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Single-Payer Health Care Would Cover All
and Save $Billions
Printed in the Day, 26 June 2002
To the Editor:
[Having just read the op-ed in the Sunday edition of the Day bemoaning the fact that candidates aren't discussing real issues like health care, I thought I would resubmit to them this letter from a candidate, discussing health care....]
Hundreds of Connecticut residents die unnecessarily every year, simply because they are uninsured and don't get early or adequate health care. "Care Without Coverage: Too Little, Too Late," a recent study by the National Academy's Institute of Medicine, reports that the overall likelihood of dying is 25% higher for the uninsured, at any age.
The report points to lack of preventive care and routine screening as the primary culprits in higher mortality rates for the uninsured - a population far more likely to use emergency room treatment as a first resort. It found, significantly, that health insurance could reduce racial and ethnic disparities in treatment outcomes.
We have studies showing that Connecticut citizens would save $1-2 billion per year by expanding health care coverage to everyone in the state. We have reports that emergency rooms are critically understaffed and financially strapped, largely because of the needs of the uninsured. Now we have confirmation that people in Connecticut are dying, for no other reason than that we lack the political will to institute universal health care coverage.
Consider, in light of these findings, the difficulty small business owners and the self-employed have in affording insurance. Many hard-working people must choose, literally, between paying rent or putting food on the table, and insuring themselves, their families, their employees. And even with insurance, one in four of us could be bankrupted by a major illness.
A health care coverage plan that covers everybody would save money mostly through drastic reductions in administrative and advertising costs, but also by preventing many medical emergencies with better early treatment.
By saving money, we could save lives. Why don't we have universal health care coverage in Connecticut? Our current legislators have some explaining to do.
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