Health Care
12.07.2009
I have been an early and consistent champion of expanded health care for adults, children and families. I am a strong supporter of mental health parity in health care treatment, having served on a local mental health board for 6 years while judge and secretary of state.
Many people have asked me if I support "single payer" (government insured health care, like Medicare for all) and the answer is “yes,” to the degree that it is an option for Americans and Ohioans to choose, among employer-provided plans, Medicare or other plans they may already be covered under or are satisfied with. I believe that a public option and eventually single payer coverage is something to work toward as Americans begin to see the benefit of universal health care, which I believe is a right, not a privilege.
Forces against equal access to health care have advertised on television about isolated health care incidents in countries like Canada, attributing these calamities to any type of government provided health insurance system, by confusing it with health care through socialized medicine. Under socialized medicine the government owns and operates health care facilities, while health insurance supplied by the government is simply a financing mechanism. The government collects and allocates money for health care but has little to no involvement in the actual delivery of services. Forces against the choice of a government health insurance program seem afraid to criticize the largest and most successful government health insurance system now in use in our country—Medicare.
Solving the health care deficits we face will take Democrats and Republicans working together, unfazed by cleverly disguised ads, taunts and incentives of corporate interests that oppose this needed change. People should be able to keep their employer-supplied health insurance if they want to, but everyone needs access to health care, not just the wealthy or the impoverished. This is so important for a strong middle class and for strengthening the impact of improvements in education—a healthy and educated population can progress much more quickly.
Please also read my press releases on health care:
U.S. Senate Candidate Jennifer Brunner Continues to Campaign for President Obama's Health Care Plan
U.S. Senate Candidate Jennifer Brunner: The Public Option isn't Optional in Health Care Reform
U.S. Senate Candidate Jennifer Brunner Assails Anti-Choice Amendment to House Health Bill
Updated: April 13th, 2010
