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<There seems a common thread with those that holler and scream at these town hall meetings; ignorance, anger, a resentment of the President, feelings of being left behind in this economy, mistrust of government and perhaps the lack of anything better to do on that day. Who are the driving forces behind these demonstrations? Anybody that feels they will lose with health care reform. Some simply do not trust the government, yet if there is a national catastrophe, they are the first to ask, "Where are they"? Some simply feel they will lose money and this group can be drug companies, doctors (but certainly not all), insurance companies or anybody that makes money from the present system.
There is no doubt that the President has not explained the health care issue well but that does not negate the fact it is needed. Health care has been discussed for 50 years, yet nothing has happened except the escalating costs, and a growing number of people going without. When will we say "enough"? Here are some facts gathered by Michael Moore. Don't like Moore then disprove these facts; after all there is still a flat earth society out there.
FACTS ABOUT HEALTH CARE IN AMERICA
The United States is the only industrialized country in the world without a universal
Health insurance system.1
In 2006, the U.S. census reported that 46 million Americans (recently revised downward
to 45 million) have no health insurance.2
"Over a third (36%) of families living below the poverty line are uninsured. Hispanic
Americans (34%) are more than twice as likely to be uninsured as white Americans,
(13%) while 21% of black Americans have no health insurance."3
More than 9 million children lack health insurance in America.4
Eighteen thousand people die each year because they are uninsured.5
According to the UN Human Development Report, "The uninsured are less likely to have
regular outpatient care, so they are more likely to be hospitalized for avoidable health
problems. Once in hospital, they receive fewer services and are more likely to die in the
hospital than are insured patients. They also receive less preventive care. Over 40% of
the uninsured do not have a regular place to go when they are sick and over a third of the
uninsured say that they or someone in their family went without needed care, including
recommended treatments or prescription drugs in the last year, because of cost."6
Half of all bankruptcies are caused by medical bills. Three-quarters of those filings are
people with health insurance.7
U.S. health care spending is approximately $2 trillion per year, or $6,697 per person.8
The United States continues to spend significantly more on health care than other
countries in the world.9
Administrative costs account for 31 percent of all health care expenditures in the United
States. The average overhead for U.S. private health insurers is 11.7 percent; for
Medicare, it is 3.6 percent; for Canada's national health insurance program, it is 1.3
percent.10
According to the UN Human Development Report, while the United States leads the
world in spending on health care, "countries spending substantially less than the US have
2
healthier populations." The infant mortality rate for the U.S. is now higher than for
many other industrial countries."11
A baby born in El Salvador has a better chance of surviving than a baby in Detroit.
The infant mortality rate in Detroit is 15.5, compared to El Salvador's rate of 9.7.12
Canadians live three years longer on average than we do.13
A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that older
Americans are significantly less healthy than their British counterparts - we have
more diabetes, heart attacks, strokes, lung disease and cancer. Even the poorest Brits
can expect to live longer than the richest Americans.14
Cubans have a lower infant mortality rate than the United States and according to the
U.N. Human Development Report, a longer average lifespan.15
Over the next decade, the federal government will give the drug and health care
industries an estimated $822 billion as a result of the 2003 enactment of Medicare Part D
(the Medicare prescription drug plan).16
There are four times as many health care lobbyists in Washington as there are members.
Argue with the facts but there are people that put their own financial health above their neighbor's health, not wanting to give up a red cent to help anyone if it costs them. That is simply wrong. What kind of world do we wish to live in?
