Feb 7, 2009

FACT - We can have affordable and wonderful healthcare for everyone

All evidence suggests that the majority of Americans want single-payer healthcare, that it would be good for all businesses (with the exception of the healthcare corporations), and that it would stimulate the economy - commondreams
 
Besides being the moral and compassionate thing to do (two values which Americans used to embrace), single-payer healthcare makes good business sense. In this study (PDF), research shows single-payer healthcare/Medicare for all would:

  • Create 2,613,495 million new permanent good-paying jobs (slightly exceeding the number of jobs lost in 2008)--jobs that are not easily shipped overseas
  • Boost the economy with $317 billion in increased business and public revenues
  • Add $100 billion in employee compensation
  • Infuse public budgets with $44 billion in new tax revenues  

The U.S. already spends far more on healthcare than any other nation; yet with all our power and treasure, we are the lone wealthy industrialized nation that does not ensure healthcare for all of our citizens. Fifty million Americans are currently uninsured, and twenty two thousand of those Americans die every year because they do not have access to healthcare.
 
Meanwhile, CEOs of healthcare corporations earn
$3.3 million to $22.2 million in salary per year, paltry amounts compared to their stock options. When a CEO earns $1.6 billion in stock options ("Business 2006: Who Won, Who Lost," Associated Press, December 2006), who loses? The average American, that's who—the people who are dying, getting sick from lack of preventative care, facing bankruptcy from medical bills, losing their jobs and their homes. They are Americans who can't afford "health insurance" and certainly can't afford large contributions to senatorial, congressional, and presidential campaigns...
 
Please read full via - commondreams