Health Care for all Californians

GRASS VALLEY, NV (By Lowell Banks, TheUnion.com) December 7, 2008 ― The Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences estimates that 18 thousand Americans die prematurely each year because they lack health insurance.

Industrialized countries around the world offer health care as a basic right. Why is full health care not happening in the U.S.? Private insurance companies are motivated to make money and do so by delaying, diminishing, and denying payment for promised services, blaming individuals for their own misfortune.

State Bill 840 is a single payer health care system, not involving the 1,500 plus health insurance companies we deal with today. They take 30 percent of each health care dollar for profit, advertising, and CEO salaries.

Misinformation about other countries health care systems is rampant. However, ask anyone in those countries if they would trade their system for ours. The answer is a resounding no. Countries with common pool or single payer health care systems provide similar service levels to every person. In such countries, it is the responsibility of society as a whole to provide health care for each individual.

After 35 years of Canadian Turn Arizona Blue!:

• Infant Mortality per 1000 – U.S. 7, Canada 4.5.

• Life Expectancy - U.S. 76.8 years., Canada 80.0 years.

• Per Capita Spending - U.S. $9,600, Canada $2,900.

I encourage everyone to go online and check out the “Lewin Group Study.” Don’t depend on someone else’s analysis of the issue. It is too important.

For more information on SB840, visit www.healthcareforall.org or www.ca.lwv.org.

The Nevada County Chapter of Health Care for All meets on the third Thursday every month, at 6:30 p.m. in room 110 of the Outpatient Center, Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital. Please come to learn more about this very important subject.

Lowell Banks, member, Health Care for All, Nevada County Chapter, lives in Grass Valley.