that forcing, not teaching, the lower class to provide for themselves is more ethically responsible than raising upper class taxes to help them out.
Well, I’ll believe that when I can outhit Barry Bonds and my farts smell like Febreeze. 
The Bible also says to “love your neighbor as yourself.” Last time I checked there was no asterisk next to that quote saying it was invalid if your neighbor was a welfare abusing crack whore with more kids than a condomless Catholic family. Love your neighbor as yourself regardless of your neighbor’s situation, that is the command.
They can twist it however they want, but in the end when we all search our gut feeling for the right thing to do, we know that loving our neighbors as ourselves shouldn’t have a financial limit.
Parker Cramer is a 20-year-old animal sciences junior from Houston, Texas. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_pcramer.
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Contact Parker Cramer at [email protected]