Tommy Douglas Quotes

I see the insurance issue, the coverage of people for healthcare in our country as a huge moral issue. The richest country in the world to have 47 million people without health insurance is ridiculous.

For many Americans, including many who are employed, going to the doctor when they fall ill or become injured may not be an option because of the absence of health insurance.

No one should have to choose between medicine and other necessities. No one should have to use the emergency room every time a child gets sick. And no one should have to live in constant fear that a medical problem will become a financial crisis.

Professionalism in medicine has given us medial miracles for the affluent but hospitals that will charge $35 for aspirin.

Scores of Congolese die each day unnecessarily due to the lack of access to healthcare and modern medicine.

One in seven Americans, including more than 8 million children, does not have even basic healthcare coverage.

I think that we have a number of different health care challenges in our country, and certainly addressing the uninsured is one, and the second is making sure that those with health insurance actually get the care that they assume they'll have available to them if they get sick.

In 2001, America 's hospitals provided nearly $21 billion in uncompensated health care services.

We can all agree that no American should lose their life savings or their home because of illness or injury and that the rising cost of health care severely burdens individuals, families and businesses.

Civil and political rights are critical, but not often the real problem for the destitute sick. My patients in Haiti can now vote but they can't get medical care or clean water.

If your baby is going to die and it doesn't have to, it shouldn't matter how much money you make.

We've got people that are paying premiums of $1,000 a month out there, and then they've got a deductible of $1,000. If you're making $40,000, $50,000, $60,000 out there and you've got an Obamacare plan, by and large you've got an insurance card, but you don't have any care because you can't afford the deductible.

Without health insurance, getting sick or injured could mean going bankrupt, going without needed care, or even dying needlessly.

If you're sick, you should be able to see a doctor. And if you're seen, you should be able to afford the bill and your medicine without going broke. There is absolutely nothing radical about this.

When you pay a hospital bill, you're really paying two hospital bills - one bill for you because you have a job and/or insurance and can pay the hospital. and another bill, which is tacked onto your bill, to cover the medical expenses of someone who doesn't have a job and/or insurance and can't pay the hospital.

The skyrocketing costs of insulin are simply unaffordable for too many Maine families, and no one should be forced to choose between life-saving medications and essentials like groceries or clothes for their kids.

By training and keeping doctors in underserved areas, we're working toward a goal of increasing access to quality health care for more of our communities.

Whether it's a mom worrying about affording insulin for her children or a cancer patient fearing bankruptcy due the price of his life-saving medications, the number one issue Kansans talk to me about is the cost of health care and prescription drugs.

It's a simple proposition to us: Everyone is entitled to adequate medical health care. If you call that a 'redistribution of income' -- well, so be it. I don't call it that. I call it just being fair -- giving the middle class taxpayers an even break that the wealthy have been getting.

I felt that no boy should have to depend either for his leg or his life upon the ability of his parents to raise enough money to bring a first-class surgeon to his bedside. And I think it was out of this experience, not at the moment consciously, but through the years, I came to believe that health services ought not to have a price tag on them, and that people should be able to get whatever health services they require irrespective of their individual capacity to pay.

What you don't see on television is people dying today because they can't get to a doctor and they can't afford prescription drugs. That's why they are also dying. They are dying in Iraq because they are poor and they have gone into the military because they can't afford to go to college. They're dying because they're living in communities where asthma rates are extremely high because the air is filthy. The suffering of the poor and working class people is a virtual nonissue for the media. But that is the reality.

It's not like we have a choice. We can't let what's happening happen. I mean, I've heard stories that are so horrible. I mean, people are killing themselves while they're waiting on line because they can't - you know, they know it's days and days before they can have what could be a simple procedure, what could be a simple prescription.

Nothing seems crueler--or more ironic--than these upper crusters who never pay a dime for their high-priced shrinks or reflexology sessions to call those who just want that tumor removed from their uterus a bunch of commies. Well, the revolution is at hand and let's hope all those uninsured commies give the rich such a headache that a whole bottle of Advil won't be enough to take the pain way.

The medical profession [in Egypt] is also very commercial. Health is not given to the poor. You know, if you have money, you have medical care; if you do not, then you are in trouble. I was not ready at all to build my economic security on the diseases of people, on suffering, especially of women and children. So, in a way, I rebelled against it.

Millions of our citizens do not now have a full measure of opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health. Millions do not now have protection or security against the economic effects of sickness. The time has arrived for action to help them attain that opportunity and that protection.