(CNSNews.com) -- Grammy award-winning musician Stevie Wonder said, “people are afraid of change.”
Regarding health care reform, Wonder said people are “bickering over something that we should have had a long time ago.” “I think as far as his [Obama’s] popularity decreasing, I think it’s because people are so used to, they’re so afraid of change and I think you have politics playing too much a role in what should be a natural, given that health care in this country needs to be improved and that’s just a reality,”
Wonder told CNSNews.com in an exclusive interview before his performance at a benefit concert for the Maya Foundation, a Washington D.C.-based non-profit group that raises money for special education programs in private schools. “There are people who use various technology for them being physically challenged and they can’t get the insurance companies to pay for it when in fact it helps them with every day living.” Wonder further said the United States needs to find something that will work because health care is free in many other countries.
“I am very, very pro-health care,” he said. “Most countries have some sort of health care system and it’s ridiculous that we don’t or that ours is, you know, people are bickering over something that we should have had a long time ago.” “I’m of the opinion that those in the medical field and those pharmaceutical companies need to work with doctors and nurses in hospitals, more preventative medicine and ways of making it possible for people to be more healthier as opposed to them getting medicines that are just band-aids to the problem,” said Wonder, adding that “it’s very, very expensive, very, very expensive. So, I think that we have to find something that is going to work; particularly in a lot of places, you know in certain countries, health care is free.”
Stevie Wonder has won 22 Grammy Awards, more than any male solo artist in history. He signed a record deal with Motown Records when he was 11 and still records for the label today. His most well-known hits include, “Signed, Sealed, Delivered,” “My Cherie Amour,” “You Are the Sunshine of My Life” and “Superstition.”
Below is the transcript of the interview with Stevie Wonder: Nicholas Ballasy, video reporter,
CNSNews.com: “What you think still needs to be done to assist students with learning disabilities in public and private schools?”
Stevie Wonder: “Well, some kids are dyslexic and sometimes schools don’t know this. I think as better equipment and testing to know. I think that it’s a major, major importance that there become better relations – relationship between parents and that school or the teachers because basically, your putting, you know, a young child, a young person into an environment that is pretty standard but you don’t know what their live, living conditions are, eating, going to bed, just the whole thing – it takes a village. We have to really understand that we must make a complete connection to complete that chain.”
CNSNews.com: “You were active in the campaign for President Barack Obama. What’s the impression you have of the job he’s doing and this whole health care debate that’s going on right now in Washington?”
Stevie Wonder: “I am very, very pro-health care. Most countries have some sort of health care system and it’s ridiculous that we don’t or that ours is--you know, that people are bickering over something that we should have had a long time ago. I just think that--I’m of the opinion that those in the medical field and those various pharmaceutical companies need to work with doctors and, you know, nurses in the hospitals, more preventative medicine and ways of making it possible for people to be more healthier as opposed to them getting on medicine that, medicines that are just band-aids to the problem. And it’s very, very expensive, very, very expensive. And so, I think, that we have to find something that is going to work. Cause, particularly, in a lot of places, you know in certain countries, health care is free.”
CNSNews.com: “The President’s popularity has been declining since this health care debate began. What do you think is the reason for that and what do you think about the job he’s been doing?”
Stevie Wonder: “I think as far as his popularity decreasing, I think it’s because people are so used to, they’re so afraid of change, and I think you have politics playing too much a role in what should be a natural given--that health care in this country needs to be improved--and that’s just a reality. There are people who use various technology for them being physically challenged and they can’t get the insurance companies to pay for it, when in fact it helps them with every day living. The technology with the iPhone and how now it’s so very accessible for those who are visually challenged and physically challenged and those who are deaf. The technology is available for them to have this which makes them more independent and as they become more independent, they can do things to be more independent and have a chance to take better care of their life and their living. You know. So, I think that whenever we have change, whenever someone says, ‘Okay, listen, I know you’ve done it for this long but it’s time for things to be different’ and you’re going to have people that are going to do everything they can to challenge and be negative to what is really needed in this country.”
