By Martha Livingston, Ph.D.
1. I have a Ph.D. and teach health policy. But you don’t need a degree to understand this issue: we all need health care, a lot of us are dying without it, and we have all the money it would take to give it to everybody. Plenty of people will try to confuse you about this and make the issue more complex than it needs to be: that is, make you feel as thought you don’t know what you’re talking about and that you’re not capable of understanding such a complex question. Don’t believe them: of course you understand this issue – it’s about health care justice, and you can speak about that!
2. We are the richest country on the planet, and we spend way more on health care than any other country does ($2.5 trillion, 17.7% of GDP; more than 1/6 of the economy, $8,160 per person; other countries spend no more than roughly 10% of their GDP, or more than $4,000 a person, and they cover everyone!). In fact, our government spends more on health care (60% of this $2.5 trillion) than any other government on the planet!
3. And yet 46 million people in the US are insured, and tens of millions are underinsured. About 45,000 people died last year because they couldn’t access health care when they needed it. Millions more walk around with serious conditions like diabetes, hypertension, or high cholesterol undiagnosed, and millions have to choose between paying the rent or filling their prescriptions. Medical bills are the main reason for personal bankruptcy in America – more than half were caused by them!
4. Where does all the money go? Into the pockets of the rich: the insurance companies, Big PhRMA, the HMOs, and health care CEOs are making killing. And while Medicare spends less than 4% of its budget on administration costs, private health care companies spend anywhere from 15-33% of theirs – all while denying many the care they need!
5. Too many politicians are in the pockets of the health care industry – and we have to remember that they need our votes. We need them to accept the only solution that saves money and covers everyone: Medicare-for-All! That’s right, the same old Medicare – just that it will start at age zero, rather than 65. And with all the money we’ll save, we’ll be able to improve Medicare’s coverage so that it covers all the care that people need – drugs, glasses, long-term care, and so forth.
6. How can we get Medicare for all? Get on your elected representatives, get them behind H.R. 676, the Medicare-for-All bill, and vote ‘em out if they’d rather support health-care profiteers (or, if they are health-care profiteers themselves, like Senator Bill Frist!)
By Martha Livingston, Ph.D., NYC speakers’ training 4//2005. Statistics updated by Nic Miller 11/2009