[Cedwards38]

I think it has to be and should be. What objective could be more important to our nation than the health of our families and individuals? Even though the ACA has provided a health coverage for approximatelly 20,000,000 people who did not have insurance prior to the law, there are still people who do not have insurance or can not afford the products the ACA has available.

I've argued before that the American Declaration of Independence, duly adopted by the Second Continental Congress states "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.........."

If our government is on record that we have that unalienable right to life, then does the government not have on undeniable responsibility to ensure that all citizens, regardless of socioeconomic status, has healthcare. This includes children, elderly, and those with sundry preexisting conditions.

The ACA is troubled because not enough healthy people are signing up for the insurance. It is doing wonders for children and the sick, but to make it profitable it must also have many payers who use it very little. It's the same financing philosophy as that behind Social Security. It's funded by the working, who don't use it until later in life.

Thus I am an advocate of a single payer system, with negotiated health care fees and drug prices, so that every American can have access to quality healthcare without the threat of bankruptcy. Medicare for all.

How do we afford it? I'm also an advocate for massive reform of the federal tax code which will cause a fair system where the wealthy and corporations pay a much higher share of their income than they do currently. This means ending offshore sheltering of income from federal tax and a tax rate that is much higher on those with incomes over $250,000.