Is Not Having Health Insurance as Dangerous as the Swine Flu?
May 2009
Just as congress passes a budget that may or may not make
medical insurance coverage more available to all Americans, the swine flu appears to remind us all of exactly why it is that we need coverage in the first place.
Sure the opinion piece at the
Salt Lake Tribune feels that a health insurance "pandemic" is more dangerous than a human/avian/porcine hybrid flu strain. The public forum letter run by the Tribune states that it isn't a flu pandemic we need to worry about, or even lifestyle illness like diabetes or cardiovascular disease, but a "lack of access to health care."
While this statement seems a bit overwrought when schools are shutting down and bus drivers are wearing masks on-the-job, in a roundabout way it's actually true.
Diabetes and heart disease are top killers in America, killing hundreds of thousands of people, while a typical flu season means that around 40,000 will die of the virus.
But it's a lack of medical insurance coverage that often leads to poor lifestyle decisions, and thereby, to heart disease and diabetes. Furthermore, it's a well-known and oft proven fact that those who suffer from other ailments, including everything from cancer down to the flu, are less likely to get treatment until later, when their illness is more dangerous and aggressive, if they don't have health insurance.
The result? While there's no way to know exactly how many people actually die from a lack of coverage, it definitely lowers the chances of an individual enjoying prompt medical care, and boosts the odds that the patient will suffer longer, and require more time, money, and care to recover.
And of course, the American taxpayers end up footing the bill for such extended illnesses.
Facts on:
Medical Insurance Coverage
Did you know...
A typical flu season means that approx 40,000 will die each year?
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The
health insurance reform now possible through the newly passed budget may provide an answer to our health care fiasco, but not right away and not without some impressive political maneuvering on both sides.
Until then, we'll all do our best to outlast the swine flu epidemic, and hope that the tremendous financial and physical burdens associated with our current medical insurance coverage system don't outlast us.
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