2006-09-25

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

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.

Those 18,000 dead and the 1.5 million people who file bankruptcies every year just don't care enough about themselves to get jobs that provide medical coverage, right? The fact that corporations are reducing benefits or eliminating coverage altogether is immaterial, right?

6 comments:

Paul Hue said...

Capitalism does not promise "universal healthcare"; it only promises to produce a greater overall healthcare situation on average than would occur under a system that promised "universal healthcare." In our system, the 1.5 million people who file for bankrupcy will not represent 1.5 million people who remain poor for the rest of their lives. The vast majority will re-obtain prosperity for themselves, more so than the fraction would would obtain such under any system that promises "full employment" for all.

Paul Hue said...

If America isn't so great, why do so many people every year pay such a steep price to immigrate here? Why doesn't anybody ever leave?

Nadir said...

Why do other great capitalist nations have universal healthcare, Paul?

Paul Hue said...

The other great capitalist countries that have universal healthcare have economies that perform less well than the US's; they have more unemployment, fewer economic opportunities, lower econoic growth, and... poorer overall healthcare.

Paul Hue said...

...and they have much higher taxe rates. Or, I should say, because of their higher tax rates and more massive social programs, they have more unemployment and fewer opportunities for people to take care of themselves.

Paul Hue said...

Many people, including Six and me, do not equate a "great" nation with one that promises "universal healthcare". We understand that such a government goal always translates into something far less than the best possible healthcare system.