Noam Chomsky: The US Health System Is an "International Scandal" -- and ACA Repeal Will Make It Worse

(Image: Lauren Walker / Truthout; Adapted: Thomasjphotos)

• The prevailing situation reminds us of the words of John Dewey: "Power today resides in control of the means of production, exchange, publicity, transportation and communication. Whoever owns them rules the life of the country," even if democratic forms remain. "Until those institutions are in the hands of the public, he continued, politics will remain "the shadow cast on society by big business."
• Related: Three reasons the US doesn’t have universal health coverage

C.J. Polychroniou, Truthout

Thursday, January 12, 2017 | Changes are coming to America's health care system. Not long from now, the Affordable Care Act could be history. President-elect Donald Trump wants to repeal so-called Obamacare, although he is now urging Republicans to repeal and replace it at the same time. But replace it with what?

The political culture of the most powerful nation in the world is such that it vehemently defends the right of people to buy guns but opposes the right to free and decent health care for all its citizens. In all likelihood, the Trump health care plan will be one based on "free market principles." Under such a plan, as Noam Chomsky notes in the exclusive interview for Truthout that follows, poor people are likely to suffer most. In other words, the scandalous nature of the US health care system is bound to become even more scandalous in the Trump era. Welcome back to the future.

Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, logician, political commentator and activist. He is perhaps best known as a critic of all forms of social control and a relentless advocate for community-centered approaches to democracy and freedom. Over the last several decades, Chomsky has championed a wide range of dissident actions, organizations and social movements.

C.J. Polychroniou is a political economist/political scientist who has taught and worked in universities and research centers in Europe and the United States. His main research interests are in European economic integration, globalization, the political economy of the United States and the deconstruction of neoliberalism's politico-economic project.

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Three reasons the US doesn’t have universal health coverage, Timothy Callaghan, Raw Story 

• As long as these facts remain, there is little reason to expect universal coverage in America anytime soon, regardless of who becomes president.
• Related: Health Care Is A Right, Not A Business