The Bush America

Texas’ overall uninsured rate of 25.2 percent, and its 20.2 uninsured rate for children, continued to be the highest in the country.

Nationally, the number of people without health insurance last year declined from 47 million in 2006, the Census Bureau said. Median household income — meaning half of households earned more and half less — increased by 1.3 percent to $50,233, while the nation’s official poverty rate was unchanged at 12.5 percent.

While the Census Bureau didn’t report health insurance coverage data at the local level, a report this year by Texas State Demographer Karl Eschbach estimated Harris County’s uninsured rate at 29.8 percent.

Census: Texas leads the nation in number uninsured | Houston & Texas News | Chron.com – Houston Chronicle.

‘Nuf said.

4 thoughts on “The Bush America

  1. Gary,

    Did you know that the US standard of living is ranked 12th in the world? Looks like the Bush years have served well IMO.

    Also, I’ve lately been researching socialized medicine, and it looks like there could be parallels between the reasons socialized medicine would be worse for us than our current system. For example, the uninsured rate in TX is probably due to factors that have NOTHING to do with the system of coverage rather socio-economic influences like race, culture, and crime rates.

    It seems like both the quality and supply of appropriate timely healthcare is rationed in a socialized system. Maybe you have some details that I’m missing?

  2. Jim, if you look at that ranking you will see that the US has dropped from 9th place to 12th…at least from what I can find.

    The interesting part of the list, to me, is that unless I miss something, every country above the US has socialized medicine.

    And considering your comment on the reasons for the high uninsured rate in Texas…When Bush was governor he turned back money to the federal government rather than insure the children of impoverished families. That was money all ready allocated to the state of Texas.
    He also went out of his way to try to squash the “Patients Bill of Rights”. Then after the Texas legislature passed it over his veto he ran for President claiming the very same bill as an example of bi-partisanship and his advocacy for the same rights…

    Texas also is a right to work state with one of the lowest percentages of union organized labor in the country…Ergo, low percentage of benefits packages. The fact that yes this is a cultural issue…You know, the haves, have. The have nots, don’t. And the only place race works into the equation is when it’s easier to deny benefits to second class citizens, you can.

    Try really checking out the medical systems in the rest of the world and not just parroting the rights talking points…

  3. Thanks for your candid response Gary. The fact that other countries above have socialized medicine does not imply any causation to a high ranking.

    What I do see from the healthcare systems of those other countries are not talking points, but serious flaws that prevent those “covered” to not get the needed treatment in a necessary time frame. In fact, the survival rates of patients in the US are far above those countries with socialized medicine because many socialized patients are on a waiting list as thier condition worsens and because the most effective treatment is not available as it is in the US.

    I would trade the misnomer of superficial healthcare coverage any day for quality, timely healthcare. I have spoken with healthcare professionals who have toured the Canadian system and they are the one who have influenced my decision as well as publicized survival stats.

    Lastly, the drop in standard of living rank is sensitive to exchange rates, etc. that don’t always tell the true picture. The US is always in the top 20 despite the fact that we border a developing nation and are home to a large proportion of immigrants. This will always keep us from achieving a homogenized population that results in the highest standards like some European countries. These are just my opinions to date.

  4. Jim, why is it that the people with the most negative comments, insights, concerns…Pick your term… are always the vested interests?

    You talked to health care “professionals”. I would assume then, that their livelihood would be adversely effected. That would imply that no matter how how effective the system would be for the patients it would still be seen negatively by these same professionals.

    You speak of those in other countries not being treated in a “necessary timeframe”. Any time frame beats the “no time” frame our uninsured face in this country.

    I hear the Republican pundits talk about how everyone in America has health insurance…Just go to an ER, they say, you can’t be denied service. What they don’t say is you will be billed 4 to 10 times more for that service than an insured person whose insurance company has negotiated contractual rates for all services. And that’s if you can get in to actually see a doctor…And no it’s not all illegals causing the backup, at least not here in Texas with our low coverage rates. It’s middle class Americans with no other options. And sadly, when the bill gets turned over to the collection agency, there goes any hopes they may have had of winning the American Dream lottery.

    Since you like rankings so much here is one for you…The World Health Organization ranks the US health care system 37th. Right behind Costa Rica and right before Slovenia. Or how about this one from the CIA Factbook, the US ranks 47th in life expectancy at birth. Or from the same source…42nd in infant mortality.

    Try this report The U.S. Health Care System: Best in the World, or Just the Most Expensive.

    You comment about having spoken with health care “professionals”, have you spoken to the citizens of any of the countries whose health care system you denigrate? I have discussed the issue over the last 20+ years with workers, professionals and executives from many of these countries…I can recall not one who was unhappy with their countries health care system. As a matter of fact most of them questioned ma about what was wrong with America that we couldn’t put our system in order…

    The only bad comments have been geared toward the Canadian system by a Canadian doctor practicing here in Texas. And those comments dealt mainly with the inconvenience of scheduling and travel for a patient in her family living in the part of Canada that has a population density that makes the American High Plains look crowded. I really think our free market health system would have a hard time meeting those expectations either.

    And as far as your argument about the US being unable to make it higher in the lists because of our large proportion of immigrants, I assume you are making reference to the bugaboo of rightwing politics, illegal aliens. If not you need to go back to the Factbook and look at the ratios of immigrants to the general population…you’ll find that almost all of Europe has a ration in line with ours..

    The only thing that keeps us from achieving the highest standards is our unending reliance on the good will of the private sector and the high disregard the right holds for anything in the public sector. Just mho, don’t cha know…

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