David
Joined: 12 Feb 2005
Posts: 7
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| Posted: Mon May 02, 2005 3:10 am Post subject: Uninsured Americans Are A National Crisis |
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Uninsured Americans Are A National Crisis
May 1, 2005
By Mary Nam
SEATTLE - Joyce Gantt has a full-time job but she doesn't have health insurance. Every month Gantt pays $500 out of her own pocket for her asthma and diabetes medication that used to be covered by insurance.
"If I have to go to the hospital, I am literally out of luck. So I just pray everyday that nothing major happens other than my diabetes and asthma causes me to go in for emergency services," she said.
Gantt's dilemma is a national crisis.
One former U.S. surgeon general says 18,000 Americans die each year because they are uninsured.
"Because they're uninsured, they are not able to get the medical help that they need. They don't see their doctors early as do patients with insurance. And patients with the same diagnosis have a lower mortality rate if they are insured," says Dr. C. Everett Koop.
In Washington State, 390,000 adults don't have insurance.
Dr. Rayburn Lewis at Swedish Medical Center expects that number to rise. Lewis adds the problem is far reaching and contributing to overcrowded emergency rooms and rising cost of healthcare. Lewis says in the big picture, lack of healthcare coverage hurts more than just the working poor.
Swedish Medical Center spent $30,000 last year on charity care. Specialty physicians volunteered their time, but Lewis says these clinics are merely band-aids.
Lewis believes the solution is dialogue. He wants to lawmakers to make healthcare crisis a top priority because Lewis says, the choice Joyce Gantt makes is something no one should have to face. |
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