Forgive me readers. It's been 11 months since my last post. But it is now November and I love the practice of posting my gratitude each day (even when I start late or get behind).
Today I'm grateful for passionate people who care about others. Even people they don't know and will never meet. Tonight I went to a Single Payer Healthcare Info Night at a friend's house and met a wonderful woman who has been working to establish a single payer system in Oregon for over 30 years.
There are so many reasons I believe single payer healthcare is a good solution. Currently we pay almost double any other industrialized country per capita, yet we have over 50 million people without health insurance, and WHO ranks us 37th in terms of health outcomes. People are losing their homes because of out of control healthcare costs. It's estimated that the amount we would save in paperwork alone would be enough to cover everyone who is currently uninsured without increasing current cost. Most Americans get their health insurance from their employer, with premiums on the rise, employers are cutting back on the number of full-time employees. In fact, our local community college has fewer instructors per student due to health insurance costs - which results in larger classes and a greater, more stressful workload for the remaining instructors, which decreases their health!
A friend of mine posted yesterday that when their oldest was little, her husband made $24K/year. Now, 20 years later, they are paying $24K/year in health insurance premiums!
In addition to money, Single Payer makes sense for the health of our population (and this is also a money thing, too). Uninsured people do not receive the preventative care they need. They are forced to wait until they are terribly ill then go to the emergency room. Not only does this not serve their health, but this type of "healthcare" is more expensive for everyone, because we all pay these costs.
There are so many more points to make, but that would be a book! So I'll leave you with this Walter Cronkite quote, "American's health care system is neither healthy, caring, nor a system."
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