A new study by the US national Institute of Medicine
concluded that, in the most powerful capitalist country on earth, "lack of
insurance caused roughly 18,000 deaths nationwide per year", this means,
roughly, 50 people every day. It is worth quoting the news item at length:
At least eight
Californians die every day because they don't have health insurance, according
to a new report on the state's uninsured.
An estimated 3,100 adults
in the state died in 2006 because they lacked insurance and either couldn't
afford the care they needed, got substandard care or got treatment after it was
too late, determined researchers with Families USA, a national health care
advocacy organization based in Washington,
D.C.
"Uninsured Americans
are sicker and are more likely to die earlier," said Ron Pollack,
executive director of Families USA. "Our report highlights how our
inadequate system of health coverage condemns a great number of Californians to
an early death."
The findings come as little
surprise to many health experts.
Roughly 47 million
Americans don't have health insurance, and many more are underinsured, having
bare-bones insurance plans that do not cover many of their medical needs.
The national Institute of Medicine concluded that between 2001 and
2004, a lack of insurance caused roughly 18,000 deaths nationwide per year. The
committee that drafted the papers urged the president and Congress to ensure
that everyone in the country receive health insurance by 2010.
The United States, the committee noted,
is the only wealthy, industrialized nation that has failed to do so. (The Oakland
Tribune, April 4th, 2008)
Them and Us 
