The Facts That Matter
You may remember Donna Smith from Michael Moore's SICKO. Tired of waiting for someone else to do something, she has founded American Patients for Universal Health Care. She is now involved in more public debates, which has promted this email. I pass this along with her permission.
Gotta ask and not being dumb here -- I just truly do not understand.
I am called to task for not using enough statistics and facts when I write about the need for health care reform.
But no one answers me when I ask why is it OK for 50 Americans to die every day (many more than are dying in Iraq) and a total of 18,000 to die every year without access to affordable health care in this nation? That fact, that statistic, comes from the U.S. government and does not include those who may be underinsured. The actual numbers of dead due to health care system issues are probably much higher, but what of the 50? Why is that allowed?
As we all banter about what is a real intellectual argument and what fails to meet that test, someone is dying who just needed some care -- and that care was withheld due to money issues. Some argue that it has always been and will always be that the rich in rich areas get better facilit ies and better programs than the poor. But this crisis isn't just like that. It isn't like not having the best library or the best local swimming pool -- it is like mom dying in the bedroom with a breast cancer metastasized after she had no way to access available treatment. It is like a 9/11 rescue worker left to gasp for air, like slowly drowning in a sea full of lifeboats meant only for the privileged.
This year, the American Cancer Society has made a stunning shift in its advertising spending. Commercials that used to teach people about early warning signs for cancer and such will be given up for commercials that show real cancer victims -- not actors -- who are suffering without adequate treatment. The ACS says that for all of their research and educational strides, that unless the U.S. deals with the crisis of the uninsured and the underinsured, all that progress is virtually wiped out statistically. Medical progress trumped by t he broken system. Why is that not statistically significant in this argument?
I am growing more impatient about the stats that really matter. The stats represent real people suffering and dying -- and not just the expendables -- real people who were contributors to our society in many ways. What might those 18,000 people have accomplished this year? How much in taxes would they have paid? How did we explain their deaths away? And how do we placate ourselves with plans for action way down some future path?
It is insane. It hurts just to touch the keys to write this.
My 16 year old daughter turned to me in tears during Donna Smith's story and said, "how can people do this to other people?"
It is not just 50 people a day - as is rightly pointed out, that does not count the underinsured. I'm thinking of a coworker who is being sent for a mammogram on a breast lump, who doesn't want to go because she currently has a policy that does not cover cancer, but can switch on to a better plan on January 1. She thinks if she waits until after January 1, she will be covered if it turns out to be bad news. The fact that a room full of lawyers has told her otherwise over lunch is meaningless. She clings. It's all she's got.
I honestly don't think that any of the candidates batting about health plans really get this. I don't want increments. I don't want steps. I want single payer. I at least want a major Democratic candidate out there day after day saying he/she is in favor of single payer and will do whatever has to be done to make it happen.
And no, I don't really care if that person wins. I just want somebody dragging the debate over to the left for once, instead of the other way around.
September 21, 2007 11:19 AM | Reply | Permalink
Dr Morgan Reynolds, the former Chief Economist of the US Dept of Labor, is suing private contractors alleging they defrauded the government by supplying bogus analyses for the official 9/11 NIST Report of an aluminum airplane with a plastic nosecone gliding into a steel/concrete building.
Dr Reynolds is represented by attorney Jerry Leaphart, and is demanding a Trial By Jury. The US District Court, Southern New York, recently unsealed the case and Mr Leaphart is now notifying the Defendants.
See Dr Reynolds site for info and the Court Document PDF: http://nomoregames.net/index.php?page=911&subpage1=federal_case
Dr Judy Wood, a former Professor of Mechanical Engineering from Clemson University, recently filed an appeal with the government for their refusal to retract their report on the World Trade Center destruction. Dr Wood (and Dr Reynolds) have compiled much evidence demonstrating that the WTC was destroyed with directed energy weapons. She has been in contact with government officials and is getting results. See Dr Wood's site for evidence of directed energy weapons and PDFs of official Request for Corrections filed with the government: http://drjudywood.com
Dr Wood is also represented by Jerry Leaphart.
It's every American's duty to remove corrupt elements in the government. Please help by distributing the above material to your local media.
September 21, 2007 11:54 AM | Reply | Permalink
I think the real solution here isn't another government program, but people taking responsibility to help their friend and family when they are in trouble. Everyone has other people in their lives, and even the most destitute have someone that could be considered friend or family. Why are we ignoring the needs of those around us? Why can't we lend a hand? Why do we have to abdicate it to the Federal Government?
People need to realize that giving to others also helps ourselves. Research has shown this to be true more so than we realize. Our former President Clinton has recently released his own book on this. Loving our neighbors isn't just a good platitude it is proven to be helpful to ourselves.
I think we'd do so much better if we didn't rely so much on a cold bureaucracy to help people in need.
Jim Anderson
The Truth About Credit
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Ministry WebsiteSeptember 21, 2007 2:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
I can't count the number of change jars I've seen at convenience store counters with pictures and stories of little kids that have been diagnosed with some disease that their parents aren't adequately insured to cover. I'm tired of sick kids having to beg for change in order to (hopefully) get proper health care before it is too late, and I sure don't want to make that the official policy of this country.
September 21, 2007 5:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
I totally agree.
Jim Anderson
The Truth About Credit
Facebook Profile
Ministry WebsiteSeptember 21, 2007 5:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
I could make some suggestions that would seem outrageous to the politicians such as ashes spread or blown about in the capital, but let me suggest a less modest proposal.
For those who die uninsured or under insured a short line in the obituaries such as, "my child died from lack of health insurance".
But wait, only a minority can afford to pay for the obituary space in the newspaper, what is missing from our public media discussions is the real world and especially the reality of the poor. Under consumers, the poor are the sinners of American Capitalism. With no assets and credit tapped out, they need not be represented in advertising supported propaganda.
Under consumers, the sinners of American Capitalism with no assets and credit tapped out, need not be represented in advertising supported propaganda.
In rememberance, spread my ashes as snuff for the politicians' nose, they need an honest reason to blow hard in public.
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Today, are we searching for I deals or Ideals?
-Thinking
September 22, 2007 9:10 AM | Reply | Permalink
I was just looking at diabetes statistics. 200 to 500 people die every day directly because of diabetes. Perhaps more, because it is underreported as a cause of death.
I am particularly troubled by the thought of how much of this death is needlessly premature. I fear that many people, and not just the poor, develop the disease precisely because of limited lives. They're overworked, ill-informed, with poor neighborhoods and insecure jobs. And a major issue is that our seriously overpriced and rigid health care system contributes to this. So I feel it is not enough to worry just about the uninsured. There's also the grave problem of health costs in general to think about.
(And yes, certain cancers are associated with diabetes.)
September 23, 2007 4:40 PM | Reply | Permalink