The purpose of this diary will seek to expose the fact that the for profit private health care industry is jeopardizing the homeland security of the American people. Epidemiologists and certificated emergency management professionals have long understood that the nearly 50 million people who are uninsured in America pose a substantive homeland security risk for the population as a whole in any mass casualty event, be it manmade or naturally occurring. This is a fact that the unbridled avarice of the for profit American insurance industry doesn't want you to know about, because it exposes them as traitors to the homeland security of the United States of America, and the American people.
Therefore to reiterate in any mass casualty event manmade or naturally occurring, it is feared that Americans will literally be dying in the parking lots of American emergency rooms, because there is no surge capacity left in our emergency rooms, because they are literally flooded with the estimated 50 million uninsured, because they have no other medical access. This is just one of the issues that will be explored in this diary that will expose the for profit medical insurance industry's perfidy to the homeland security of our nation. Homeland security requires universal medical access as an incidence response issue.
[This diary asks the question as one of the Dept of Homeland Security's founding principles was to provide an incident response capability, how is it possible to provide an incident response capability in a mass casualty event if you have 50 million people who are medically uninsured? Isn't that a valid homeland security concern for the American people? If you agree with that premise, please feel invited to read on]
It's time to take the gloves off and tell the truth about the fact that the for profit health care industry's interests are at tension with the homeland security of the United States.
The recent national discussion of a future looming flu pandemic such as the Swine flu or the Bird flu have raised awareness of the long hidden fact when nearly 50 million Americans are uninsured in America, in the case of any mass casualty event, be it manmade or naturally occurring that this leaves the homeland security of the entire United States uniquely vulnerable. Let's explore that issue in some detail as to exactly what that could mean for you and your families and communities. But first we have to understand the need to get our heads around an ugly fact. The economic model surrounding the Dept of Defense and by extension the Dept of Homeland Security works to enrich corporate America by providing lucrative defense contracts. The simple truth is there are no lucrative defense contracts for corporate America in providing for a universal medical access system that would insure the health care homeland security of the American people. This simple fact has left the homeland security of the American people vulnerable to devastation by any mass casualty event.
The first thing that we must do is restore our surge capacity in emergency rooms all across America as a homeland security imperative.
How do we do that? It's simple in addition to building more surge capacity, we have to relieve overcrowding in American emergency rooms by creating a universal medical access system as a right of citizenship for all Americans, wherein former uninsured Americans will have access to a regular family health care provider, therein substantively easing emergency room overcrowding. You may ask is it really that simple? The answer is yes it is that simple. But you must understand that the for profit health care industry in the United States is not interested in creating more surge capacity, because it will not get used regularly enough to warrant their financial investment [bluntly put they can't sell unused beds, therefore maintaining unused beds for surge capacity in a private for profit medical system is unsustainable with the maximization of profit], as a straightforward axiomatic business proposition. The only way to really address this issue is to take the for profit motive out of all health care delivery.
UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM MAJORITY STAFF MAY 2008
HOSPITAL EMERGENCY SURGE CAPACITY: NOT READY FOR THE "PREDICTABLE SURPRISE"
[Executive summary - page 3]
The survey was conducted on Tuesday, March 25, 2008, at 4:30 p.m. local time in each of the seven cities. The survey was designed to determine the real-time capacity of the emergency rooms at the Level I trauma centers to absorb a sudden influx from a mass casualty event. Thirty-four of the 41 Level I trauma centers in these cities participated in the survey.
The results of the survey show that none of the hospitals surveyed in the seven cities had sufficient emergency care capacity to respond to an attack generating the number of casualties that occurred in Madrid. The Level I trauma centers surveyed had no room in their emergency rooms to treat a sudden influx of victims. They had virtually no free intensive care unit beds within their hospital complex. And they did not have enough regular inpatient beds to handle the less severely injured victims. The shortage of capacity was particularly acute in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.
http://oversight.house.gov/...
We must also understand that any health care administrator in the current for profit medical delivery care system not only would instantly miss their bonus, but likely find themselves unemployed. Therefore it would be impossible for the for profit health care industry to reform itself. Any such meaningful reform must come from the outside. At this point you may ask doesn't the present system have any backup surge capacity already built into it. The truth is yes it does. For that purpose it uses the Veteran's Administration hospitals for the purpose of backup in overflow surge capacity. However axiomatically speaking all you have to do is look at how badly underfunded the VA has been historically to understand that the VA system will soon be overwhelmed. In fact some people state it is already overwhelmed, even without any type of mass casualty event.
What can cause a mass casualty event?
A mass casualty event could be either naturally occurring or manmade. An example of a naturally occurring mass casualty event could be a pandemic flu, or an earthquake or a Katrina type event with associated flooding or tornadoes. Manmade mass casualty events can be the result of acts of terrorism or the result of an accident of various types. For more information on this subject click on the FEMA link below: http://www.fema.gov/...
In order to provide for the homeland security of the American people will a universal medical model have to include undocumented workers?
The simple truth is that any resident of the United States irrespective of whether or not they are documented would have to be included fully in a universal medical model, because anyone who is not covered medically makes all of us more vulnerable. This is particularly true in a pandemic event.
WASHINGTON -- Swine flu could shine a glaring light on the best and worst about American-style health care.
At top labs, scientists are optimistic they can make a vaccine that's effective against the new virus. But in a country where one in seven people lack medical insurance, doctors worry that some individuals won't get needed protection because of cost.
It could leave the rest of society more vulnerable.
Helping the estimated 50 million uninsured will mean more than just paying for their health care. For example, if they're here as illegal immigrants, should taxpayers still cover the costs?
Public health experts say obstacles to getting medical attention are counterproductive if you're trying to stop an infectious disease in a highly mobile society like the United States.
"The person I'm most worried about is the one who decides to delay getting care, and does it in such a way that they infect others or put themselves at greater risk," said Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association. "To have an epidemic with millions of people who may not go to the doctor because they can't afford to pay remains one of the unique challenges of our system."
http://www.news4jax.com/...
But also in terms of providing for cost containment, uninsured persons historically have left the American insured population vulnerable to rate hikes in their insurance rates, and rate hikes in all of their medical services and all of their pharmaceutical services. That's why the United States in part is spending right about 16 percent of GNP whereas virtually all other highly industrialized countries, for example in Western Europe are spending right around 9 or 10 percent of GNP, because the truth is universal medical access provides for better cost control, because you can deliver economies of scale in pharmaceutical services for example. Wherein you have pitted people and organizations in a bidding war for pharmaceutical services that only exists in a for profit market, which is designed to drive the price up.
America due to medical costs is losing its heavy manufacturing sector. To which the question must be asked isn't America stripped of its heavy manufacturing sector more vulnerable to threats against its homeland security?
This is a comprehensive issue that this diary can't possibly provide a comprehensive treatment for, so this writer will limit themselves to providing some brief commentary attendant upon this subject matter. The simple axiomatic truth is that historians have long argued that America was only able to rebound from the devastating effects of World War II simply because the American manufacturing sector was at the heart of American homeland security, and therefore the American people were quickly able to rebuild the naval fleet which was lost at Pearl Harbor. While it is possible for historians to debate that historical proposition, it is clear from a contemporary perspective that as America is continuing to outsource its heavy industrial capabilities and factories to developing nations in the Third World, it isn't at all clear in the event of a national emergency that modern day America could respond with its industrial might in order to protect the homeland security of the American people, in the same way that it did in World War II. In a posture where all of the robber baron Wall St bankers were instrumental in moving much of America's heavy manufacturing capability to China's cheap labor market, wherein they are not required to provide medical care to China's predominantly non-union workforce. So we have a posture where medical costs are de-industrializing America's heavy manufacturing industries, because the cost that this represents to a manufacturer, not only for its current employees and their family members, but also to its retirees and their family members. The medical costs have become so out of control, prohibitive, that the only way that management can respond is to provide yet one more reason to offshore those jobs and that manufacturing capacity. Simply because medical costs in the United States are completely out of control in the private for profit medical system, which to reiterate has left the homeland security of the United States in jeopardy.
The simple truth is that the for profit health care insurance industry and the for profit medical and pharmaceutical system have jeopardized the homeland security of the American people in so many different ways that this diary was only able to provide a proforma introduction to this subject matter. If you agree with the proposition put forth in this diary that universal medical access must be a right of citizenship, as a homeland security imperative, then please write to your member of Congress today and tell your member of Congress to support HR 676 put forth by representative John Conyers, co-sponsored by Dennis Kucinich.
http://thomas.loc.gov/...
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UPDATE:
As the idea that providing universal medical care as a right of citizenship in order to enhance the homeland security of the American people has in its terminology caused some confusion, let me take this opportunity to state, that we are all aware that the United States had its homeland security violated on 9/11 wherein 3,000 Americans were killed. Now to be clear every life is valuable and indeed sacred. To that end, let's please remember according to the National Academy of Sciences 18,000 unnecessary deaths occur in the United States each and every year due to lack of medical insurance.
Uninsured Americans get about half the medical care of those with health insurance. As a result, they tend to be sicker and to die sooner.
¨ About 18,000 unnecessary deaths occur each year because of lack of health insurance.
http://www8.nationalacademies.org/...