Healthcare for the homeless
Outreach
Chalk one up for the pro-universal healthcare side. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution recently mentioned a report by the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta that said health issues are a large factor in homelessness and that proper healthcare could get quite a few people off the streets.
Documentaries like Sicko and Roger Weisberg’s Critical Condition have long sung the praises of government-subsidized healthcare, and now the Foundation’s data can be added to their canon. The report stated that mental illness, infection, disease, and poor nutrition plague many homeless people.
For the past three years, healthcare has been a common theme for documentary filmmakers, with stances on both sides of the issue. Productions by On the Fence Films such as The Lemon, Two Women, Dead Meat and A Short Course in Brain Surgery portray socialized healthcare as a deadly alternative that gives politicians the authority to make decisions about medical priorities.
Having only seen the pro-universal healthcare films myself, I would rather the government (which the public has some control over) make those decisions than profit-driven insurance companies and HMOs. And the idea that it could help decrease the number of homeless in this country as well just bolsters my support for it.
Some may balk at the idea even more after hearing this connection, considering socialized healthcare a step towards transforming the U.S. into a welfare state. But truth be told, this wouldn’t be the first thing we socialized in this country. We have socialized schools, libraries, fire departments and postal services. If we can get sci-fi books and romance novels for free, we should be able to have our lives saved for free as well.
-Kathryn Robertson
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