If America's So Great, Where's Our Health Care?

[RedEarth]

For Joel Segal, it was the day he was kicked out of George Washington Hospital, still on an IV after knee surgery, without insurance, and with $100,000 in medical debt. For Kiki Peppard, it was having to postpone needed surgery until she could find a job with insurance -- it took her two years. People all over the United States are waking up to the fact that our system of providing health care is a disaster.

An estimated 50 million Americans lack medical insurance, and a similar and rapidly growing number are underinsured. The uninsured are excluded from services, charged more for services, and die when medical care could save them -- an estimated 18,000 die each year because they lack medical coverage.

But it's not only the uninsured who suffer. Of the more than 1.5 million bankruptcies filed in the U.S. each year, about half are a result of medical bills; of those, three-quarters of filers had health insurance.

Businesses are suffering too. Insurance premiums increased 73 percent between 2000 and 2005, and per capita costs are expected to keep rising. The National Coalition on Health Care (NCHC) estimates that, without reform, national health care spending will double over the next 10 years. The NCHC is not some fringe advocacy group -- its co-chairs are Congressmen Robert D. Ray (R-IA) and Paul G. Rogers (D-FL), and it counts General Electric and Verizon among its members.

Employers who want to offer employee health care benefits can't compete with low-road employers who offer none. Nor can they compete with companies located in countries that offer national health insurance. The shocking facts about health care in the United States are well known. There's little argument that the system is broken. What's not well known is that the dialogue about fixing the health care system is just as broken.

http://www.alternet.org/story/42011/

[Deja Q]

1. Countries that have socialized medicine?

:wow:

But America isn't a socialist country! Why is any part of America dealing with such commie pinko swine? :rofl:

[Joe Bacon]

2. But Pat Robertson heals all those sick folks, doesn't he?

I'd love to see James Randi challenge Robertson to a Heal-Off!

[fencesitter]

3. Yes, it's a mystery

Where is our healthcare? Where is the dialogue. Democrats mention it, include it in agendas, republicans mention it sometimes also, depending on who they're talking to. But that's as far as it goes. No real discussion. After not having insurance for a year, I finally bought a really high deductable plan, it was all I could afford. If something bad happens I won't go bankrupt, but I'll be deep in debt. Also, it doesn't cover out-patient testing until I meet the deductable, so if the doc sends me for colonoscopies and scans, it ain't gonna happen, cause I would have to pay the cost out of pocket. I don't have that kinda money. So, I have insurance, but I don't. So, instead of prevention, I have to get seriously ill which costs the company more.