As a biomedical sciences major whose goal is to work in the health care sector, I am very interested in the health care debate and also disappointed with the results so far. I believe the Obama administration and Congress missed a golden opportunity to make a statement about the rights of citizens and enact real change.

Instead, our country is left with more of the same circus acts that have plagued our political system for decades, if not longer — half-thought out policies brimming with loopholes, and perks to satisfy those few extra votes that were needed to pass such bills.

In my opinion, the best measures to better care for citizens would not include mandatory purchase of insurance from private companies; they would be much more far reaching.

The U.S. government offers health care plans to its employees, the individuals the voters gave jobs to, so it only seems fair that the same access and level of care be enjoyed by all Americans.

The preamble to the U.S. Constitution includes one of the reasons for establishing such a constitution, “… To promote the general welfare,” which I believe is evidence enough that providing adequate access to quality health care is a responsibility of the federal government.

Many are probably questioning the longer wait for care, but I argue that it is no less fair for you to wait a little bit longer to see a doctor than for another citizen to not be able to see one at all because he doesn’t carry insurance.

Financing of health care would be provided through taxes, just as it is now for the poorest of Americans by Medicaid.  Providers would be reimbursed the same amount for a given test or procedure, so there would be no incentive to treat one patient over another.

Having coverage and access to care would encourage individuals to see their primary care provider more regularly to screen for disease and take measures to prevent conditions in the first place.

This would mean fewer people would visit emergency rooms as their means of seeing a physician. Also, emergency room wait times, which have steadily increased over the past years, would be lower. Those in dire need of medical attention, like heart attack, stroke and trauma victims, would not be compromised.

I also believe that the government can and should take a proactive approach to prevent many of the common chronic diseases, such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and adult and childhood obesity by eliminating unhealthy foods in school cafeterias and implementing social engineering projects that create neighborhoods conducive to more active lifestyles.

Although the benefits of these measures will likely take a longer time to appear, they are nonetheless crucial to bettering the overall wellness of our country’s population.

Daniel Micek is a junior in the College of Health Sciences