Healthcare Wanted (part 1)

The United States is in the 17th month of straight job losses, shedding approximately half a million jobs a quarter. Half a million jobs a quarter. For every job opening, there are five unemployed people competing for that job. Manufacturing employment is at its lowest level since 1960. Fewer than 10 percent of all U.S. jobs are in manufacturing, which have traditionally been the prime vehicle for populations to achieve middle class status.

Bankruptcies are up by 40 percent with approximately 800,000 people filing. Corporate bankruptcies are escalating at an ever-increasing rate to the point where the courts can’t keep up with filings. Foreclosures are up 79 percent with over 2 million households filing.


Healthcare in the U.S. is directly tied to employment. If you are unemployed or underemployed, chances are you have no or insufficient health insurance (medical bills directly cause 62 percent of all bankruptcies and three-quarters of those people had health insurance). Employers spend approximately $14,000 a year per employee (family of four) on healthcare. The employee spends another (approximately) $12000 on insurance. Employers are always looking to cut costs of business in the best of environments. A place to cut costs has always been in benefits, but the last few years, insurance premiums have risen faster than cost of living increases since 2001, premiums for family coverage have increased 78%, while wages have risen 19% and inflation has risen 17%, according to a 2007 study by the Kaiser Family Foundation.) To remain competitive, businesses are forced to constantly change insurance programs or discontinue offering health insurance.

We often hear that the United States is number one in the world for healthcare. Looking at the actual world statistics, we find that’s just not true. We’re 37th (second to last) for industrialized (first world) nations in providing healthcare for our citizens. Americans also fall near or at the bottom of the scale for life expectancy, preventative care, patient satisfaction and use of information technologies. Preventative deaths are high on the list. We have more people dying from disease and illnesses that could have been prevented with proper, timely, cost-efficient medical delivery system than most industrialized countries. The United States is the only industrialized (first world) wealth country that does not have universal coverage for its population. The only place we come in first among industrialized (first world) nations is in infant mortality and cost.

Why are we paying so much for so little? Insurance companies. Insurance is, in dictionary terms, “a contract purchased to guarantee compensation for a specific loss by fire, death, disability, illness etc.” In practice, Insurance companies are the middlemen between healthcare and us, rationing our healthcare, denying our claims, and rescinding our policies when they deem us unprofitable.


The 10 largest health insurance companies had a profit increase of 428% and premiums have increased by 87 percent in just the last six years.

In 2007 alone the chief executive officers at
these companies collected combined total compensation of $118.6 million—an average of $11.9 million each. That is 468 times more than the $25,434 an average American worker made that year.

With universal healthcare, medical delivery costs would be lowered from 30% overhead to 3%. With increased cost savings to business, and a better healthier life for all our population, why is it so hard to get universal healthcare when over 70% of our population wants it? Follow the money.

Top 20 Members receiving insurance monies
Candidate Amount
McCain, John (R) $2,429,905
Obama, Barack (D) $2,293,041
Clinton, Hillary (D-NY) $1,218,340
Dodd, Chris (D-CT) $862,056
McConnell, Mitch (R-KY) $400,333
Coleman, Norm (R-MN) $396,629
Rangel, Charles B (D-NY) $370,090
Kanjorski, Paul E (D-PA) $346,048
Chambliss, Saxby (R-GA) $334,086
Sununu, John E (R-NH) $303,804
Cornyn, John (R-TX) $287,569
Baucus, Max (D-MT) $287,350
Dole, Elizabeth (R-NC) $280,062
Pomeroy, Earl (D-ND) $277,925
Cantor, Eric (R-VA) $254,100
Bean, Melissa (D-IL) $253,308
Crowley, Joseph (D-NY) $234,868
Smith, Gordon H (R-OR) $230,350
Boehner, John (R-OH) $225,525
Collins, Susan M (R-ME) $215,700

The numbers on this page are based on contributions from PACs and individuals giving $200 or more. All donations took place during the 2007-2008 election cycle and were released by the Federal Election Commission on Tuesday, May 12, 2009.
Feel free to distribute or cite this material, but please credit the Center for Responsive Politics. For permission to reprint for commercial uses, such as textbooks, contact the Center.

Insurance companies and lobbying interests are afraid of universal healthcare. They see their billion dollar a year profits dissipating and they are doing whatever it takes to prevent a more humane, cost efficient and fair healthcare system.


http://www.epi.org/publications/entry/jobspicture20090605/
http://money.cnn.com/2008/01/03/news/economy/consumer_bankruptcy/?postversion=2008010312
http://www.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idUSN1628717520090616?feedType=RSS&feedName=businessNews
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22893703/
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_14/b3978116.htm
http://data.bls.gov/PDQ/servlet/SurveyOutputServlet
http://www.modernmedicine.com/modernmedicine/Modern+Medicine+Now/Illness-Medical-Bills-Linked-to-Growing-Bankruptcy/ArticleNewsFeed/Article/detail/602000?contextCategoryId=40130
http://www.kff.org/insurance/ehbs091107nr.cfm
http://www.who.int/countries/usa/en/
http://hcfan.3cdn.net/dadd15782e627e5b75_g9m6isltl.pdf
http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/full/22/2/230
http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7015555615