August 19, 2025: Healthcare: A Right, A Privilege, A Commodity?

Voices of Reason & Resistance host Barbara Humphrey and guests Opollo Johnson, Dream Smith and Margie Standard discussed healthcare in the USA and asked--is USA healthcare a right, a privilege, a commodity.

We discussed data showing the number of people in the USA and Savannah who are un- or under-insured, the costs of healthcare and health insurance, and how this situation creates obstacles to healthcare.  We talked about healthcare models in other countries, such as France and Cuba, where healthcare is a right vs. USA, where it is obviously a privilege for those who can afford the care and/or insurance and a commodity.

We also shared our stories of finding affordable healthcare and the denials we have faced.  Dream Smith told an incredibly powerful story of trying to access care to repair damage she suffered when someone fell on her.  She has been denied surgery to fix the damage, and without this surgery, she will face a lifetime of physical disability.  

We put on our thinking caps and concluded from the statistics and our stories that the USA healthcare system is broken and we need a fix that makes healthcare a right for all.  Do you have stories?  Please visit our Facebook page, Voices of Reason Savannah WRUU and share your stories.

Next week, we ask these same questions about food--right, privilege, or commodity?