The health care situation, among other things, has come to a point of dire need for reform. For those whose jobs provide them with health care, there is no evident problem. For the growing ranks of the unemployed, not even Obama’s new deductions will be sufficient. When food and rent take more money than your entire income, a trip to the hospital would be financially disabling for years to come if it were ever able to be paid off.

The money that is proposed for medical research in the stimulus package being formulated this week, 6.5 billion, should be put toward a national public health care provider. Those that have better coverage and wish to maintain it would be able to do so and receive the tax credit for the health care that they pay for. Those who don’t have a health care plan and can’t afford one would then have at least a basic coverage. This would protect them from in instance debt that would be incurred if an accident such as slipping on the ice and breaking a leg were to happen.

Though they represent the majority of the population, those currently covered by health insurance don’t constitute the populace or even the entire working populace. It is obvious that everyone would prefer to have an insurance plan of some sort and most would prefer to have it provided by their employer. Unfortunately, with soaring unemployment rates and a slow economy forcing further job cuts, more people are losing their insurance coverage and more employers are cutting health insurance leaving more people to purchase their own coverage without the collective buying power of a large corporation or the disposable income to purchase it.

As the open market, capitalistic economic model flops and flails, it becomes obvious that a model with more control is necessary to provide proper services, protections and ultimately prevent such a collapse from occurring again in the future. This government intervention must happen in many sectors and health care is one of them. If the tax deductions are waved and the money people were going to spend on their health insurance is pooled, those contributing more being classified as such for better care when needed, the fund could be managed much more effectively and efficiently. Dealing with one uniform set of circumstances for all parties involved, we would be able to give standard health care to all and continue giving