By Cliff Montgomery – Aug. 26th, 2009
Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA), perhaps the most effective U.S. Senator of the modern era, died last night. Hewas 77 years old.
The late lawmaker’s Senate website provides readers with an excellent sample of his accomplishments.
The Kennedy family has asked those who wish to offer their sympathies to visit a site celebrating the life of”The Liberal Lion.”
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that a contribution be sent to the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for theUnited States Senate, a new entity which will “develop and support a well-informed electorate and encourage[political] participation on a local as well as national level.”
Perhaps one the best ways to remember the late senator is to recall Kennedy’s decades-long fight to create anational health care system, which will ensure that the right to a healthy life will cease to be a privilege, andfinally will belong to all.
In Memphis, Tennessee on December 9th, 1978, the senator gave an excellent speech on this issue at ahealth care workshop sponsored by the Democratic National Committee. Many of Kennedy’s points are evenmore pertinent today than they were 31 years ago.
The American Spark provides a central portion of Kennedy’s remarks on health care, which we have printedbelow:
“There must be sacrifice if we are to bring the economy back to health. But the burden must be fairly sharedby all. We cannot accept a policy that asks greater sacrifice from labor than from business. We cannot accepta policy that cuts spending to the bone in areas like jobs and health, but allows billions of dollars in wastefulspending for tax subsidies to continue, and adds even greater fat and waste through inflationary spending fordefense.
“Our workshop here on health care will clarify this crucial point about priorities in spending federal dollars. Oneof the most shameful things about modern America is that in our unbelievably rich land, the quality of healthcare available to many of our people is unbelievably poor, and the cost is unbelievably high.
“That is why national health insurance is the great unfinished business on the agenda of the Democratic Party.Our party gave Social Security to the nation in the 1930’s. We gave Medicare to the nation in the 1960’s. Andwe can bring national health insurance to the nation in the 1970’s.
“One of the saddest ironies in the worldwide movement for social justice in the twentieth century is thatAmerica now stands virtually alone in the international community on national health insurance. It seems thatevery nation is out of step with Uncle Sam. With the sole exception of South Africa, no other industrial nation inthe world leaves its citizens in fear of financial ruin because of illness.
“A generation after Franklin Roosevelt set the noble goals of freedom from want and freedom from fear, largenumbers of Americans are deprived of decent health care and are fearful of the bills they may be forced to pay.
“For a very few, for whom the need is least, we have already made a start on national health insurance.
“We’ve got national health-insurance for the rich, who deduct the cost of major illness on their income taxreturns. And the richer you are, the higher the percentage of your health bill you can charge to the IRS.
“We’ve got national health insurance for members of the Senate and House of Representatives. They givetheir speeches and cast their votes in Congress. And then they go out to Walter Reed Army Hospital orBethesda Naval Hospital for the free medical and dental care that Uncle Sam provides.
“That isn’t fair. If national health insurance is good enough for the wealthy and good enough for Congress,then it is good enough for every American citizen in every city, town and village and on every farm throughoutthis land.
“There are some who say we cannot afford national health insurance. They say it has become an earlycasualty of the war against inflation. But the truth is, we cannot afford not to have national health insurance.
“Health care in 1978 has become the fastest-growing failing business in America. Costs are out of control. Ifwe do nothing, if all we do is drift with the present system, the cost of health care in America will climb from$175 billion this year to $250 billion in 1981.
“The rising cost of health is not just a crisis that afflicts the poor and helpless. It has hit the suburbs, too.Millions of middle income citizens face the Hobson’s choice of cutting back on health or other family needs.
“The average worker is lucky if his paycheck barely holds its own against inflation. Yet the cost of health inrecent years has been rising twice as rapidly as the Consumer Price Index. There is not enough money to goaround. Something has to give. And it is often the family’s budget or health that is the first to go.
“Every day, parents are deciding whether they can afford the $25 doctor office charge and the $25 laboratorybill when their child is sick. Elderly citizens are deciding whether to spend for food or rent or health. YoungAmericans are gambling on their health, signing up for cut-rate, fly-by-night insurance schemes because theirbudgets cannot afford the premium for a decent insurance policy.
“Only through national health insurance can we achieve the effective controls on costs that will bring inflationdown and bring adequate health care within financial reach of every citizen.
“More than most Americans, I know what it means to have serious illness in the family. My father was crippledby a stroke and required constant care for years. My son was stricken by cancer, and is well today because ofthe miracle of American medicine. A decade ago, I myself was hospitalized for several months, my back brokenin many places.
“Fortunately, our family could afford to pay for all the care we needed. And so the tragedy of serious illness forthose we loved was not compounded by the additional tragedy of a heavy financial burden.
“Together, we can lift that financial burden from all the families of America. Through national health insurance,we can provide a decent health care system for the benefit of the people of this land. We can make healthcare a basic right for all, not just an expensive privilege for the few.”
