If you've been paying attention to the national discussion on health reform, I bet you've heard this argument: " We already have a national healthcare system to take care of the poor. It's called Medicaid!"
Well, not so much. In most states, people without children cannot get Medicaid, no matter how poor they are. And in lots of places even poor families with children can't get Medicaid, unless their income is hideously, unsurvivably low. Where I live* a family of four making $5000 a year (take a moment to imagine trying to get by on that) is too rich to get any help from Medicaid.
So, how often does someone die in America because of a lack of insurance? A 2004 report from The National Academies of Sciences** says it's one person every half hour, which amounts to 18,000 American deaths a year. (And this calculation, remember, was made before the economy crashed.) Look at it another way: every two months more Americans die from not having medical insurance than Al Qaeda managed to kill on September 11. Then, we went to war and spent a trillion. And people are arguing now that we should do nothing?
Nicholas Kristof, in September 13's New York Times***, offers another suggestion for sick, uninsured Americans: commit a crime and get locked up. In the USA, our imprisoned felons are entitled to medical care. Unlucky enough to be law-abiding? Take your chances with those warmhearted philanthropists at Blue Cross.
*Alabama
** Insuring America's Health: Principles and Recommendations , the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Science
***"The Body Count at Home"
Prytania
