The Uninsured...

Did you know that the United States is the only country in the world that lacks a universal health care system? It's amazing how we are thought of to be one of the richest country's in the world but yet do not have a universal health care system. Health care is very important in any country and affects many things.

According to the UN Development Report, “The uninsured are less likely to have regular outpatient care, so they are more likely to be hospitalized for avoidable health problems. Once in hospital, they receive fewer services and are more likely to die in the hospital than are insured patients. They also receive less preventive care. Over 40% of the uninsured do not have a regular place to go when they are sick and over a third of the uninsured say that they or someone in their family went without needed care, including recommended treatments or prescription drugs in the last year, because of cost.”

When we think of bad health care, we do not think about the domino effect that it has on things. For instance, the amount of the debt most Americans have. Some of these unpaid debts are due to the fact that our uninsured Americans can not afford to pay out of pocket expenses for our health care. Or for another example, America's poverty level. Most of American families that are living in poverty stricken areas of the U.S. are uninsured. This could all be prevented and avoided if we had a universal health care system.

It is refreshing to see our President along with government taking a firm stand on this issue. Although, there are going to be a significant number of issues that are going to have to be worked out for this plan to fully go forward into effect, the efforts of our government officials is promising. It does not help anyone to have people arguing over a Democratic vote or a Republican vote or a "public opinion." None of this matters to me, fixing the cost of health care is what matters to me no matter how they get it done. Senator Benjamin Cardin says it best in this article. He states, "The primary goal needs to be to bring down health-care costs. If we don't do that, then the bill's not achieving our objectives," Cardin said. "If it doesn't achieve the objective, I think it would be a mistake to use reconciliation. The worst scenario is, we take responsibility and we don't get the job done."

THIS ARTICLE CAN BE READ AT:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/04/AR2009090403842.html?hpid=topnews