One of the beautful things about the Internet is the tremendous variety of sources from which you can cull information. Today my Googling eyes discovered an article from the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder. It's interesting for a few different reasons: 1. It includes some good but sad statistics on healthcare trends in this country; 2. The first woman interviewed has a great quote that encapsulates the moral imperative to fix this problem now; 3. It includes the comments of an advocate for a single-payer system; 4. It includes a strange quote from a health insurance representative -- you tell me if you can make sense of it. I'm including the juiciest bits below -- feel free to follow the link to the full article as always.
Health insurance crisis calls for deep reform
By: Chris Nisan
“It doesn’t seem right for people to make money off of people’s suffering and sickness,” said Tina Masiee. ...
According to a January 2006 report issued by the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, ... since 2000 the number of uninsured people 65 years and under has increased by six million. ...
• Employer-sponsored healthcare coverage dropped by five percentage points between 2000 and 2004.
• Two-thirds of this growth in uninsured adults occurred among the poorer sections of the working class.
• The majority of these uninsured are those who work but whose incomes don’t allow them to buy health insurance.
• Those of oppressed nationalities are uninsured at a higher rate than Whites.
• The uninsured rate among Black people is 21 percent.
... “We need a new healthcare system,” said protest organizer Joel Elbers. “Everybody in, nobody out — not the usual practice.” Elbers, a working pharmacist and health economic researcher active in the Minnesota Universal Healthcare Action Network, explained that he is for fundamental reform of the healthcare system in the United States. He explained that he stands for a universal system of federally funded health insurance for all — what he describes as a single-payer system. ...
"Our views on some important issues are identical, like universal health care,” said Lindsay, representing the position of United Health Care. “The only thing that differs is the financing mechanisms they propose. There are some who believe that the federal government should run the system, some that the system should be left in private hands. I don’t think the two positions are completely inconsistent.”
Read the full article
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