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THOUSANDS OF AMERICANS DIE EACH YEAR FROM A LACK OF HEALTH INSURANCE
America's healthcare system was in a state of disaster even before Covid. Covid exacerbated a system that wasn't working, resulting in the United States having the highest Covid death numbers in the world. Many recent studies show that this death toll could have been reduced by a universal healthcare system. Studies have also shown that future deaths could still be reduced by putting some kind of universal healthcare system in place.
A recent study by Yale epidemiologists showed that Medicare for All would save around 68,000 lives a year while reducing U.S. healthcare spending by around 13%, or $450 billion a year. In 2022, Yale researchers also found that more than 335,000 American deaths during the pandemic would have been prevented if there was universal health insurance. In addition, the U.S. would have saved $105 billion in COVID-19 hospitalization expenses alone.
A Lancet study in 2021 also showed that 40% of Covid deaths were preventable. The medical journal The Lancet came to this conclusion by comparing the pandemic in the United States with other high-income G7 nations, like Britain, France and Canada. One of the report’s recommendations is a single-payer reform, like Medicare for All, that would, quote, “cover all residents under a single, federally financed plan providing comprehensive coverage,” unquote. Read more about the study here at Democracy Now.
A March 2021 report by the progressive group Public Citizen also found that hundreds of thousands of U.S. COVID deaths could have been avoided under a single-payer system, noting that under such a system, hospitals would be better funded and providers would be better able to coordinate care for patients.
Americans are dying because they don’t have health insurance or can’t afford the out-of-pocket costs.
Immediate action is needed. An action agenda of what is needed is outlined at the end of this report.
THE HIGH AMERICAN MORTALITY RATE COMPARED TO OTHER MODERN STATES
There's also the fact that the U.S. now has the lowest life expectancy of any modern state, maternal death rates have reached a record high, and according to the Journal of the American Medical Association, mortality rates among U.S. children and adolescents are rising. The bottom line is that the United States is going in the wrong direction. We can't fix these dire issues without universal healthcare, paid sick leave, and other major changes.
POVERTY KILLS IN THE U.S.
Poverty is the fourth leading cause of death in the U.S. In a recently published research letter in the Journal of the American Medical Association Network by University of California – Riverside, in 2019 there were roughly 183,000 deaths associated with poverty in the U.S. among people 15 years and older. (Managed Healthcare, 4-23-23).
THE U.S. HAS HIGH SPENDING ON HEALTHCARE COMPARED TO THE REST OF THE DEVELOPED WORLD WITH POOR OUTCOMES
The United States has extremely high spending on healthcare (especially when compared to other developed countries), yet millions in the U.S. remain uninsured and are drowning in medical debt. Dr. Bezruchka explains much of this in his book, Inequality Kills Us All: COVID-19's Health Lessons for the World (Amazon). Stephen Bezruchka's Website
Dr. Bezruchka's book explores just how deadly inequality can be to humanity and explores how even the smallest of policy changes, like parental leave, can make a huge impact on the long-term health of an individual’s life. “Only two countries in the world with a population of a million or more don’t provide [paid] time off to parents after you have your baby. So that is really important. Why do we not have a paid parental leave act in this country?… And this is for the richest, most powerful country in world history,” Dr. Bezruchka said.
The U.S. Has High Spending on Healthcare with Poor Outcomes (Scheer Post, 11-25-22)
MILLIONS OF AMERICANS WITH HEALTH INSURANCE ARE UNDERINSURED
Millions of Americans suffer under policies that are a bad joke in terms of "coverage."
One of the major problems is that of soaring deductible costs. Average enrollee spending on deductibles more than tripled between 2007 and 2017 (Tarbell, 6-1-21). Is spending $7,000 before one can get their healthcare covered realistic? No it is not.
The Commonwealth Fund also found that 40% of people in Affordable Care Act plans are under-insured because of high out-of-pocket charges – and many likely never meet their deductibles. As a result, millions of Americans are not going to the doctor or picking up prescriptions. So millions of people with ACA plans, or "Obamacare," as it has been colloquially called, can't even use the policies they have.
NO PAID SICK LEAVE IN THE U.S.
Currently, there are no federal legal requirements for paid sick leave in the U.S. Some states and local jurisdictions require it, but it needs to be a national requirement.
The United States is one of the few countries in the world that does not require paid sick leave for its workers. Of United Nation member countries, 181 provide paid sick leave in some form while 11 do not, including the U.S. So this places the U.S. along with nations like Tonga, Tuvalu, Nauru, and Somalia.
IN 2023, U.S. SEES LARGEST LOSS OF SOCIAL BENEFITS:
Many key relief programs were put in place when the government declared a federal Public Health Emergency at the beginning of the Covid pandemic. These programs provided a lifeline for the poor, and many other struggling Americans. But now that the federal Public Health Emergency has been declared over in 2023, these relief programs are in the process of being rolled back and ended. Some have already ended. There also is no more new funding for Covid. At the end of 2022, Biden and Congress failed to include Covid funding in the 2023 budget. Zero dollars were appropriated for Covid in the fiscal year 2024 budget, which was released March 9th.
The federal Public Health Emergency was ended in the Spring of 2023. What this means is up to 18 million Americans (including millions of children) could be tossed off Medicaid, and millions are already in the process of being tossed off right now.
As of March 1st, 2023, the food stamp benefits added during Covid were taken away from 32 states. Recipient households had their monthly grocery allocations reduced by at least $95. (NBC News)
Beginning September 30, 2023, states will face an end in federal childcare investments that came from Covid relief.
The government is also no longer providing Covid relief in the budget. At the end of 2022, Biden and Congress failed to include Covid funding in the 2023 budget. Also, zero dollars were appropriated for Covid in the fiscal year 2024 budget, which was released March 9th.
CONGRESS IS CONSIDERING MORE MEDICARE CUTS
Congress is considering several pieces of legislation that would impose billions of dollars in additional Medicare payment cuts for services provided by hospital outpatient departments (HOPDs). If enacted, these misguided so-called “site-neutral” policies would reduce patient access to vital healthcare services, particularly in rural and other medically under served communities. This is on top of the fact that U.S. hospitals are already getting underpaid by $100 billion.
WE NEED ACTION NOW
It is morally unacceptable to say that today's health emergency is over. We need to treat an emergency like an emergency. Should a million more people have to die before the government takes serious action? The truth is that a million people have died, and the government is doing less now than it did last year. And even before the pandemic, thousands were already dying from a lack of access to healthcare.
ACT NOW TO SAVE LIVES!
We must keep poor people alive. The following steps need to be done right now.
HERE IS AN ACTION AGENDA:
- Emergency healthcare should be given to all who need it. This should include the immediate reduction or elimination of sky-high deductibles.
- The so called “open enrollment” system for health insurance and Medicare drug insurance should be abolished. It’s absolute madness to ban people from buying health insurance for most of the year. The healthcare exchanges must stay open throughout the year. The current deadline for open enrollment is January 15th. That needs to change.
- Medicare needs to be properly funded.
- We cannot kick 18 million low-income Americans (including millions of children) off Medicaid upon the end of the federal Public Health Emergency. They must be kept on Medicaid.
- We must immediately enact paid sick leave for all workers.
- The government should take drastic action to make rapid Covid tests more available.
- A serious campaign must be developed to increase vaccine aid to the world's poor. Congress has cut their commitment to vaccinating the globe to zero. This is unacceptable.
In every other modern state healthcare is a right. It should be a right here.
RELATED EARTH FUTURE ACTION REPORTS
American Citizens Aren't Getting Their Benefits
Key Social Programs Ending for Americans in Autumn 2023 (Earth Future Action)
The Betrayal of Health (Earth Future Action)
Support Covid Funding 2023 (Earth Future Action)
Millions Will Lose Medicaid in the Spring of 2023 (Earth Future Action)
The Urgent Need for Protective Masks During Covid Crisis (Earth Future Action)
Global Vaccination Plan (Earth Future Action)
Social Disaster USA 2023 - Millions of Americans Face Starvation and Poverty (Earth Future Action)
Dead or Alive in Modern America - The Right to Exist (Earth Future Action)
Life and Death in America (Audio) (Earth Future Action)
The Need for Paid Sick Leave (Earth Future Action)
NEWS ARTICLES
House GOP Unveils Budget With Trillions in Cuts to Medicaid, Food Benefits, and More (Common Dreams, 9-19-23)
FACT CHECK: Medicare for All Would Save the U.S. Trillions (Public Citizen, 2-21-20) Study
Alcohol consumption surged during the pandemic — and deaths followed (The Washington Post, 7-13-23)
Biden’s Ending of the Covid Emergency Is a Public Health Disaster (The Nation, 2-2-23)