Universal Health Care: We Already Gave it to Iraq

Many US lawmakers opposing health care reform need to be asked why it's OK for Iraqis but not Americans, Mark Dorlester writes for the Huffington Post. Article 31 of the Iraqi Constitution—made possible by the war, and hailed as a victory by the Bush administration—guarantees every Iraqi state-funded health care, a provision Dorlester thinks would be slammed as out-of-control socialism by right-wingers if it applied to Americans.

Operation Enduring Freedom has cost America $864 billion so far, most of that in Iraq, Dorlester notes, a fortune that could easily have guaranteed sufficient health care here. If your local House rep or senator voted to put funds toward the Iraq war but opposes providing health care as a civil right to Americans, Dorlester writes, "you might consider less hypocritical representation." (More health care stories.)