Healthcare: A Civil Right and Moral Issue

Finally – with the passage of the healthcare bill, I’ll get some healthcare coverage, along with millions of other uninsured residents of this country.

“Health care is not only a civil right, it’s a moral issue,” said Representative Patrick J. Kennedy, Democrat of Rhode Island, who invoked the memory of his father, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat and a lifelong champion of health care for all.

(From Obama Hails Vote on Health Care as Answering ‘the Call of History,’ New York Times, March 21, 2010)

This is also a moment of history, a culmination of the legacies of Truman and Franklin Roosevelt.

On Nov. 19, 1945, Truman stated facts that are true to this day. "People with low or moderate incomes do not get the same medical attention as those with high incomes," he said. "The poor have more sickness, but they get less medical care. People who live in rural areas do not get the same amount or quality of medical attention as those who live in our cities."

The nation, Truman added, needed to resolve "that financial barriers in the way of attaining health shall be removed" and "that the health of all its citizens deserves the help of all the Nation." Nearly 65 years later, Truman's wish has come to pass.

This is also a moment of history, a culmination of the legacies of Truman and Franklin Roosevelt.

On Nov. 19, 1945, Truman stated facts that are true to this day. "People with low or moderate incomes do not get the same medical attention as those with high incomes," he said. "The poor have more sickness, but they get less medical care. People who live in rural areas do not get the same amount or quality of medical attention as those who live in our cities."

The nation, Truman added, needed to resolve "that financial barriers in the way of attaining health shall be removed" and "that the health of all its citizens deserves the help of all the Nation." Nearly 65 years later, Truman's wish has come to pass.