Health Care for All
By Senator Bernie Sanders
Our health care system is deteriorating. There are now 47 million people who have no health insurance, 8 million more than when President Bush took office. Millions more are underinsured. Costs are soaring. The result is not only widespread human tragedy but major economic problems.
What's more, at a time when we are not producing the numbers of doctors, nurses, and dentists needed, 56 million Americans – whether or not they have insurance –lack access to the most basic primary health care services. In some parts of the country life expectancy is even declining, while some 22,000 of our citizens needlessly die every year because they lack health insurance. Meanwhile, we spend twice as much per capita on health care as any other country. As a result of the greed, waste, fraud and bureaucracy in our current system, the United States now spends $2.3 trillion a year, or 16 percent of the gross domestic product, on health care. That amounts to an unsustainable $7,600 for every man, woman, and child... READ MORE
Issue July 17, 2008 - 
