Americans are dying for health care reform
When I was a kid, whenever we were taking a Sunday drive with the parents and we went by a cemetery, one of the rents would invariably say, “Oh, look, a cemetery! People are just dying to get in there.”
My sister and I would then, invariably groan and roll our eyes. But, look, now I’ve been able to use their little pun as a most excellent title to this post and you can now roll your eyes and groan.
Yesterday, the NYT published an article discussing a new Harvard Medical Study which links lack of Insurance to 45,ooo deaths, per year, here in the US.
The Harvard study found that people without health insurance had a 40 percent higher risk of death than those with private health insurance — as a result of being unable to obtain necessary medical care. The risk appears to have increased since 1993, when a similar study found the risk of death was 25 percent greater for the uninsured.
[snip]
Dr. Woolhandler said the study should prompt policymakers in Washington to consider the impact of scaling back any effort to provide truly universal coverage. She expressed concern about some lawmakers’ willingness to adopt a plan that could expand coverage to only a portion of the nearly 50 million people who are without health insurance. As a proponent for a single-payer system — something like Medicare for all — she said she was also disappointed in the current proposals before Congress.
Dr. Woolhandler, who has also conducted extensive research on medical-related bankruptcies, cautioned that expanding coverage would not be meaningful if the coverage is not generous enough. People might still not be able to afford care if they have to pay large deductibles or too great a share of their over all medical bills.
“Health insurance can only make you healthier if you have access to care,” she said.
So, to you commenters who say that the number of uninsured that we have been quoting, here at RT(and you know who you are) and has been in the news across the nation (and around the world) is a made up number, I would posit that this study was using factual data when it was run. And that number is not only allowing people to die, needlessly, it is bankrupting our nation.
One more time:
(Max Baucus is a dangerous joke)
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