Health care costs in the U.S. have continued to skyrocket, as we in Western Colorado know all too well.
The U.S. pays $3.5 trillion per year for health care, well over $10,000 for every American man, woman and child. Most get poor coverage, wait lines, a scanty list of preferred providers and, for many, a deductible far higher than their accessible savings, a trap-door to bankruptcy. The most common reason for American bankruptcy is medical costs – we allow over one million medical bankruptcies per year, says Kaiser Family Foundation.
A study published in The Lancet, the Healthcare Access and Quality (HAQ) Index, ranked the U.S. 29th, way behind almost all other first-world (and even some third-world) nations.
Every other industrialized country provides each and every citizen lifelong, comprehensive, effective care, for half the price we pay per person. Picture having all your loved ones automatically covered from birth to death, and covered very well. No worries, mate.
A million health care bankruptcies, sky-high rates with astronomical deductibles and poor outcomes amount to an All-American Titanic disaster. The strange thing is, all folks onboard could survive, and very nicely, if resources were shared intelligently, as in a Medicare for all system – as all other industrial nations have already demonstrated. Yet folks continue hugging their position on a lifeboat, afraid of giving up their crappy but privileged seat, while millions of the uninsured flounder around them in the frigid waters.
Medicare for all is a cheaper, more efficient solution that would cover everyone.
Karen Pontius
Durango
