As The Economy Worsens, The Ranks Of The Uninsured Will Grow
While most Americans would like to believe that we have the best healthcare system in the world, that couldn’t be further from the truth. What we really have is one of the most expensive healthcare systems in the world.
Of the world’s industrialized nations, we rank fairly low in a number of health statistics. Granted we do have some of the best doctors in the world, but large segments of the population are unable to afford their services.
It is estimated that the number of Americans without healthcare insurance is at a staggering 60 million. With the economy taking a turn for the worse you can expect that number to rise over the next year.
The state of Massachusetts has taken the bold step of instituting universal healthcare for it’s residents and California has been contemplating a similar program in it’s state as well. It will be interesting to see if they are successful in their attempts and whether it may be a role model for a future nationwide program.
The other industrialized nations have proven that a universal healthcare system can work and at a cheaper cost. It is estimated that the U.S. spends on average 40% more per capita on healthcare than countries that have a universal healthcare system in place.
With healthcare costs are spiraling out of control and inflation heating up in general, a number of Americans will have to make the difficult choice of abandoning health insurance all together and pray that they don’t get sick.
