My husband, a cancer researcher, sent letters to all of our legislators last week about health care reform. He is encouraging a letter writing campaign this week to ensure that comprehensive health care legislation is indeed passed, despite the horrific August misinformation blasted on right wing media outlets.
Here is a copy of his letter:
September 3, 2009
Re: Healthcare Public Option - Yes
Dear Senator Spector:
The US pays twice as much for health care yet lags other wealthy nations in such measures as infant mortality and life expectancy, which are among the most widely collected, hence useful, international comparative statistics. For 2006-2010, the USA's life expectancy will lag 38th in the world, lagging last of the G5 (Japan, France, Germany, UK, USA) and just after Chile (35th) and Cuba (37th).[1]
The United States is the only highly industrialized nation without some form of national health insurance. Today, 47 million people in this country have no coverage at all. Furthermore, the United States spends the most for health care among the world's 23 top industrialized nations, including countries in Western Europe, Iceland, Japan, Korea, Australia and New Zealand. Yet U.S. citizens have the lowest life expectancy of any of those countries. Furthermore, Medical debt is the principal cause of personal bankruptcy in the United States, weakening the whole economy (2).
The United States spent 15.8 percent of its gross domestic product on health care in 2006. The other 22 highly industrialized nations spent less, ranging from 7.1 percent of annual GDP in Ireland, 8.4 percent in Great Britain and 11 percent in France (2)
Despite its high health care expenditure, the United States had the lowest life expectancy - 78.1 years at birth. Life expectancies in the other 22 countries ranged from 78.4 in Denmark, 80 years in Great Britain and 82.4 in Japan. Yet, health spending per individual is $2,992 in Great Britain, but $7,290 here; and for every 1,000 residents there are 2.5 physicians and 10 nurses in Great Britain compared to 2.4 physicians and 20 nurses in the U.S. (2).
Infant mortality in Great Britain is lower - 4.8 deaths for every 1,000 live births, compared to 6.7 deaths for every 1,000 live births in the United States.” Only Latvia, with six deaths per 1,000 live births, has a higher death rate for newborns than the United States, which is tied near the bottom of industrialized nations with Hungary, Malta, Poland and Slovakia with five deaths per 1,000 births (3). Yet, "The United States has more neonatologists and neonatal intensive care beds per person than Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom, but its newborn death rate is higher than any of those countries," said the annual State of the World's Mothers report (4).
According to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, the United States is the "only wealthy, industrialized nation that does not ensure that all citizens have health care coverage" (i.e. some kind of insurance) [5].
In summary, our system costs more and works less effectively than health-care systems in 22 other industrialized nations.
I grew up on a farm in rural southern Iowa. I have spent most of my career as a clinical faculty member in a tertiary academic medical center, and my father-in-law was the hospital administrator in a 600-bed hospital in north Jersey. I have seen health care in this country from the inside and from the outside. The U.S. should have universal health care coverage with both public option and private option components. It would be a tragedy to waste this opportunity to enact universal health care coverage.
The principle apparent reason that the general public does not seem solidly behind major renovation of our health care system and adoption of universal health care coverage is that behind the scenes, executives and spokesmen from insurance and pharmaceutical companies discourage reforms that might lower their significant annual profits.
I urge you to vote for the public option in the health care reform bill in Congress. Thank you.
References:
1. Recent Trends in Infant Mortality in the United States, Marian F. MacDorman, Ph.D., and T.J. Mathews, M.S., National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Data Brief, No. 9, October 2008
2. “Health care in the United States”, From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care_in_the_United_States
3.CNN,May102006, http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/parenting/05/08/mothers.index/
4. State of the World’s Mothers 2006, Saving the Lives of
Mothers and Newborns, Save the Children Foundation, www.savethechildren.org/publications/mothers/2006/SOWM_2006_final.pdf
5. Insuring America's Health: Principles and Recommendations, Institute of Medicine at the National Academies of Science, 2004-01-14. Retrieved 2007-10-22.
Here is a copy of his letter:
September 3, 2009
Re: Healthcare Public Option - Yes
Dear Senator Spector:
The US pays twice as much for health care yet lags other wealthy nations in such measures as infant mortality and life expectancy, which are among the most widely collected, hence useful, international comparative statistics. For 2006-2010, the USA's life expectancy will lag 38th in the world, lagging last of the G5 (Japan, France, Germany, UK, USA) and just after Chile (35th) and Cuba (37th).[1]
The United States is the only highly industrialized nation without some form of national health insurance. Today, 47 million people in this country have no coverage at all. Furthermore, the United States spends the most for health care among the world's 23 top industrialized nations, including countries in Western Europe, Iceland, Japan, Korea, Australia and New Zealand. Yet U.S. citizens have the lowest life expectancy of any of those countries. Furthermore, Medical debt is the principal cause of personal bankruptcy in the United States, weakening the whole economy (2).
The United States spent 15.8 percent of its gross domestic product on health care in 2006. The other 22 highly industrialized nations spent less, ranging from 7.1 percent of annual GDP in Ireland, 8.4 percent in Great Britain and 11 percent in France (2)
Despite its high health care expenditure, the United States had the lowest life expectancy - 78.1 years at birth. Life expectancies in the other 22 countries ranged from 78.4 in Denmark, 80 years in Great Britain and 82.4 in Japan. Yet, health spending per individual is $2,992 in Great Britain, but $7,290 here; and for every 1,000 residents there are 2.5 physicians and 10 nurses in Great Britain compared to 2.4 physicians and 20 nurses in the U.S. (2).
Infant mortality in Great Britain is lower - 4.8 deaths for every 1,000 live births, compared to 6.7 deaths for every 1,000 live births in the United States.” Only Latvia, with six deaths per 1,000 live births, has a higher death rate for newborns than the United States, which is tied near the bottom of industrialized nations with Hungary, Malta, Poland and Slovakia with five deaths per 1,000 births (3). Yet, "The United States has more neonatologists and neonatal intensive care beds per person than Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom, but its newborn death rate is higher than any of those countries," said the annual State of the World's Mothers report (4).
According to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, the United States is the "only wealthy, industrialized nation that does not ensure that all citizens have health care coverage" (i.e. some kind of insurance) [5].
In summary, our system costs more and works less effectively than health-care systems in 22 other industrialized nations.
I grew up on a farm in rural southern Iowa. I have spent most of my career as a clinical faculty member in a tertiary academic medical center, and my father-in-law was the hospital administrator in a 600-bed hospital in north Jersey. I have seen health care in this country from the inside and from the outside. The U.S. should have universal health care coverage with both public option and private option components. It would be a tragedy to waste this opportunity to enact universal health care coverage.
The principle apparent reason that the general public does not seem solidly behind major renovation of our health care system and adoption of universal health care coverage is that behind the scenes, executives and spokesmen from insurance and pharmaceutical companies discourage reforms that might lower their significant annual profits.
I urge you to vote for the public option in the health care reform bill in Congress. Thank you.
References:
1. Recent Trends in Infant Mortality in the United States, Marian F. MacDorman, Ph.D., and T.J. Mathews, M.S., National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Data Brief, No. 9, October 2008
2. “Health care in the United States”, From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care_in_the_United_States
3.CNN,May102006, http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/parenting/05/08/mothers.index/
4. State of the World’s Mothers 2006, Saving the Lives of
Mothers and Newborns, Save the Children Foundation, www.savethechildren.org/publications/mothers/2006/SOWM_2006_final.pdf
5. Insuring America's Health: Principles and Recommendations, Institute of Medicine at the National Academies of Science, 2004-01-14. Retrieved 2007-10-22.
