The outbreak of swine flu has brought to light the fact that our health system is in a dangerous predicament in the face of an epidemic. Dr. Georges Benjamin, Executive Director of the American Public Health Association, points out, " To have an epidemic with millions of people who may not go to the doctor because they can’t afford to pay remains one of the unique challenges of our system.”
One is seven Americans is uninsured. Undocumented immigrants are also likely to be uninsured and likely to remain invisible. These people are likely to avoid getting care while they are contagious, thus infecting others. Does it need to be said that the “unique challenge” we face involves recognizing the poor and invisible among us and providing for them if only to protect ourselves?
Do you agree? Do you have any ideas on how to deal with this predicament?
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More information on what is being done to protect people in the United States is available (see http://healthyamericans.org/) during this pandemic,and information on how poverty caused the spread of the disease in Mexico is also available (see http://updatedfrequently.com/how-poverty-contributed-to-the-swine-flu-deaths-in-mexico). Could that happen here if there were a really dangerous disease?
ReplyDeleteSee http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/05/06/pm_tax_havens/ for Robert Reich's comments on how the elimination of tax loopholes for big corporations could go a long way to fund universal health care (like they have in England and Canada)...turns out to be cheaper and better than what we have.
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