I say that healthcare is a human right! I say that we all have the right to medicine when we’re sick, to care when we’re in pain, and to life! What do you say? If you agree with me, then you must be just as angry with our current healthcare system.

Thus far, the United States has failed to provide adequate healthcare to everyone. Currently, about 31 million people are uninsured and about 41 million don’t have sufficient coverage. That’s one in ten people that don’t have insurance and another one in twelve that don’t have good insurance in America. We are the only first-world country that doesn’t have universal healthcare where everyone has healthcare when they need it. Essentially, we are rich, but we can’t afford the decency to cover and give medical care to everyone.

Now, there are programs to cover those who don’t have insurance and therefore can’t get healthcare through normal institutions, not even the emergency room unless they’re on the verge of death or in active labor, otherwise, they run the risk of being turned away, which is entirely legal if someone doesn’t have insurance. But this isn’t enough and doesn’t address the root problem, which is that our system is twisted and complicated and favors the insurance companies and the rich as well as doesn’t allow enough for those who can’t afford it.

It also is extremely expensive because there is so much variation. Not everything costs the same, not insurance or medicine or procedures, it’s all so unnecessarily complicated and truly benefits no one but those in the insurance companies who make a profit off of people being deprived of healthcare. What we need is a new system, adding programs won’t cut it. We need a universal system, one that makes sure to honor that healthcare is a human right and that everyone receives healthcare when they need it.

And you shouldn't fear a change in this system, for universal systems around the world have proven to be cheaper and more efficient, even having equivalent or sometimes quicker wait times than we have now. But the first step is putting this issue to the forefront of the minds of people who can enact meaningful change in the system; we need to get the attention of the national government.

So many proposals have been made in the past to change the system but all have been shut down because of economic reasons from insurance companies or political reasons from the different parties. But this shouldn’t be about politics or even economics, the dilemma of a universal healthcare system should be about morality.

So, if you do believe that healthcare is a human right, you should sign the petition calling for healthcare reform. Once we make the decision, unanimous as people, that we do need a new system, then the real change can begin. Together we can build a system that benefits all and covers all, if only you’ll spare a moment of your time to make a difference, which will turn into an impact that ripples out into the world to the people who need it most. This petition will usher in a new era in healthcare for our country, and the goal for signatures is 100,000, the minimum number that warrants government attention, which means they’ll have to consider and respond to this issue.

So help us, help us all! Help the kids like me who may one day want to become doctors. Let them contribute to a system they’re proud of and that helps everybody. Help the people who cannot get good medical care now, who still deserve medicine and healthcare even if they can’t pay for it. Help yourselves and those you love and everyone! Be a part of the change!