2,220 Americans Have Died Because of No Health Insurance Since the Obama Administration Took Office
Not much in the that speech to give people without health insurance hope. Would someone on this blog explain to me what he really said?
The number for President Obama and the Democratic Congress of Americans who have died because they had no health insurance since they took office is 2,220.
Whatever the good intentions, the numbers belong to them.
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Let me guess: young, AND naive? You must be joking, or just plain dumb, to blame the sorry state of our health care system on an administration that has been in place for four weeks. Shouldn't you be catrching up on Sesame Street and getting ready for your nap?
February 25, 2009 11:03 AM | Reply | Permalink
I thought his rhetoric about how health care reform cannot wait was pretty good.
If you're looking for specific remedies, he as much as admitted he doesn't have any yet. He wants to bring stakeholders together to hash things out.
I am willing to give Obama the benefit of the doubt, he's got a lot of things on his plate.
February 25, 2009 5:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
Many people who are desperate for health insurance were disheartened by the speech. Health care "reform" is being heard as changes for people who already have insurance.
February 25, 2009 5:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
Unfortunately, they are not stakeholders.
February 25, 2009 5:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Part of me wants many more people to lose their coverage. ONLY THEN will they see this as a real crisis. We may see such a change as more jobs are lost, making this period our one real chance for universal care.
February 25, 2009 6:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Where did you get the number of people who died because they didn't have health insurance, and how was that determined? Not all people who die and also don't have insurance, are dead BECAUSE they don't have insurance.
Plenty of people WITH health insurance don't even use it because of high deductibles and co-pays, so they may as well not be "insured." And then there are plenty of people who die WITH health insurance.
The only people who REALLY need to lose their coverage are Congresspeople, who have no motivation for a single-payer universal coverage, because they currently have gold-plated coverage and they don't want to lose it. The republicans also know that if Obama manages to get coverage for everyone, no one will vote for a repub for a long, long time. Their very life depends on killing universal health care. Watch them try...
February 25, 2009 6:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree with you about Congress and their gold-plated coverage which gives them no impetus to help the rest of us.
The number of Americans who die each day because they have no health insurance is discussed in detail here:
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/star_mason/2009/02/number-of-americans-dying-each.php
I am quite confident that when you read the study by the IOM that you will agree with the statistic.
February 25, 2009 6:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
I didn't have time to do a scholarly review, but it is clear that they tried to do a good job. There are some points they didn't discuss, even when they discussed the limitations of their study. One is that people who are uninsured are often in a higher-risk group for general health in the first place, such as nutritional status and other measures of well-being.
I don't find these estimates to be particularly helpful or believable; there is plenty of stuff out there about the importance of universal health care, and the truth is that quality of life (ie - not worrying yourself into having an ulcer because you don't have health insurance) is a very important part of this equation.
Anyway, we are on the same side in what we want; let's keep on working towards universal SINGLE PAYER health care!
February 25, 2009 7:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
In the past few decades, the number of the people who are uninsured has climbed at an astounding pace. Nearly 46 million Americans don’t have health insurance. Rapidly increasing health insurance premiums are the main reason of all small firms for not offering coverage. Nowadays, the uninsured are increasingly paying “up front” -- before services will be rendered. When they are unable to pay the full medical bill in cash at the time of service, they can be turned away except in life-threatening circumstances. Everyone of us should have health care coverage; an affordable and proper health care.
Fortunately, the Walgreens, the prescription megastore, is offering free healthcare to those who qualify for a while. It seems likely that it will last the rest of 2009, so those who can't get payday loans to throw money away on a doctor, can head to their nearest Walgreens that has one of the Take Care clinics that they installed in certain store locations. Proof of unemployment must be furnished, or you'll be turned away. The Take Care Clinics were started back in 2007, to provide quality healthcare to those who couldn't afford it as easily as regular care, which is a very charitable thing for Walgreens to do.
April 7, 2009 4:23 AM | Reply | Permalink