Jack Dugan
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Health care is a dubious subject, not only polarizing the left and the right wings of American politics but driving a spike in factions of otherwise like-minded party members. The big question among the two Democratic presidential heavyweights, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., is this: rebuild or build upon the progress made during President Obama’s time in office?
The bedrock of this question remains to be the Affordable Care Act, commonly referred to as Obamacare.
Clinton, perhaps best fit for maneuvering the ever consistent and rigorously staunch Republican opposition to anything resembling socialized health care, is keen on defending the monumental act and, if she finds herself seated in the Oval Office, plans to strengthen it while blocking any and all Republican efforts to repeal the act.

 Her website states, “Going forward, Hillary will build on these efforts and fight to ensure that the savings from these reforms benefits families — not just insurance companies, drug companies, and large corporations.” A noble endeavor, indeed.
But the fundamental flaw with Obamacare resides in the legislation relying on cooperation with free-market pharmaceuticals to help make health care affordable. Which was seen with former pharmaceutical mogul Martin Shkreli’s deplorable HIV- and malaria-medicine markup when his firm obtained the manufacturing license for the antiparasitic drug Daraprim and raised its price by 5,556 percent (from $13.50 to $750 per tablet). When there is money to be made in a free market, people will always exploit other people.
That said, perhaps rebuilding the Affordable Health Care Act is just as farfetched with a Republican dominated Congress. Some is better than none, one could say, but this writer wants it all.
Socialize health care. Clinton’s advisory in the Democratic primary agrees and wants a fresh start with health-care legislation. Sanders’ health-care plan is ambitious, let’s say. Some write that it’s too idealistic, though why shouldn’t the ideal be something to constantly reach for instead of grasping at shaky compromise?
Vocal opponents to his “Medicare-for-all” plan say raising taxes is simply un-American, with the proposed 52 percent income tax on earners above $10 million (Shkreli undoubtedly falling within this tax bracket), among other tax hikes.
This is perhaps the biggest hurdle in his plan, though it has been jumped before. According to Taxhistory.org, under President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his historic New Deal, “Lawmakers raised income tax rates across the board, with the top marginal rate jumping from 25 percent to 63 percent.”
As it has been said before, the bottom line on whether socialized health care should exist in the United States lies in the belief that health care should be a human right. Whichever side you land on, if health care is not a human right, it is at least a civic duty. People should take care of other people.
There is absolutely no reason one of the most affluent nations in the world should be incapable of taking care of those who are not bestowed the economic privilege of buying adequate health-care insurance policies.