From the Puget Sound Business Journal:
Former Secretary of State and longtime Republican Colin Powell is calling for a universal health care solution in the U.S.
“We are a wealthy enough country with the capacity to make sure that every one of our fellow citizens has access to quality health care,” he said Thursday at a Seattle fundraiser for prostate cancer. “(Let’s show) the rest of the world what our democratic system is all about and how we take care of all of our citizens.”
The retired four-star general, a prostate cancer survivor, spoke at the Prostate Cancer Survivors Celebration Breakfast, organized by UW Medicine and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
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“I am not an expert in health care, or Obamacare, or the Affordable Care Act, or however you choose to describe it, but I do know this: I have benefited from that kind of universal health care in my 55 years of public life,” Powell said. “And I don’t see why we can’t do what Europe is doing, what Canada is doing, what Korea is doing, what all these other places are doing.”
Gen. Powell’s support for universal health care is welcome news for the single-payer movement. He demonstrates that this issue cuts across all political stripes. Providing health care to all is a progressive and a conservative idea. Universal health care will not only save lives, but save our country billions of dollars, spur entrepreneurship, create jobs and boost our economy. If only Gen. Powell’s fellow Republicans in Congress could see that.
Sylvia@californiaonecare.org