There’s a lot of talk about healthcare in this country. From the disappointing results of Obamacare to the Bernie Sanders-endorsed Medicaid for all, the problem of affordable healthcare in the United States remains an issue that motivates some voters.
Although most of these problems are related to insurance, cost and other factors, Planned Parenthood’s new president offered a different perspective in a CNN opinion piece. She believes that the healthcare problems that plague this country are based around one thing, “oppression.”
If that seems like a bit of a stretch, that’s because it is.
Oppression is not a word that should be used to describe the United States and its healthcare system. Despite its flaws, the U.S. continues to have one of the best and most accessible medical schools, hospitals and doctors in the entire world. If Dr. Wen is interested in what an oppressed medical system actually looks like, perhaps she can move Planned Parenthood’s operations to Venezuela. It’s a country where the government has almost completely collapsed, hospitals have no supplies, and patients have to buy their cancer treatments on the black market.
That’s a country where the health system, and the entire country, is oppressed and experiencing immense difficulties like severe food and medical shortages. That’s nothing like what is happening in the U.S., and Dr. Wen knows that.
As a physician, Wen is aware that anyone in the United States can walk into any hospital and receive care. Those that choose not to seek out care either due to immigration status or another concern is not a reflection of oppression but of personal decisions. But Dr. Wen doesn’t care about the real reason that some people cannot get healthcare or offering them care at Planned Parenthood where primary care services have decreased significantly over the last two decades.
All that Dr. Wen and her liberal compatriots care about is pushing a political agenda based around supporting “free” healthcare, which isn’t really free at all since healthcare would instead be paid by others through massive tax increases. It has nothing to do with oppression and trying to help the marginalized, but all about forcing a radical progressive agenda supported by her organization.
Healthcare has never been free and will never be free. Throughout the centuries, there has always been a cost associated with receiving any type of care. Liberal politicians keep pushing for free healthcare to the public without explaining that there is a cost attached, which might be much more than most people are willing or can pay.
The healthcare industry needs an overhaul. Politicians on all sides of the aisle can agree about that, but calling a country with the best medical care available “oppressive” is deceitful and should be offensive to anyone working in the hospitals and doctors’ offices across the country. It goes to show that a physician might be leading Planned Parenthood, but healthcare is still not the focus.
