Graham Platner

So I essentially get universal health care.

I'm a disabled combat vet.

And because of that, I simply get free point of service care.

It allowed me to start a small business.

It allowed me to take some time to figure out what kind of life I wanted to live after my combat service.

Without it, I would not have ever been able to be an oyster farmer because I would have had to work another job to have healthcare.

It gave me a real material freedom that allowed me to build something that today is a successful small business that employs people in Eastern Maine.

Never would have existed without my health care.

That basic element of foundational support just around health care is what allowed me to become a successful small business owner.

Not only do I think that providing that is going to unleash a lot of productivity in the real world, because this is important.

We have a system and we have a lot of metrics that we use to judge our productivity that, frankly, mostly seems to be fantastical in the financialized system.

But in the real world where people actually build things and exchange them with each other for money, that in that world, I honestly do think that giving people just this simple foundational support is going to unleash a lot more productivity.

People have the freedom to start small businesses or to –

engage in art, to engage in things that I think actually elevate all of us as a society.

Also, we would take healthcare off the plate of small business owners, which it's a nightmare.

You know, if you're like a lot of small business, medium-sized business owners, they want to provide healthcare to their employees.

But I mean, I've spoken to folks in Maine who like, if you have a company 50 employees and up, one of those employees' job is to just deal with the health insurance stuff, paying the premiums, dealing with the companies.

It's a frig.

You take that off their plates,

Well, now they can just focus on what their business is, not also having to be this intermediary around health care.