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PUBLIC
FINANCING
MEDICARE
FOR ALL
MIGHT MEAN By Alan M. Preston, MHA, Sc.D.
MISERY FOR MOST
As the Affordable Care Act (ACA) continues to implode and the What are the “Rights” we have in the Constitution? The Bill of
replacement or fix is becoming increasingly unlikely, Bernie Sanders Rights has quite a list of rights. The second amendment provides
and a few of his Senate constituents have suggested that “Medicare the right of the people to keep and bear arms, and that right shall
For All” may be the solution. Is there any substance to the Bernie not be infringed upon by the federal government. Now, whether or
Sanders single payer model? not you support gun ownership is not the primary issue here. The
issue is about rights in our constitution. The Bill of Rights exists to
I decided to review Sanders’ website to determine the salient fea- protect the “people” from the government, trying to take away such
tures, positions, and claims he makes about the benefits of a sin- rights. This popular quote says it best:
gle-payer system and analyze the merits of such. His first claim is:
“That Healthcare must be recognized as a right and not a privilege.” “When governments fear the people, there is liberty. When the
I have previously written about the differences between a right and people fear the government, there is tyranny.”
a privilege, and it bears repeating here.
Nowhere in the constitution does it suggest that the Federal
24 San Antonio Medicine • December 2017
