America’s obsession with privatized healthcare has produced a system that is morally indefensible and economically unsustainable. No one should have to choose between treatment and bankruptcy, or watch loved ones suffer because a corporation denied coverage.

If health is wealth—and it is—then universal care is the foundation for a truly prosperous nation. We have the resources, the models, and the public support. What we lack is the political courage.

It’s time for the United States to join the civilized world and treat healthcare not as a profit engine, but as a sacred right.

As a new nation in the late 18th century without a standing army, a young independent America relied on state militias for defense. Militias were composed of ordinary citizens who were expected to be ready for military service and the phrase ‘well regulated’ was understood to mean a disciplined and well-trained force necessary for the security of a free state. Over time this collective right for protection against tyranny has increasingly been interpreted as an individual right to possess firearms, a view solidified by the Supreme Court in cases such as District of Columbia v. Heller (2008).