Why I support universal healthcare

I have a good job. I have quality health insurance for myself and my dependents, funded in part by my employer. I pay taxes, and might even see my taxes go up to help fund universal healthcare.

So why do I support universal healthcare?

Let's start with another question. Why do I have health insurance?

1. By chance, I was born into a family that could afford to send me to college. Therefore I was able to obtain an education that enabled me to get a good job - the type of job that typically includes subsidized health insurance.
2. My employer offers it. This is in part my choice: I might not choose to accept employment with a company that doesn't offer health coverage. But in a pinch, I imagine I'd accept a job just about anywhere if it meant the difference between home-ownership and foreclosure.
3. By chance or luck, I'm relatively healthy. This means no expensive treatments or pre-existing conditions for which an insurance company could decide to cancel my coverage.
4. Because my parents had health insurance. That's one reason that I'm alive today. After delivery by emergency c-section, I was transfused with blood to replace what had been lost. And one week later, I had surgery to repair an intestinal blockage that prevented me from digesting anything. Without those interventions, I wouldn't have survived my first month. If I had died, I probably wouldn't have health insurance today. My parents' health coverage was, again, not something within my control.

To recap, I have health insurance today for four reasons: birth into a family that could afford to give me a good education; an employer that provides benefits; my own health history; and my parents' health coverage. At least three of those reasons, and arguably all four, are not within my control.

So why do I support universal health insurance?

Because I suspect that the fate of the uninsured is no more within their control than my own.