Almost twenty percent of all Americans lack any form of healthcare insurance. Many more are underinsured. Consequently, a great number of Americans receive little or no healthcare at all. Many, but not all, of these people are women and children. Some are destitute, but most are not. Quite a few of these uninsured are actually working families who cannot afford coverage, yet, earn too much to be eligible for Medi-Cal, the state's healthcare provider.

In a great society, such as ours, it is a pity that we cannot provide what should be a basic human right, to all of our citizens, equally. The level or quality of healthcare should be an inalienable right of all people, not a privilege of the few. Money should not be allowed to dictate that some should live in good health while others suffer in humiliation and anger. The lack of universal healthcare is one of the greatest social inequities of our society.

A single payer healthcare system would go a long way toward leveling the playing field for all. A single payer system is one in which a single entity, such as Medi-Cal, procures, provides and or pays for all healthcare needs. Providing uniform and universal healthcare for all, regardless of race or stature, can only improve our entire civilization. The common good is served best by serving all.

However, profits dictate the rules in U.S. healthcare today. So long as healthcare thrives only as a function of profit, a single payer system will never come to pass. Insurance companies, agents, lawyers, and doctors, pharmaceutical companies, medical suppliers and even hospitals all compete for money in a cutthroat fashion. In concert, they consume in excess of one-third of the Gross Domestic Product, in the U.S. Yet, every day, people are denied adequate care because they can pay no more. This profiteering in the healthcare industry must stop.

The U.S. is the only major industrialized nation in the world that does not provide cradle to grave health care for its citizenry. We produce ground breaking technology in the medical field, yet ignore the needs of our indigent children.

The triumvirate of Insurers, Practitioners and Apothecaries must be reined in somehow. Who would pay for this single payer system? Wouldn't we have to raise our contributions to make up for those who can't pay? You and I already do just that. We pay for the services that others receive through taxes. However, the money is squandered in fat salaries, perks, lawsuits, insurance and just plain fraud. Studies suggest that only twenty percent of all modern allopathic (western medicine) treatments have been proven clinically efficacious in scientific trials. That means that eighty percent of today's medical proceedures are unwarranted, unnecessary and ineffective. The elimination of healthcare insurers would realize an immediate savings because there would be no overhead or profits to realize.

Shareholders equity would not determine your degree of healthcare. No insurers would mean no claims forms, agents and their commissions, fraud to perpetrate or arbitrations. No insurers would mean fast, efficient and effective healthcare for all. The current form of healthcare insurance in this country serves only to perpetuate its bloated existence.

The limiting of liabilities is another area of great potential savings. Malpractice insurance for medical practitioners is spiraling ever upward. Claims for damages, albeit legitimate, are all too often excessive, in pursuit of punitive effect. The punishment, however, flows to the consumer, who pays for the fines with increased prices. The legal system becomes just a bloated, insurance driven bureaucracy, that feasts on the suffering of humanity. Such actions are shameful, indeed.

Nationalization of pharmaceutical companies would also contribute in a positive fashion. Medicine could return to the pursuit of pure science instead of the headlong rush to market expensive "buzzword" drugs. Many existing therapies and treatments exist only because they produce a sizable profit. Something is wrong when more money is spent on the marketing of nicotine patches than on the prevention of teen smoking.

Cut the fat and get on with the show. I'm getting old in a hurry and this situation scares the hell out of me. Half of all the money that you will ever spend in your life on medical care will be spent in the last three months of your life. That is a statistical fact. Wouldn't it be nice if we could afford to pay for it? If other nations can provide universal healthcare for citizens, why then, can't we?