The Cost of Doing Nothing on Healthcare

American foreign and economic policy is riddled with examples of too much waiting - Waiting for a crisis. Waiting for everyone to be so frightened they will do anything. Waiting for a majority to make it all feel like we are doing the right thing, and if not, so many of us will have supported it that we will not stand alone against criticism.

hank is right. We cannot wait any more. Our healthcare system is below par for millions of Americans - and unaffordable for millions more. Half the country has employer-paid insurance, and we are satisfied generally - but the cost is rising exponentially every year, and the coverage is getting worse along with the insane paperwork.

Millions unemployed are now without coverage except COBRA - which is deplorably priced. 10% of our workforce is unemployed - so how many million is that? How many million had no insurance to begin with because they and their employers could not afford it? 15% at least. How many more have health insurance they can barely afford with costs increasing faster than their pay raises? Another 15%? How many are facing a medical bankruptcy - another 5%? How many seniors have Medicare but have no nursing home coverage? Another 5% of seniors? I am being conservative when I say that approximately half the American public is not seeing a dentist, getting mamograms or prostate exams, does not have proper glasses, is not getting proper pre-natal care, is not able to afford their medications, etc.... HALF.

For a country with our wealth this is EMBARASSING. The ONLY developed country in the world without universal helthcare. Avergae lifesapn at # 50 per the CIA, and overall healthcare system rated by the WHO at # 37 over all.

The well off of course are fine. Bush took all the money out of the middle class and shoveled it into the pockets of the wealthy. I laugh when I hear folks talk too - a nice woman interviewed yesterday on CNN in Kansas said - "We are fortunate to live near a busy military base. The economy is strong based on gevernment spending here. We have military health insurance coverage, but I would not select a public option if one was offered. The government is overspending. Universal healthcare is socialism..."

Can you hear her....she is living off the government now. The local economy is totally government. Her paycheck is government. Her healthcare is government. Yet - she says government involvement is socialism. Is the military socialist????? C'mon!!!!! Where's the logic? It is MIA.

This country is leaving half its people in the ditch. The Republicans want to keep it that way. They changed nothing about healthcare (except the "doughnut hole" while Bush was in the White House for 8 years. Now - Obama has been in for 8 months and they call it a takeover????

To bring it up to the same standards as the rest of the developed world we need to have ALL our people with affordable coverage.

Dorfy of SC 6:28PM August 24, 2009