Health Care Matters Fall 2002

Health Care Council
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Volume 2 Issue 28 Fall 2002

A HEADLINE YOU WILL NEVER SEE :
18,000 YOUNG ADULTS KILLED

You didn't see this headline? Of course not. That's merely the number of young adults who die each year because they don't have health insurance. And besides, if we emphasized this tragedy, we would probably have to report the follow-up stories that demonstrate that these young adults (and everyone else) could have had life-saving insurance at no net additional cost to us. We won't publish those stories. Instead, bland stories on the policy issues of the Institute of Medicine are the order of the day (not to mention that the media wouldn't want to risk losing advertising revenue from the private health plans). Then the administration wouldn't be pressured to renew its protest that it's un-American to have the government interfere with the health insurance marketplace. And we won't have to see our administration's typical rhetoric that "18,000 young Americans gave their lives for a free America, protecting the principles that make America the great nation that it is."

" I can't think of anything else that is more important and more valuable than assuring that every single person in this country has access to quality and appropriate health care that's necessary."
-- Oklahoma State Senator Angela Monson

Since 9/11, our government is turning the world upside down because of the tragic loss of life that day. Yet just since 9/11, FOUR TIMES AS MANY YOUNG ADULTS HAVE DIED because of the lack of insurance. Each two months of inaction duplicates the loss of that tragic day. And our government remains silent. Our leaders won't even discuss real solutions because "we don't want 'the government' involved in our health insurance."

Why does America tolerate this rhetoric? It's sick! Our health care system is sick! And our political leaders are doing nothing to cure the problems! It's time to grab the placards and take to the streets! Let's go!

- From Dr. Don McCanne's Thought for the Day

"... the overall mortality risk for uninsured adults, estimated here to be on the order of 18,000 excess deaths among uninsured adults annually, is comprised of elevated mortality rates across many disease categories. All of these excess deaths among uninsured adults occur among relatively young Americans, those under the age of 65."

"Care Without Coverage: Too Little, Too Late" Institute of Medicine, National Academy Press, May 21, 2002

http://books.nap.edu/books/0309083435/html/

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