Our Health Care Mocks Equality
I was reading the Berkshire Eagle on July 4th, and was moved by our Declaration of Independence, printed on the editorial page, and its proclamation of equality for all people, and of their rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It made me think of all the people who live in poverty in the Berkshires, and of our current health care crisis. Many Americans cannot afford the basics for life ( like food, shelter and health care), let alone pursue happiness. And while the health care crisis affects us all, it is even more of a disaster for those who are thrust into bankruptcy because of catastrophic illnesses for which they have no health insurance, for those who are unable to afford primary health care and suffer from pain and untreated illnesses, and for those who have to choose between food and necessary medications. The World Health Organization ranks the United States 72nd on the performance of our health care system, based on our level of health. This is below all industrialized nations, and below many third world nations.
In Pittsfield, 5,075 residents (11.4%) live below the poverty line (defined as $18,400 per year for a family of four), as do 18.2% of North Adams residents. Over twelve thousand Berkshire County residents live in poverty, which represents almost 10% of the people in our county. The United States is number one in poverty among industrialized nations, with 35 million people living below the poverty line. Seventeen percent of children in the United States live in poverty. Our poverty levels are 60% higher than in the United Kingdom and Canada, twice those of Sweden , and three times those of the Netherlands. Yet our average income is similar to, or higher than, these nations. Our poverty rate is due to income inequalities. Forty three million Americans were without health insurance in 2002; these uninsured exceeded the total population of 24 states. Medicaid insured 14 million in 2002 (30% of those in poverty), but 10.5 million others in poverty had no health insurance. Of those in poverty, workers are less
likely to be covered than non-workers. For every medical problem that has been studied (cardiovascular disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, etc.), the poor, the uninsured, and minority group members in the United States receive inappropriately low rates of care.
Canada has a single payer national health care system that covers everyone. Even the poorest Canadians now have mortality rates below the U.S. average.
All other industrialized nations have a single payer national health care system, funded and administered by the government, that provides universal access to health care. Yet in the United States, we make a mockery of the document from our founding fathers that supports such a right. There are organizations in Berkshire County which are working hard to address the health care needs of those in poverty, or those who fall dangerously close to that abyss. The Children’s Health Center in Great Barrington and the Neighborhood Health Center in Pittsfield have cared for those in poverty for years. Ecu-Health Care in North Adams helps people find medical care through public health programs, or from doctors who will reduce their fees. Volunteers in Medicine, a clinic in which doctors will donate their time, is slated to open next month in Great Barrington. These are all efforts worthy of our support, to address the immediate needs of
those in poverty. But they can only ameliorate the symptoms of a system that breeds these inequities.
The Declaration of Independence further states, “..To secure these rights, governments are instituted among men.” Bills are in the legislatures in Massachusetts and other states, as well as in the federal legislature, to create single payer health care, that would provide universal coverage, and be funded and administered by the government. It is time for the government to intervene in our health care crisis. It is time to take health care funding and administration out of the hands of profit-making insurance corporations. It is time for the United States to further the vision of our founding fathers, who wrote that stirring
document when our country was created. The Declaration of Independence started a revolution. Two hundred years later it can be the inspiration for another revolution, that will change the face of health care delivery in our country and make it accessible to every American citizen.
Susanne L. King, M.D., Lenox, MA
7/26/04
