There are many ways to talk about the "unnecessary death rate" of a developed country. I linked to one article defining it in my previous blog post. One of the simplest ways to define it is to say it is the number of deaths that occurs due to lack of access to proper medical care.

For the first time in the US, it is not simply the unemployed or financially precarious who lack access to medical care: it also depends upon the fine print in your insurance policy. I believe this is why there are an alarming number of older people holding these pathetic signs about "grandma" dying because Obama's lying and the like. They utterly fail to see what is happening to younger generations in the US. Their plans were put into place in a period of relative prosperity when health insurance companies actually paid for healthcare with no lifetime limits and no strings attached.

This article, about a courageous doctor who has set up a chemotherapy unit in an abandoned warehouse facility in Nevada (for patients whose insurance fails to cover these costs) is a dramatic illustration of the phenomenon.

I know we are sick of hearing about death panels, but perhaps we should simply consider this term with a new target group in mind. It is not end of life decisions that are the crucial issue. People over sixty generally (though not all) have excellent healthcare plans. It is young to middle aged working adults who are now dying because they cannot get the medical care they need.