Why I believe in Medicare for All

I swim for free. Not because I'm rich — God knows I'm on SSDI and EBT — but because a program called SilverSneakers quietly decided my body was worth keeping moving, and it handed me a pool. No co-pay. No hoop. Just water, and a door that opens. And that pool? It's the cheapest medicine in America. It's my physical therapy, my antidepressant, my church, and my shot at swimming to the moon — all for the price of nothing.

So here's my whole argument, and it's not complicated: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of ICU. You can pay for my pool today, or you can pay for my heart attack tomorrow — at a hundred times the cost. We already chose the stupid, cruel, expensive way: make the poor jump through more hoops than the CEOs ever will, then act shocked when they get sicker. It's sick. It's wrong. It's degrading. Full stop.

Medicare for All isn't socialism — it's decency, and a lot of the time it's cheaper too. Often prevention costs less than the ICU; often a swimmer costs less than a patient. But I won't oversell the spreadsheet, because here's the honest part it misses: even when keeping someone well doesn't fully pencil out, a human life was never a line item. So make SilverSneakers vast — every age, every body, every zip code. Make the gyms and pools always free, or at least charge it back to insurance. MAHA — Make America Healthy Again, for real, not as a slogan.

And the part the spreadsheets miss: I am more than my health problems and my inability to pay for care. So is everyone in that pool. You're not a data point. You're Mike next door. A country that lets Mike drown over a bill isn't broke — it's decided he's not worth a lane. I refuse that. Give people the water. Watch what they do with it.

If the sentence ever feels like it wants to end — in the US, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline), any hour; or find help anywhere at findahelpline.com. You are not alone, and the story isn’t over.

⌂ The full Ethos — all 31 arguments on one page