Ourview
Health
care should be universal
Forty-one million Americans cannot see a
doctor when they are sick. Seven million
Californians fear getting injured, not because
of the pain, but because an injury could
plummet them into bankruptcy.
In America, your health directly depends
on your financial security. This disparity
is the focus of a nationwide event called
“Covering the Uninsured Week.” March 10-16
marks the combination of town meetings,
university teach-ins, business meetings
and health fairs in eight California cities
as well as other cities across the nation
meant to raise public awareness and find
ways to mend America’s unfair health care
system.
A report issued by the Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation, a non-profit group dedicated
to making health care available to all Americans,
found that “approximately 75 million Americans
under 65 were uninsured sometime in 2001
and 2002. The report further estimates that
almost two-thirds were uninsured for at
least six months, and nearly one-quarter
were uninsured throughout the two-year period.”
These figures are staggering. Millions of
Americans live in fear of getting sick or
injured simply because they cannot afford
the outrageous costs of health insurance.
America is profoundly behind the times when
it comes to supporting one of the most important
part of any person’s life — health.
Our northern neighbor, whom we share a 4,000
mile-long border with, can claim a rich-poor
gap much smaller than the United States.
Canada also provides a much greater provision
of social services, including universal
medical care, to all of its citizens, regardless
of financial status. So while our Canadian
brothers and sisters live healthy lives
without fear of not being able to afford
health care, Americans die younger and live
more unhealthy lives so that health care
corporate giants are not denied their right
to make money.
“Uninsured women with breast cancer are
twice as likely to die as women with breast
cancer who have health insurance. Men without
health insurance are nearly 50 percent more
likely to be diagnosed with colon cancer
at a later, more dangerous stage than men
with insurance,” said Thomas J. Donohue,
president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of
Commerce, one of the cosponsors of “Covering
the Uninsured Week.”
Medical insurance is such a vital component
to a healthy life that many seemingly unrelated
groups have joined the cause to become outspoken
advocates of a more fair health care system.
“It is critical that we increase awareness
of the plight of the uninsured all across
the nation,” said John J. Sweeney, president
of the AFL-CIO, another cosponsor of this
week’s campaign. “Because people without
health insurance live sicker and die younger
than their insured counterparts, having
health insurance can literally mean life
or death for some people. Most shocking
of all is that eight out of 10 of the uninsured
work are in working families.”
America is one of the richest countries
in the world. It makes no sense that its
citizens are denied the basic human right
of living a healthy life simply because
health insurance corporations have put a
price on our lives.
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