*Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Give him a place to live, give him a job, give him health care, give him police protection, give him protection from fire, give him safe roads, give him an education -- is this socialism? I say pay now OR PAY LATER! !*
Affordable quality healthcare should be available to all Americans regardless of race, pre-existing conditions, economic circumstances, or age. There those who argue that the country cannot afford to provide such healthcare to all of its citizens. Such people need to clearly understand what the human costs are of not spending the money necessary to provide better health care. The infant mortality rate of the United States is 6.2%. 44 countries including Japan, Cuba, Norway, England, France, Sweden, and Spain have lower infant mortality rates than the United States does. In the United States, in the year 2007, there were about 4,300,000 babies born alive. A 6.2% infant mortality rate means that in 2007 about a quarter of a million babies died. France has an infant mortality rate of 3.3%. If, through a better health care system, the United States could get its infant mortality rate down to that of France, the lives of about 130,000 babies would be saved. When we talk about the unacceptable expense of improving health care in the United States, has anyone taken a poll of the mothers whose babies died to ask them if they would prefer to pay more in taxes and have their children live? An article in the American Journal of Medicine says that in 2007 62% of bankruptcies were caused by an inability to afford needed healthcare. Has anyone taken a poll of those forced into bankruptcy by health care costs to find out how many of them would prefer paying slightly higher taxes if it would mean that they did not have to go bankrupt? Very well off people live about four years longer than very poor people. In Baltimore the life expectancy for men is 67.3 years. Has anyone taken a poll of the relatives of those whose death was in part caused because there financial situation limited their access to health care? What percentage of these relatives said that they would prefer to pay slightly higher taxes and have their relatives live longer? Improved healthcare may cost more money but, even if it does, be sure that those who object to higher taxes understand that their objections to higher taxes mean that they are objecting to more babies living, fewer bankruptcies, and poor people living longer. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "WebTV Dawgs/Dittos" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/webtv-pals -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
