I like Dennis Kucinich. The guy has guts, and he’s persistent in arguing for universal, not-for-profit healthcare, despite being ignored by his colleagues in Congress and by the majority of Americans. He’s long been one of the very few truly progressive voices in Washington. Incidentally, an effort is underway to eliminate Kucinich’s congressional district.
Whether or not one agrees with Kucinich’s perspective on healthcare, it’s important to note that our economic and social systems have a huge impact on health. In terms of the four-quadrant, cover-all-the-bases, integral approach to health that I’m exploring on this website, Kucinich is offering an inter-objective, lower-right quadrant perspective. Health is not just a matter of how our physical organism is functioning; not just about our state of mind; not just about our cultural norms. All three of these dimensions must be taken into account, in addition to the social systems dimension, which Kucinich addresses here from his own perspective [Congressman Kucinich delivered the following statement on the Floor of the House of Representatives on January 19, 2011]:
“We have a for-profit health care system, where $800,000,000,000 every year is spent on corporate profits, stock options, executive salaries, advertising, marketing and the cost of paperwork.
“In the for-profit system that we have, nearly one out of every three health care dollars goes for things not related to health care. If we took that $800,000,000,000 and spent it on care for people, we’d have enough money to cover all medically necessary needs in addition to dental care, vision care, mental health care, prescription drugs and long-term care.
“We would not have a situation where 50 million Americans don’t have any health insurance. Americans would not have to worry about losing everything they have worked a lifetime for because they have an illness in the family.
“This debate is the wrong debate. A for-profit model is the wrong model. We should be talking about universal health care, single-payer not-for-profit health care, Medicare for All, quality health care for all Americans.”