Democrats need to use facts like this to rally political support for universal health care.
In today's NY Times Nicholas Kristof, who is no liberal, exaplains how under Bush infant mortality has increased for the first time in over 40 years:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/12/opinion/12kris.html
Tragic facts like this must be publicized by Democrats and others or else many American swing voters will go on believing that everything is fine with our health system and there is no need for universal coverage.
This is part of winning the battle of ideas. Right now the dominant idea, even among the well-educated, is that America's health system is costly but it is still the best in the world. The idea that is not discussed is how do we measure what is "best?"
Right, now pundits only pay attention to the high tech care available to our wealthiest and best covered citizens. No is making an argument that an essential part of a quality health care system is how broad its coverage is.
The American people are compassionate by nature. The outpouring of private donations for tsunami victims is evidence of that. However, the belief inside the Beltway, especially among pro-big busines Democrats like Simon Rosenberg is that Democrats must always capitulate or compromise with Republicans on matters of ecnomic justice.
This is simply not true. In order to start winning the battle of ideas we must reject the failed rhetoric of Rosenberg and the DLC and support progressive Dems who will make it their goal to highlight statistics like worsening infant mortality.