Why Universal HealthCare?

Prior to starting my internship with Rekindling Reform, I was like most of my peers: uninvolved in the fight to gain universal healthcare. I personally had never even thought deeply about the importance of guaranteed medical services regardless of one's insurance status simply because I myself have been covered my whole life by my father's employer plan. I have never not been able to go to the doctor (or any specialty doctor) because of a lack of insurance, and I have never directly had to pay for any of my medical treatment except for the $8 co-pay I shell out when I pick up prescriptions. I was even able to undergo an advanced ankle surgery, which was not "medically necessary for daily life" but which was necessary for me to continue participating in high school and college track. In my town, all of my friends were in a similar situation to me, so it simply never came up to discuss the problems which insurance (or lack thereof) can cause with access to medicine, because all of us had great access to health coverage.
My naiveté on the subject continued into my college years because Cornell requires that all students have some sort of health insurance, allowing students to use their own plans if approved by the university, or forcing them to buy into Cornell's insurance plan. This requirement again created an environment where I was surrounded by students who all had access to treatment. I was first exposed to the stress of health insurance indirectly when older friends of mine from Cornell, who had since graduated and entered into the real world, began complaining about the huge bills they were paying to stay covered.
My innocence was completely shattered when I arrived in New York and began meeting with people who had no insurance. Many of these people worked minimum wage jobs for employers who did not offer health coverage, but some worked higher income jobs, but simply could not afford the high premiums which have continued to rise exponentially even as the actual services provided have declined. These people told me stories of illnesses left untreated which simple antibiotics could have eradicated (because without insurance, doctors won't see sick people) until the condition became so serious that the patient ended up in the emergency room and left with bills for thousands of dollars. The cost of treating the illness at the first sign would have been one tenth of what the individual ended up being forced to pay. Many times these bills go unpaid which increases the cost of treatment for everyone else. Our current system actually encourages this kind of fiscal waste by offering no primary care medical services to those who need them most, the uninsured.
Americans are unique from people of other nations as they view healthcare as a privilege instead of a basic human right. To citizens from France, Germany, Sweden, United Kingdom, South Africa, Australia, Japan Italy, and many many more countries, access to health care is guaranteed, just as service from a fireman or a postal worker or a police force is guaranteed. Even more surprising is that in these nations, citizens pay half of what Americans do (7% of the GNP compared to 15% of ours) and are able to cover everyone. The costs of these services, which we all take for granted, are shared by everyone and paid for by the government through taxes. Health care is just as essential, if not more so, than all of these basic services, yet it is not provided! Health care must be managed by a group that does not seek to make profit so that it becomes as efficient as these basic services. Although America is based upon a free market system, health care is not a commodity to be traded and profited from! Americans must change reevaluate their loyalty to capitalism, solely in the health care arena, as a way to make sure that all citizens in this country, which is no longer thought of as having the best health care system in the world, have access to necessary medical services.