Rep Alan Grayson's Apology
http://www.youtube.com/...
Well, I would like to Apologize --
I would like to Apologize to the Dead.
44789 Americans die every year because they HAVE NO Health Insurance,
according to this Harvard Study. http://grayson.house.gov
That is more than 10 x the number of Americans who've died in the War in Iraq
It's more than 10 x the number of Americans who died in 9/11
but that was just once.
THIS IS EVERY SINGLE YEAR!
Take a look at this -- read it and weep.
and I mean that Read it and WEEP!
Let's remember we should 'care about people' -- EVEN after they're born.
Who was Grayson Apologizing to, really?
The Republicans, the American People, or the Unseen Victims, of this Unseen Scourge, of the Uninsured, and the Under-Insured?
We can fight "Wars on Terror".
We can fight "Wars on Illiteracy".
But People Dying for "Lack of Health Insurance" -- well that's about MONEY -- nevermind. Let someone else deal with it. Maybe by 2016, everyone will have forgotten there is even a problem?
Here are the Facts, Alan Grayson was trying to get us to focus on:
Health Insurance and Mortality in US Adults (pdf)
Andrew P. Wilper, MD, MPH, Steffie Woolhandler, MD, MPH, Karen E. Lasser, MD, MPH, Danny McCormick, MD, MPH, David H. Bor, MD, and David U. Himmelstein, MD
[pg 1]
The United States stands alone among industrialized nations in not providing health coverage to all of its citizens. Currently, 46 million Americans lack health coverage.1 Despite repeated attempts to expand health insurance, uninsurance remains commonplace among US adults. Health insurance facilitates access to health care services and helps protect against the high costs of catastrophic illness.
[pg 6]
Conclusions
Lack of health insurance is associated with as many as 44789 deaths per year in the United States [...] Despite widespread acknowledgment that enacting universal coverage would be life saving, doing so remains politically thorny.
At the time of this research, all authors were with the Department of Medicine at Cambridge Health Alliance, affiliated with Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, MA.
Hmmmm? Doctor's in favor of Universal Health Care -- Who Knew?
Doctors strongly In Favor of the Public Option, just like the Nation
Cold hard Facts like Numbers, are a funny thing, they all sound the same, when someone is just saying them, in speech without any visual aides.
But 44789 Americans dying every year, well how much is that really? Is that a Lot?
Whenever I'm facing big numbers like that I usually try to break it down into units or scales, that mean something to me in my "everyday experience". So here goes ...
44789 / 365 = 122.7 people per day
Die for "Lack of health insurance" ...
What does 120 People a Day look like, anyways?
That about what it takes to fill up 2 city buses
Or 120 People a Day looks like a typical Townhall Meeting (BTB -- Before TeaBaggers)
Or 120 People a Day looks like a small town rally
Or 120 People a Day looks like an average College Lecture
Sometimes making it more personal, can make those "boring stats" real. Think of your close circle of friends (or think back in the day when ...)
The typical "clique of friends" is around a dozen or so people, give or take ...
So imagine 10 social units like that, just ending each and every day, due to lack of adequate Health Insurance. That's kind of sad.
Those 120 people today may not have been someone close to you -- BUT they were close to someone! They were someone's friends and family.
OK here's another stats technique -- try to put the Big Number on a scale that people can recognize ...
44789 Americans die every year -- well when do we see that many people at the same time?
Answer: sporting events. Most folks can relate to that yardstick.
Picture of Dolphin Stadium
Main Tenant : Miami Dolphins
Primary Sport or Event : American Football
Year First Built : 1985
Capacity : 47662
http://www.stadiumdb.com/...
America loses the equivalent of a Stadium of People
EACH and EVERY YEAR
Due to the Lack of Adequate Health Care ....
Weep for them.
"I mean it, look at that picture and WEEP for them."
Think about THEM, the next time you talk to your Representatives.
Who Speaks for them? ... WHO apologizes to their friends and families?
At least he American Victims in Vietnam (58,178) got a Memorial:
Vietnam Veterans Memorial
http://thewall-usa.com/...
Who is building a wall, to the Victims of the Uninsured?
Where is the memorial of the Insurance Industry's "cast-aways"?
Which keep happening YEAR after YEAR.
Grayson was framing it.
We can fight "Wars on Terror".
We can fight "Wars on Illiteracy".
So why NOT a "War on Uninsured Deaths"?
Apparently because, People Dying for "Lack of Health Insurance" -- well that's about MONEY -- well maybe WE SHOULD MIND! ... maybe WE SHOULD CARE! ... MAYBE Congress should do something about it?
That Stadium-full of People -- NEED HELP NOW -- Not in 2016.
The Hidden Cost of Delay -- is more of the same -- more of a living in Country that PRETENDS to Care about People, but in reality, they all have found convenient Excuses ...
To Keep Looking the Other Way ... Congress is Expert at "Kicking that Can, down the Road"
Let someone else deal with it. Maybe by 2016, everyone will have forgotten there is even a problem?
Just another Day at the Office, for our Representatives WHO DON'T
.
.
.
(Don't Represent US)
Enough!
