America: Equity and Equality in Health
The Lancet today published five articles on US Health and Inequality
It is available for 'free" if you register. They have a lot of good free articles so I registered.
The Herald gives its take on the series
and they interview Bernier Sanders on this subject and more
Bernie Sanders Interview Full Transcript
Sanders thinks that Trump is a real threat to democracy. He admits he has many disagreements with many Republicans. He respects many of them and those differences. However he thinks it is important to join with them in recognizing the threat to democracy that Trump poses.
We may have more posts by the media on these articles. As they come out and as I begin to read the articles over the weekend end I may add some remarks beyond a break.
I don't think this is news to anyone. Poor and low income people do not have equal access to routine care, at least not until Obamacare, because they pay the highest rates in out of pocket costs.
ReplyDeleteIf we need an ECG, we go without dental care that year to pay for it. If the furnace needs repairs, we skip routine diagnostics (colonoscopies and mammograms are very expensive).
In rural areas, we are lucky because we don't have food deserts. In urban areas, that's a big problem, which means nutrition suffers.
A nice but clueless coworker said she couldn't understand why so many of the poor were fat smokers. I recently read that people who are stressed out crave sugar, and there isn't anything more stressful than being poor in America. Nicotine and sugar are the poor man's Xanax and mental health counselor.
Decades of skimping on health care add up. And the stress of scrimping has yet to be quantified in terms of the toll it takes on lifespan.
There is and always has been a desire in this country to see the poor as feckless and stupid, making their health problems their own fault, and therefore not the problem of upright Americans who pay their own way.
This article from WaPo is essential reading. And if you feel so moved to send the clinic a few bucks, they will write you back a nice letter.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/west-virginia-tug-river-obamacare/
Jack, those are interesting links. And that's sad, about the difference in life spans. But as Jean said, not surprising.
ReplyDeleteIn the interview with Sanders, he said that conservatives would never go for single payer. However, this article showed up on Vox News a few days ago. Seems that some of the alt-right don't think it's such a bad idea. Of course, there's a difference between the alt-right and traditional conservatives. One would need to be careful about making common cause with the alt-right. Politics makes strange bedfellows. But if they have a "spirit animal", it probably has rabies.