Dennis Kucinich’s New Movement: Health Care as a Civil Right

The following is a letter from Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), dated September 9, 2009. He attempts to invoke the constitution and claim "Health Care" as a "Civil Right." He proposes that by filling out the form and subscribing to the single-payer-public-option we will somehow "reclaim our government from the insurance and pharmaceutical companies." Do we acquire "rights" from the benevolence of administrative government?

Dear Friends,

There is only one true health care public option: Single payer. It covers everyone, all basic health care needs, with doctor of choice. No more premiums, co-pays or deductibles. All health care assets in America would become not-for-profit. The bill already exists. It is HR 676. Congressman John Conyers and I wrote the bill. Our bill has the support of 85 co-sponsors in the House. And it is backed by a growing national movement of labor, doctors, and nurses. The movement needs you. The hour has arrived to begin anew the Civil Rights Movement, this time for Health Care for All. I am calling upon you to become a force in this movement.

The Preamble to the United States Constitution and Article One, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution both describe an originating purpose of our United States: to promote the general welfare. Health care Health care is a basic right in a Democratic society. It is no more a privilege based on ability to pay than is the right to vote, which was once accorded only to property owners. Health care is also a moral imperative. Forty seven million Americans are uninsured. Fifty million Americans are underinsured. People are losing their homes, their jobs, their life’s savings, their retirement security and their financial health because they cannot pay medical bills, and despite this calamity Washington looks another way. We must not avert our eyes to this human suffering and this economic injustice.

Let’s prepare a response which Washington will long remember as the time when the people reclaimed their government from the insurance and pharmaceutical companies. Together, we can initiate an action plan to intervene and provide health care for all.

Thank you.
Dennis Kucinich