Insuring America’s Health: Principles and Recommendations

Physicians for a National Health Program

See How Oklahoma Elected Politicians Voted on Health Care

Meet the Cofounders Of Oklahomans for Universal Health Care

Max always felt that the richest nation on earth should be able to provide health care for its citizens. People who do not have health care are the working class, and their taxes are paying the health care for the military, garbage, fireman, policemen, and all government and elected officials. He felt that middle class America needed health care the most. Max advocated universal health care to anyone who would listen -- for years.

Multi talented, he wrote about horses, houses and construction. He was a multiple Award Winning Editor of the Oklahoma Quarter Horse Association Magazine and editor of the Scabbard and Blade Journal for ROTC. He worked for the Capitol Hill Beacon in Oklahoma City as a reporter. He taught Advertising Design and Layout, and Desktop Publishing at Oklahoma State University.

Max was the Home Scene Editor and the Financial Page Editor for the Stillwater News-Press. He retired in 1997 from the Stillwater News-Press, yet he continued to read several different newspapers and magazines each day. During his retirement Max became even more active in trying to obtain Universal Healthcare, Single Payer by writing letters to the editor, joining email listings, making phone calls, and teaming up with Ron du Bois...

Cofounder Ron du Bois Impressions of Canadian Health Care

My sister-in-law, 86, lives in one of a number of long term care (end of life) facilities in Winnipeg. Most patients, impacted by stroke and dementia, are entirely dependent on the staff to attend to their needs.

The facility is new, spacious, with good decor, organized arts, music, and even dance activities, staffed by capable and pleasant attendants and nurses. The food is excellent. My thought as an American was that only wealthy Canadians could afford this kind of care. Yet in talking to the Canadian nurse I found all long term care facilities in Winnipeg were similar. All are operated by Manitoba Medicare (part of the Canadian universal health care system). She explained that wealth was not a requirement to be a patient... that all aged people are charged on a sliding scale depending on their final assets. Some had little and others come from very wealthy backgrounds. The nurse told me she knew nothing about the assets of her patients and didn’t want to know. Canadians pay no private insurance for old age care. All are guaranteed long term care through universal health care.

The basic assumption of Canadians is that every citizen is entitled to equal quality health care from birth to death regardless of ability to pay.This is almost impossible for Americans steeped in the values of bottom line capitalism to understand. For decades I have witnessed my Canadian relatives given the best care until death, regardless of economic background.

Quality of care in the U.S. depends on the kind of policy paid for. The U.S. for- profit health care system, is a holdout and unique among the democratic industrialized nations of the world. For those who can afford it long term insurance is sold by private corporations. It is not part of Medicare coverage. Free long term care is available under Medicaid, the medical program for those in the poverty category but with loss of dignity. When I explained this to the Canadian nurse, she said, “There’s something wrong with that.”

A British woman currently visiting Stillwater, Oklahoma, commented on health care in America, She said, "I think it's immoral that the U.S. doesn't have universal health care. Americans who can't afford medical care are no better off than people in third world countries." She visited the Warren Clinic, Stillwater. She knew that she would have to pay out of pocket but was shocked at the $90 bill for a 15 minute talk with the doctor. In England ability to pay is not a requirement to see a doctor for either emotional or physical problems. My British friend explained, “Patients never see a bill. When they get ill their main worry is getting better, not how to pay for it. The average person feels such peace of mind.”