Tomorrow in Des Moines, Iowa, Senator Hillary Clinton will propose her plan to remedy a significant issue: Universal Health Insurance coverage for all Americans. According to a statistic reported by the New York Times, over 47 million Americans have no medical insurance. Many others, due to the rising costs of monthly premiums, have less than adequate coverage. Catastrophic medical expenses are among the leading causes of bankruptcy filings in the United States of America.
“Mrs. Clinton’s purpose, they said, is not only to cover the 47 million people who are uninsured but to improve the quality of health care and make insurance more affordable for those who already have it…
Previewing her speech, Clinton aides said she would assert on Monday that there was a moral imperative to ensure that ‘every single American has quality affordable health coverage,’ just as she contends there is an economic imperative to rein in costs…
Mrs. Clinton will not try to impose an overall limit on national health spending, the aides said. But she is prepared once again to do battle with insurance companies, which she has said ‘ spend tens of billions of dollars a year figuring out how not to cover people’ and ‘how to cherry-pick the healthiest persons, and leave everyone else out in the cold.’ ” (1)
Frederick Bailey never had to worry about losing his medical coverage. Or whether or not moving from one place of employment to the next would interrupt his coverage. Slaves in 19th Century Maryland did not have any protection if they became ill or disabled. In many respects, they were treated worse than their master’s stable of horses. Note how much Colonel Lloyd cared about the health and welfare of his horses.
“The colonel also kept a splendid riding equipage. His stable and carriage-house presented the appearance of some of our large city livery establishments. His horses were of the finest form and noblest blood. His carriage-house contained three splendid coaches, three or four gigs, besides dearborns and barouches of the most fashionable style.
This establishment was under the care of two slaves–old Barney and young Barney–father and son. To attend to this establishment was their sole work. But it was by no means an easy employment; for in nothing was Colonel Lloyd more particular than in the management of his horses. The slightest inattention to these was unpardonable, and was visited upon those, under whose care they were placed, with the severest punishment; no excuse could shield them, if the colonel only suspected any want of attention to his horses–a supposition which he frequently indulged, and one which, of course, made the office of old and young Barney a very trying one. They never knew when they were safe from punishment. They were frequently whipped when least deserving, and escaped whipping when most deserving it.
Every thing depended upon the looks of the horses, and the state of Colonel Lloyd’s own mind when his horses were brought to him for use. If a horse did not move fast enough, or hold his head high enough, it was owing to some fault of his keepers. It was painful to stand near the stable-door, and hear the various complaints against the keepers when a horse was taken out for use. ‘This horse has not had proper attention. He has not been sufficiently rubbed and curried, or he has not been properly fed; his food was too wet or too dry; he got it too soon or too late; he was too hot or too cold; he had too much hay, and not enough of grain; or he had too much grain, and not enough of hay; instead of old Barney’s attending to the horse, he had very improperly left it to his son.’
To all these complaints, no matter how unjust, the slave must answer never a word. Colonel Lloyd could not brook any contradiction from a slave. When he spoke, a slave must stand, listen, and tremble; and such was literally the case. I have seen Colonel Lloyd make old Barney, a man between fifty and sixty years of age, uncover his bald head, kneel down upon the cold, damp ground, and receive upon his naked and toil-worn shoulders more than thirty lashes at the time. Colonel Lloyd had three sons–Edward, Murray, and Daniel,–and three sons-in-law, Mr. Winder, Mr. Nicholson, and Mr. Lowndes. All of these lived at the Great House Farm, and enjoyed the luxury of whipping the servants when they pleased, from old Barney down to William Wilkes, the coach-driver. I have seen Winder make one of the house-servants stand off from him a suitable distance to be touched with the end of his whip, and at every stroke raise great ridges upon his back.”
Source: Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Chapter III.
Reference
(1) “Clinton to Propose Universal Health Care,” New York Times, 16 September 2007 by Robert Pear.
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