I'm depleted writing this.
It's first and foremost a human tragedy of epic proportions for the American people. Secondly this number is a political tragedy for Democrats who have thus far failed to deliver on the promise of guaranteed and affordable healthcare for all of us.
The Census Bureau released on Thursday the latest figures on how many Americans were without health insurance in 2009: 50.7 million people, an increase of almost 10 percent from the 46.3 million people without coverage in 2008.
As Howard Deansaid during the health insurance reform debate, had we lowered the age of Medicare eligibility we would have had additional people covered by now.
But tragically that didn't happen, thanks to Joe Lieberman's veto. Strangely, Lieberman is still chair of the Homeland Security Committee.
We hope he'll run, and the voters in Connecticut will deal with him in 2012.
I urge you to read the just released statement from PNHP on this national catastrophe.
Here's a sad piece of the PNHP press release:
Official estimates by the Census Bureau showing a dramatic spike of 4.3 million in the number of Americans without health insurance in 2009 - to a record 50.7 million - underscore the urgency of going beyond the Obama administration's new health law and swiftly implementing a single-payer, improved Medicare-for-all program, according to Physicians for a National Health Program, a 17,000-member physician group.
The Census Bureau reported that 16.7 percent of the population lacked health insurance coverage in 2009, up from 15.4 percent in 2008, when 46.3 million were uninsured.
Lack of health insurance is known to have deadly consequences. Last year researchers at Harvard Medical School showed that 45,000 deaths annually can be linked to lack of coverage.
"Tragically, we know that the new figures of uninsured mean a preventable annual death toll of about 51,000 people - that's about one death every 11 minutes," said Dr. Quentin Young, national coordinator of PNHP. Young is a Chicago-based retired physician whose private medical practice once counted President Obama among its patients.
Young said that even if the administration's new health law works as planned, the Congressional Budget Office has projected about 50 million people will be uninsured for the next three years and about 23 million people will remain uninsured in 2019.
"Today's report suggests those projections are likely too low," he said.
The jump of 4.3 million uninsured is the largest one-year increase on record and would have been much higher - over 10 million - had there not been a huge expansion of public coverage, primarily Medicaid, to an additional 5.8 million people.
We can only hope that if and when health insurance reform kicks in that Americans will get the healthcare they deserve. That it will be affordable, and we will all taste some of the much heralded protections against the predatory insurance corporations.
We knew that with unemployment rising, more people would lose their coverage long before the PPACA took effect. This is exactly what has happened. Yet at every bend in the road, an historic opportunity for good public policy was sacrificed in the name of either securing a non-existent Republican vote, or appeasing the insurance corporations
Certainly these dismal and heart wrenching statistics prove there is still no protection and certainly no affordable care.
Really bad news for a country that spends twice as much as countries that insure almost everybody with better outcomes.
And if that chart isn't clear, here's another.
The number of residents without health insurance in 2009climbed to 51 million, from 46 million in 2008. The share of children who were uninsured fell, though, reflecting an expansion of government health programs covering low-income children. The share of uninsured adults rose, as a long-term decline continued in the number who have private health insurance. Health experts expect the share of residents without health coverage to decline in coming years as the health care overhaul adopted by Congress in March begins to take effect.
Could this be why Democratic voters are just plain demoralized? I mean let's get real, can you blame them?
All the hoopla surrounding this historic landmark legislation, then very little for those most in need.
Moral of the story for politicians: If you promise relief, then deliver it. Don't tell people starving for healthcare they will get protections and affordable care four years down the line (maybe). Don't celebrate a happy face bill called the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which fails to promptly address this national catastrophe.
Americans can't wait until 2014.
As long as funds hold out, I'll continue to tell the stories of the millions of Americans left out of healthcare reform, certainly between now and 2014, and for many even after 2014.
The next Free Clinic is on December 7th in Charlotte, North Carolina. If you can volunteer, it's a life changing experience to be at such an event and lend a hand.
With your support I'll be in Charlotte to record the stories of working and unemployed Americans who simply cannot wait until 2014 to access healthcare.
If you want help us with a small donation we're immensely grateful to you.
The funds donated to the Progressive Congress Action Fund, a 501(C)4 not for profit, will be used to advocate on behalf of the progressive agenda, to advance progressive legislation, and may include payments to individuals engaged in fund raising.