Science and Universal Health Care

Congressman Jim McDermott of Seattle points out the obvious in this column.

Before long, a single drop of blood will force us to confront health care coverage in the United States, whether we want to or not. While the nation has ignored, minimized or denied there is a health care crisis in this country, scientists have charted a new frontier for the 21st century: the human genome. This advancement will change everything.

What was science fiction the last time the United States had a serious discussion about health care -- during the Clinton administration in 1993 -- is now science fact. The Human Genome Project painstakingly mapped 3.2 billion pairs of genes that are the blueprint of the genetic code. Subsequent -- and ongoing -- research on the genetic markers of disease have brought us to the dawn of a new day when a single drop of blood can reveal the diseases you are likely to suffer in your lifetime.