Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert is an American journalist, film critic and screenwriter.

REASON 02: President Obama faced down the GOP and the health industry to finally reform American healthcare.

I had great health for most of my life. Then in my 60s, cancer pulled the rug out from under me. Five surgeries, four rehabilitations, you don't want to know. I was lucky to have good employment-based insurance. I maxed it out. Medicaid came to the rescue. Many people don't have any insurance at all, and many companies are laying off insured older workers and hiring younger ones who are not being offered a health plan.

One important reason I will be voting for Obama is his health plan. "Obamacare" is a first step along the way to the kind of universal health care provided by all advanced countries, except for ours. In writing about this issue I have heard so many heartbreaking stories of lives lost, families destroyed, treatment deferred until it was too late.

What bothers me about Romney is that he denies the success of his own "Romneycare" in Massachusetts. It was his signature program. Now it's as if he's never heard of it. We need health care in this country. I suspect many of those opposed to it have never had to go through a health ordeal like mine. They may think they are well off and can handle their own expenses. They have no idea.

Roger Ebert
 Urbana, Illinois

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REASON 17:
I’m voting for Obama because I love money, but I’m not money’s bitch. read essay →

REASON 23:
Republicans seek to have America run by and for a permanent aristocracy. read essay →

REASON 28:
Because corporations are not people. People are better. read essay →