The Economy Project
(2010-03-02)
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GREELEY, CO
(KUNC) -
The nonprofit healthcare advocacy group Families USA says more than 250,000 people nationwide have died in the past ten years because they lacked health care coverage. And the report warns of similar numbers in the next decade. Kim Bailey, a Senior Health Policy analyst with Families USA, says the impact on states like Colorado will be profound.
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"Approximately 3,200 adults ages 25 to 64 will die prematurely in the next decade, if health reform is not enacted."
Dr. Lila Rosenthal, a family physician in private practice and emergency care in Boulder, says more than ever she is seeing well-employed, highly educated patients without health insurance. She says that's because healthcare coverage isn't offered through their jobs or because they've been denied coverage due to pre-existing conditions. Such patients risk ending up in the emergency room, racking up large medical bills, because they can't afford basic health care.
"Is that what we want in our American economy?" she asks. "Do we think that that's a sustainable way to proceed with our society? I think we all know the answer to that."
It's a common misconception that only the poor, the unemployed or uneducated workers are without health insurance, says Dr. Rosenthal. She believes Congress has both a moral and an economic imperative to pass health care legislation this year. Opponents of the legislation fear it will cost too much.
President Obama is expected to offer a freshened version of the Senate's health care bill tomorrow with at least some input from Republicans.
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