More Reasons For A Public Plan

Here are some interesting statistics from an article by Holly Sklar over at commondreams.org.

• Lack of health insurance kills 45,000 American adults a year, more than die by terrorism, homicide, drunk driving and HIV combined.
• Grandma could be dead from lack of health insurance before she turns 65 and gets Medicare - 80 percent of first-time grandparents are in their 40s and 50s
• America is the only country that rations the right to health care to those 65 and older.
• One out of three Americans under age 65 had no private or public health insurance for some or all of 2007-2008.
• You can't go the emergency room for the screening that will catch cancer or heart disease early, or ongoing treatment to manage chronic kidney disease or asthma.
• And even emergency care is different for the insured and uninsured. Studies show uninsured car crash victims receive less care in the hospital, for example.
• Even with health insurance, many Americans are a medical crisis away from bankruptcy.
• Research shows 62 percent of all bankruptcies in 2007 were medical, a share up 50 percent since 2001.
• Most of the medically bankrupt had health insurance
• Premiums for employer-sponsored family health insurance jumped 131 percent between 1999 and 2009 - from $5,791 to $13,375 - hurting businesses, employees and families.
• The US is No. 1 in health care spending, but No. 50 in life expectancy, just before Albania
• In Japan, people live four years longer than Americans.
• Canadians live three years longer.
• Forty-three countries have better infant mortality rates than the US.
• One or two health insurance companies dominate most metropolitan areas in the United States.
• There are 3,098 health sector lobbyists swarming Capitol Hill - nearly six for every member of Congress.
• Obama's doctor for 22 years in Chicago, Dr. Scheiner says, "I have never encountered an instance where Medicare has prevented proper medical care ... Insurance companies frequently interfere and block appropriate care."

Why are we even debating the need for Medicare For All.

Getting private for-profit health insurance companies out of our health care will free up $150 billion dollars a year that they are taking out of our health care for profits. That $1.5 TRILLION dollars over 10 years, more than enough to pay for Medicare For ALL.