Why do we need national health care?

[pecunium]

Because a lack of insurance kills people

OXFORD — Friends say the Miami University graduate who died this week after reportedly suffering from swine flu delayed getting medical treatment because she did not have health insurance.

News of Kimberly Young’s death Wednesday, Sept. 23, came as a shock to those who knew the vibrant 22-year-old who was working at least two jobs in Oxford after graduating with a double major in December 2008.

Young became ill about two weeks ago, but didn’t seek care initially because she didn’t have health insurance and was worried about the cost, according to Brent Mowery, her friend and former roommate.

Worried about the cost of one visit to the doctor.

That sort of worry kills a lot of people every year. How many? 45,000 deaths a year for lack of insurance.

That's more than drunk drivers. That's more than murders. That's more than both of those combined.

It would take 13 Sept. 11th events to equal one year's worth of those numbers.

Want to know something even better? The constitution we shoved down the throat of Iraq, requires healthcare for everyone.

Pretty good inn't? George Bush, and his neo-con cabal (the folks who believed the parades would last, even after the random raids and the abuductions started) insisted that First: Every citizen has the right to health care. The State shall maintain public health and provide the means of prevention and treatment by building different types of hospitals and health institutions.

Second: Individuals and entities have the right to build hospitals, clinics,or private health care centers under the supervision of the State, and this shall be regulated by law.

But here, in the wealthiest nation on the planet, with (we are assured) the "best healthcare in the world,"people die from the flu, because they can't afford to see the doctor.

Comments

[sylphslider.livejournal.com]

The constitution that we shoved down Japan's throat gave Japanese women more freedom than American women had at the time. It appears to be what we do - destroy countries, then encode freedoms in their laws that sizable portions of our own population would love to have.

[fjm.livejournal.com]

Iraq already had universal health care, the best in the middle east in fact. Hard to know what went on behind the scenes but there is a chance that this was something the US had to yield.

only the wealthy are against health care for everyone

[dredzena.livejournal.com]

My current state of disability is proof of what happens when one does not have healthcare and must rely on emergency rooms after you get deathly ill. I had several severe illnesses and injuries during a period when I had no health care and was not eligible for any through social services. There was no free clinic where I was located and only when I was on death's door was I treated at emergency rooms. Had I been able to see a doctor immediately when each incident occurred, I am positive that I would not be disabled now. I was a hard worker for 42 years and thought I would be able to retire at 65 or 70 with good health. Now I have the lifestyle of someone at a nursing home in their 90s. Sometimes I think the wealthy are just hoping we all die after 50 as that is the age when they no longer need us to provide services and cannon fodder.

[songblaze.livejournal.com]

Without healthcare, I'd likely be dead - not a direct 'kill', but an indirect one.

I cannot imagine living without my medications, braces, and physical therapy. Not having health insurance would mean doing exactly that.

I suspect I'd only make it through a few months before offing myself.