Daily News Updates - Health Insurance News

Stormy, Stormy, Stormy, Health Care, Pt.5 – Who will respond to the distress?

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Here we are over the edge, when working families can’t even provide for their health and also eat and drive to work. How long can we go on? In the words of Karen Davis, president of The Commonwealth Fund: "These findings provide further evidence that the health [insurance] system is falling short of where it needs to be to ensure health and economic security." At a teleconference on Tuesday, she was quoted in saying: "We need a new administration to make universal and affordable health insurance available."

This comprehensive health insurance/care survey, conducted by the commonwealth Fund was in the form of telephone interviews with 3,501 adults, all within the continental U.S. The period covered was from 06/06/07 through 10/24/07. The targets were all at least 19 years of age. One thing that was unique about it was that the economy during that time was relatively friendly. Even before the economy began to fall, almost a third of those respondents those with “medical bill problems or accrued medical debt reported being unable to pay for basic necessities like food, heat, rent," Ms. Davis adds.

The time is critical for our nation’s leaders to fix this health insurance/care crises. What we have is McCain’s rehash of a failed Bush plan leading us into more of the same. There is no safety net in the free market. While Obama speaks of meaningful strides, largely from the Primary days, he doesn’t seem to spend enough time any more focusing on this serious issue. Meanwhile, Senator Wyden is spearheading a bi-partisan initiative that is designed to be flexible enough to work with whoever will occupy the Whitehouse next. Hopefully, the powers that be will have the wisdom to follow suit.