The numbers boggle the mind.
Forty-seven million Americans went without health insurance in 2006, an increase of 2.2 million people from the year before, according to a report issued by the U.S. Census Bureau Tuesday (Aug. 28). It marks the sixth consecutive year the ranks of the uninsured have grown.
http://www.stateline.org/...
And it is both fitting and ugly that these new numbers from the census bureau are released the same day as an editorial in the Boston Globe entitled We Are All Uninsured Now, which teacherken and sobermom brought to my attention.
The American healthcare catastrophe--the national shame and disgrace of our nation has burrowed deep into the middle class.
The crisis is also wreaking havoc on more privileged Americans. Americans you might expect would be immune to the hardships inflicted on the rest of us by the Murder By Spreadsheet for-profit insurance industry.
Americans like Sandra Day O'Connor.
Empathy for Justice O'Connor? You decide. Our history cannot be amended or changed. Elections Selections have consequences.
BIG NUMBERS, like 45 million uninsured Americans, are hard to grasp. But that number came home to me at a recent conference. The keynote speaker was former Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Her topic was our healthcare system, and her message was personal and anguished.
The gist was that even she lives in constant fear of major uninsured health bills. Not her own -- those of her son. He can't afford insurance because his son -- her grandchild -- has a preexisting condition.
http://www.boston.com/...
So the American people wait and wait and wait some more. Our patience is running out, our anger is mounting.
Democratic candidates be warned: you will not receive a pass from either the netroots or the American people if you do not speak clearly and commit to a comprehensive plan to correct this crisis of epic proportions. Nothing less than an audacious plan which will give every American citizen, guaranteed and affordable healthcare--from cradle to grave.
Nothing less is acceptable.
It would be foolish not to recognize that there is a clash looming between what we should do as a nation and what we can do — between political expedience and political pragmatism. I can say one thing with absolute certainty: the American people will not tolerate another debacle. The numbers grow more alarming with every passing day, and what do the politicians do? What they do best of course, flap their annoying lips.
Pay attention political class, pay very careful attention, failure is not an option.
Affordable. Guaranteed. Single-Payer. For every American.