Healthcare...now!

Congress is abuzz with legislation for a healthcare reform bill right now, that would ideally provide a public option plan in addition to the traditional option of private health insurance. This would help ensure many more Americans would have access to healthcare than currently --namely the poor and people of color, who are already subject to institutional racism within the healthcare system. And as I've written before, healthcare is -- and should be -- a universal right.

This bill may not be perfect, but it's better than what we have now. And about the cost? As Tim Foley, healthcare blogger for change.org notes, "if we fix health care, it won’t bust the deficit; if we don’t, it will." For those worried about their own taxes going up to pay for this bill... if you make less than $350,000 per year you don't have anything to worry about. According to Tim, "if you make less than $350,000 a year, your taxes won't go up, and you can keep your employer health care as long as your employer decides to keep the plan (which is totally up to the employer, as it is now)". For more detailed information as to the cost of the bill he recommends this website.

To help this bill get passed, please sign this petition from Credo Action and help NYC for Change tell others to contact their representatives by helping out with their phonebanking work this week.

Reforming healthcare right now is very important. And it's also important to keep in mind that as Robert Kenner, Director of Food, Inc. said on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart [start at 15 min], "We're not going to be able to fix the healthcare system until we fix the food system."