I wish Americans could experience the freedom of knowing that health care will always be there, regardless of income. How much less stressful would life be if people did not have to fear that one serious illness could destroy the life they have worked for.

Republicans would have the public believe that not having health care is an expression of individual freedom. They equate access to health care as guaranteeing health care. It is not. Hungry people have access to food. It is everywhere. But without the means to buy food they remain hungry. That is not a choice. That is “fake freedom.”

Surely America, the symbol of freedom in the world, can do better.

Does living in America mean we look at buying health insurance like we look at buying anything else? Is getting health care for my four-year-old with cancer the same a buying a new car?

Every other industrialized country in the world has some kind of government-run universal health insurance. If the reason Americans are not buying health insurance is because they cannot afford it, it is not really a choice, is it? What kind of freedom is that? That, too, is “fake freedom.”

The safety of a health care system that will automatically take care of me and my family without having to battle for care in my moment of weakness and need — that is real freedom.

Denice “Pixie” Frayer, Lewiston