Outside of health insurance corporations, political conservatives, some medical malpractice lawyers and some wealthy doctors, the mood in the country on health care is that we are in a state of crisis. There is a small but growing wave of people that are now ready to move toward free, universal, and preventive medicine based health care coverage for all. Free would mean that taxpayers fund it; universal refers to the idea that all Americans would be covered, regardless of financial condition, race, creed, religion, or previous health condition; preventive medicine based would be designed to keep people healthy throughout their lives so that major procedures or interventions are less likely, therefore bringing down overall cost.
For years there has been an effective propaganda campaign targeted at defeating universal health care. The campaign, like most campaigns aimed against progress, are based on instilling fear in the American public about what universal health care would mean. These ideas include: long waiting lines or lists for care; terrible bureucracy; a diminished quality of technology and service professionals in the industry; and more.
All of the arguments against universal health care are gross distortions if not outright lies, and the data bears me out.
Below is recent data compiled from a recent World Health Organization report. All of the nations on this table have some form of universal health care system. The United States does not, and the United States ranks last or nearly last in all of these major indicators.
The one statistic that jumps out is the Adult Mortality Rate. While the other indicators as a hole can lead one to the same conclusion on the terrible state of the health care system of the US, the fact that the US has the highest adult mortality rate of the countries (yes, even higher than Cuba and Costa Rica!) indicates that we have the unhealthiest adults out of any of the other countries and that the health care system is failing to help them, especially when compared to other countries.
[chart prepared by Americum]
What is true is that Japan and Italy and France and Cuba have very successful, universal health care systems, and that these systems are more effective than the current system in the United States. I am confident that the United States could also develop a universal system that works. The only problem is that we do not have the will to take on the profit gods of American capitalism. For the only truth about the propaganda campaign against universal health care is that the profit system of the current American health care system would be the only component to suffer in moving to the better system, and this is what the real fear is for its opponents. Health insurance corporations, like all corporations, exist for only one reason: to make money. All health decisions made by teams of professionals at the health care giants are guided not by medicine but by this question: how much will this claim cost the company?
With matters of life and death, or the health of our children, we should not place a dollar value on the possibility of life. All people should have access to the treatment they need to keep them healthy or alive without considerations of health insurance, economic ability, or any other criteria.
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