50 U.S. Health Care Statistics That Will Absolutely Astonish You

From The Economic Collapse

 

#1 What the United States spent on health care in 2009 was greater than the entire GDP of Great Britain.

#2 According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, health care costs accounted for just 9.5% of all personal consumption back in 1980.  Today they account for approximately 16.3%.

#3 The United States spent 2.47 trillion dollars on health care in 2009.  It is being projected that the U.S. will spend 4.5 trillion dollars on health care in 2019.

#4 One study found that approximately 41 percent of working age Americans either have medical bill problems or are currently paying off medical debt.

#5 According to a report published in The American Journal of Medicine, medical bills are a major factor in more than 60 percent of the personal bankruptcies in the United States.  Of those bankruptcies that were caused by medical bills, approximately 75 percent of them involved individuals that actually did have health insurance.

#6 Over the past decade, health insurance premiums have risen three times faster than wages have in the United States.

How Libby, Montana, Got Medicare for All

From Kay Tillow

In 2009 when the Washington beltway was tied up with the health care reform tussle, Montana Democratic Senator Max Baucus, chairman of the all powerful Senate Finance Committee, said everything was on the table–except for single payer.  When doctors, nurses and others rose in his hearing to insist that single payer be included in the debate, Baucus had them arrested.  As more stood up, Baucus could be heard on his open microphone saying, “We need more police.”

Yet when Senator Baucus needed a solution to a catastrophic health disaster in Libby, Montana, and surrounding Lincoln County, he turned to the nation’s single payer healthcare system, Medicare, to solve the problem.

Some of the most ardent supporters of single payer are small business owners

From Wendell Potter

Steil, president and owner of a small manufacturing company in Bucks County, Pa., told me he grew increasingly frustrated about having no leverage in dealing with private insurers, which demanded double-digit premiums increases every year.

Shumlin, who along with his brother took over the management several years ago of a travel business their parents founded, echoed the same frustration. Shumlin, who also served as a legislator, shared another frustration with Steil: not being able to help political constituents, many of them farmers and small business owners, who called begging for help in finding coverage.

“During my 16 years in the legislature, my staff and I were frustrated time and again trying to help people who had lost their coverage and couldn’t find a single insurer willing to offer them a policy, usually because of a preexisting condition of some kind,” Steil said. “We could deal with almost everything else, but this was one thing we could not solve. There simply was no solution.”

I know exactly what he means. I have spoken to hundreds of groups about the health insurance industry over the past two years, and invariably at least one person — and sometimes several — will grab me afterwards to ask for my advice on obtaining coverage. They assume that someone who spent two decades as an insurance company executive ought to be able to help them out.

Unfortunately, I have no better answers than Steil or Shumlin had for those constituents. If you’ve been sick in the past, or have a spouse or child who has been treated for one of hundreds of conditions insurers consider “preexisting,” about the only way you can get coverage is to convince an employer that still offers health care benefits to hire you. Good luck pulling that off in this economy.

And if you would much rather work for a small employer or become your own boss, be prepared to remain in the ranks of the uninsured. 

Vermont Poised to Become 1st State to Enact Single-Payer Healthcare

Dr. Deb Richter, president of Vermont Health Care for All.

Gov. Shumlin calls her the “backbone” of the grassroots effort that helped persuade the Democratic-led state legislature to pass the bill this spring.

“…we’ve had struggles up ’til this point, and no one said we could get this far, and people were basically naysayers saying that you’ll never get this far. And we’ve gotten this far. And I think the same energy that got us this far—we have a congressional delegation that is superb. We have a wonderful legislature; at this point, they’re all in—most of—the majority are in favor of single payer. And, of course, we have our governor, who campaigned on this issue, and a strong grassroots movement in the state of Vermont. And all of those together are really going to be needed to get us to where we need to go in 2017, or hopefully 2014.”

“…in Buffalo, 40 percent of my patients had no insurance, and many of them died young as a result of preventable illnesses, as a result of having been on and off insurance. And I had dozens of examples that—from my own practice, just me—if you multiply that times 700,000, you get an idea of how widespread this problem was.

And in addition, the amount of administrative burden and all of the bureaucracy that was—I’m a primary care physician, and all of the bureaucracy that we had—the hoops we had to jump through just to get patients the care they needed was ridiculous. And we know that 31 percent of the healthcare dollar is spent on administrative costs, transaction costs and paperwork. And just ask any primary care doctor, and they can tell you that they actually live that every single day.

So those are the things that I think resonated with people. I think people who had gone to the doctor 30 years ago and didn’t see all those people behind the counter just pushing paper, it’s something that they all felt. And we’re seeing this. More and more in the middle class is now experiencing what the poorer folks used to experience in terms of access. And I think that now that we have probably a majority of the population experiencing problems, this is something that’s resonating. And I do believe that that’s one of the major reasons that we got this legislation passed this year.”

“…there was a public hearing for providers. This was—included hospitals. And what we found was, two to one were in favor of single payer. And that’s particularly true in the primary care specialty. Eighty percent, roughly 80 percent nationally and in other state polls have shown that primary care, 80 percent of them are in favor. And we—our American Academy of Family Physicians Vermont chapter endorsed it. Our Vermont Psychiatric Association endorsed it.”

Part 2 of the interview here

The Single Payer Train Has Left the Station

For 18 years, Wendell Potter worked in the health insurance industry. Now’s he’s writing about it. In this video column, Potter looks at how Vermont is trying to create a single payer health care system.

Healthcare Costs Around the World

What I Have Learned “Doing Civil Disobedience for Single Payer” By Dr. Carol Paris

From PNHP,

“People should go where they are not supposed to go, say what they are not supposed to say, and stay when they are told to leave.” –Howard Zinn

Well, that quote pretty well sums up “what to do”. But my biggest challenge is “how”. Specifically, how do I neutralize some pretty powerful fear?

I was scared Friday when I joined Margaret Flowers to attempt to deliver a message to the President. My thoughts raced. We’re talking secret service.

“How do I get myself into these things?”
“This is crazy.”
“This is pointless.”
“I can’t even make sensible statements; I know what I want to say but I’m so nervous.”
“Other people are so much more knowledgeable and speak so much more eloquently.”
“But I am doing it!”

We stood in front of the Harbor Hotel in Baltimore clutching a banner that read “Letting you know. Medicare for all” and Margaret’s letter for the President written in response to his appeal for solutions to health reform. The hotel manager, police and secret service surrounded us and asked us to move.

If you watch the video, you’ll see that there was a point, a moment, which felt suspended in time, when Margaret looked at me and I looked at her and we both knew “we ain’t goin’ across the street.”

The feeling associated with that awareness was not fear, or anger, or self-righteous indignation. It was a feeling of quiet liberation. The things I was saying to myself, thoughts powerful enough to imprison me in a jailhouse of fear, had been neutralized. In their place was a calm determination to trust my intuition.

My gut told me “so be it. You’re doing the best you can. This is a no-brainer. Gotta do it. Margaret and I have been needing some quiet time to catch-up; might as well be in a police station.”

My gut has a great sense of humor.

Fear overcomes me when I listen to my head; calm enfolds me when I listen to my gut.

So, for what it is worth, here are few tips for “doing cd for Single Payer”:

1. Ignore your head. That means, all those familiar thoughts that leave you feeling fearful and bad.

2. Listen to your gut. You know it’s your gut talking if you start feeling calmness, clarity, and quiet determination.

3. We need people engaging in “gut-driven” cd to right all kinds of wrongs. Be authentic; for many of us, the gut issue is Medicare For All. If yours is the environment, then do cd for that.

4. Don’t try this alone. Take a friend. Or several.

5. Do the best you can. Speak from your heart. Once you’re in handcuffs, the worst is over. The “authorities” aren’t your enemy; most will treat you respectfully and the ones who don’t are just having a bad day. Don’t take it personally.

6. I like to take a “token” with me, tucked in my pocket with my driver’s license. For me, it’s a picture of my grandchildren and the holy card from my father’s funeral. It reminds me that he would be proud of me and that I’m doing this for the people who inspire me–my family and my patients.

7. If you have the choice of doing cd in the winter or the summer, definitely choose summer! Wear layers either way because it’s cold in jail.

Remember that we all have talents to contribute. Without Bill Hughes taking the video, our action wouldn’t have been as fruitful. Without Kevin Zeese, we’d have worried about our families and “legal stuff.” Without Mark Almberg, we wouldn’t have a press release. Without researchers like David Himmelstein and Steffie Woolhandler, we wouldn’t have compelling data to support us. We draw support from each other.

As Margaret Mead said: Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

Doctors Flowers and Paris Arrested, Re: Obama and Medicare for All

On Jan. 29, 2010, Doctors Margaret Flowers and Carol Paris were arrested outside a hotel, at the Inner Harbor, in Baltimore, MD, where President Barack Obama was to give a speech. They were on a sidewalk outside the Renaissance hotel holding a banner. The doctors had a letter that they wanted to give to the President and/or one of his aides, re: Medicare for All. They were arrested for trespassing, according to to a police officer at the scene. Later after getting into a police car, this reporter was advised, the two doctors were released, without going to the local lockup. Each was then given” a citation” for trespassing. For background on this issue, check out Dr. Flowers visit to the White House, on Jan. 28, 2010, at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxziSR…

R.I.P. Vic Chesnutt, Songwriter: Another Casualty of America’s Health Care Insanity

from Susie Madrak,

“It took our FUBARed health insurance system to finally push immense talent Vic Chesnutt over the cliff of despair this week. He needed kidney surgery and faced losing his home to pay for it. A songwriting hero to people like Kristin Hersh, Michael Stipe and Patti Smith, the Athens, Georgia performer took an overdose and spent his last few days in a coma.

In a “Fresh Air” interview a few weeks ago, he talked about the impossible economic demands he faced, despite help from Sweet Relief, the musicians’ health care fund. “I don’t want to die,” he told Terry Gross.”

US protest by 9/11 responders

Hundreds of emergency workers who responded to the September 11, 2001, attacks in the United States have been protesting in the capital, Washington, DC.

They say they are angry that it has taken eight years for congress to discuss healthcare now needed for those who have fallen ill as a result of working in the skyscrapers’ ruins.

Many of those first responders are slowly dying from illnesses contracted at Ground Zero.