The Poor Are Suffering Under Our Current Health Care System

[sfc_oliver]

Always take care of those who cannot help themselves. No one in this forum has ever suggested anything different.

[Rick Rowlands]

There are those who cannot help themselves and those who choose not to because of the social safety net.  I believe that the number of people who truly cannot help themselves is much much smaller than anyone thinks. 

[irishbobcat]

and the rest that can't get up...  send them to death panels??

[sfc_oliver]

Contrary to what you want to believe about conservatives Dennis, We were brought up to earn what we receive not to ask for handouts when we can work for what we need. Which does not mean that we hate poor people and want them to be sick or stay poor. But we would like to see those who can get up and earn their way as the rest of us have.

[irishbobcat]

But it's all true, Dan, and you want TO KEEP IT THAT WAY!!!!!!!

[Dan Moadus]

The "Readers Digest" version of this cut and past post by Dennis:  Rich people get better health care than poor people, and are healthier.

[irishbobcat]

The Poor Are Suffering Under Our Current Health Care System

There is some evidence that does support the links between improved economic status and health outcomes. For example, an expanded pension system improved health, and other increases in income were found to be related to better health and lower mortality and to less behavioral psychopathology in children. Evidence suggestive of causal effects of income on health has also been found in other studies, and income shocks have been found to affect mortality in three national studies. In addition, SSI payments were found to have an effect on mobility problems in the elderly. None of this evidence is perfect, which is certainly not unusual in the policy arena, but the consistency and breadth of the evidence is impressive. With such evidence, there is a danger in "making the perfect the enemy of the good." At the same time, more long-term research focused on the poverty-health relationship is needed.
WHY MUST WE ACT NOW?
Today, many low-income families, are reeling from the economic recession. And we know that when income gaps widen between the rich and the poor, health inequalities widen as well. From 1980-2000, a period when the poor were losing ground to the wealthy, the life expectancy gap between those living in the most disadvantaged areas (bottom decile) and those living in the most advantaged areas increased from 2.8 years to 4.5 years, a 60 percent increase. There are many reasons to be concerned about the well-being of the poor. Poverty limits the ability of individuals to fully participate in society; they miss out on the benefits of such participation as does society as a whole. Poverty's effects spread within families and across generations and require social expenditures that take resources from other areas.

This is why we need single payer health care here in Ohio!

Dennis Spisak
Mahoning Valley Green Party
Ohio Green Party
www.ohioGreens.org
www.votespisak.org/thinkgreen/