Auchtoon!

Healthcare has been a hot topic on the campaign trail this year, nationally and in Michigan. This should come as no surprise — healthcare is highly relatable. We all need it, we all use it, we all hope for a high quality and low cost.

The problem then with treating healthcare as an election year topic is we lose that connection to how it affects us all. Instead of “we are all in this together, so let’s figure the best way forward,” it’s more, “we need to come to some agreement on pre-existing conditions, so let’s trade that for building a border wall.” Healthcare improvements get disconnected from what will actually improve healthcare.

And so it has gone in America, especially the past ten years.

In Michigan’s 2nd Congressional District, the whole reason Dr. Rob Davidson decided to run against incumbent Bill Huizenga was to reconnect us to a healthcare solution. Davidson is proposing Medicare for All. Huizenga is proposing, well, not that, which as near as I can tell is the Republican default answer to anything healthcare.

Good heavens Republicans, don’t you think it’s time to give us something to work with here?! Can you please offer something more substantial than an occasional “HSAs are nice”? We know you can do it — you guys came up with the whole Obamacare concept (before you decided to call it Obamacare and work against it).

So is Medicare for All (or some variant of universal health care) the answer? I dunno. I was at the Michigan Radio “Issues and Ales” event earlier this week and asked the panel if we were perhaps at some tipping point to move forward on universal healthcare. The consensus was “no.” Unfortunately, that’s my take, too. And I’m afraid until we do reach that tipping point, healthcare won’t be anything but a campaign issue.