Last week's Support the Dream Defenders diary noted that around 9,000 Texans a year will die due to the state's refusal to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.
How Many Will Die Due to Self-Serving Republican Governors? ~ STDDs Week 41
In arriving at that 9,000 figure, the Texas Observer quotes Dr. Howard Brody who in turn cites a Harvard University study that appeared in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine. Yes, states which expanded Medicaid reduced the death rate in that population group.
The New England Journal of Medicine found that states that expanded Medicaid saw a 6.1 percent reduction in the death rate among adults below 65 who qualified for the program. In a recent op-ed in the Galveston Daily News, Dr. Brody wrote, “This means that we can predict, with reasonable confidence, if we fail to expand Medicaid . . . 9,000 Texans will die each year for the next several years as a result.”
This reminded me of a diary I wrote in 2010. During the health care reform debate, we heard a lot about how around 45,000 Americans die each year because they don't have health insurance. I always thought the 45,000 number was understated. I think the 9,000 number is understated and here's why ...
The articles referred to a reduction in the current death rate of people who are included in the Medicaid expansion. What about all the people who have had and will have their lives cut short due to years of undiagnosed and very treatable illnesses? They don't die this year - they die years before they would have if they had access to affordable health care. What about the person who has high blood pressure or diabetes that is undiagnosed and untreated for many years because they couldn't afford to see a doctor? They don't die today, but they may die 20 years before they would have. What about those who suffer very serious complications from these illnesses such as a stroke, kidney disease, or even amputations? What's also tragic is if timely diagnosed and treated, the cost of treating these conditions is usually low - a $10 a month prescription plus one doctor visit a year? But that's out of reach for too many Americans in today's low-wage economy - that, yes, Republicans have done much to create. In America today, if you have good health insurance and develop high blood pressure, diabetes, and other treatable illnesses and you are diagnosed early, your prognosis is usually excellent. If you don't have health insurance or have high-deductible insurance you can't afford to use, you will likely go undiagnosed and/or untreated and have years taken off your life. Also, what about all the people who were diagnosed late with what would have been curable cancers? How many of these people are included in the statistics cited? I don't believe they all are, but I can't prove it. Tragically, there are 15 neighborhoods in Baltimore where the life expectancy of residents is less than residents of, yes, the country of North Korea. The Washington Post reports that just 3 miles away from one of those Baltimore neighborhoods is a well-to-do white neighborhood where the life expectancy is 19 years longer! Why should ANY American live in the abject poverty that many North Koreans do? Do most Republican Governors hold the same contempt for America's poor that Kim Jong-Un holds for the people of North Korea? How did we ever get so disconnected from the needs of people living not only in the same state, but just 3 miles away? That disconnect is partly what allowed these Governors to put ideology and politics before people and refuse to expand Medicaid. Why are all these Republican Governors refusing to expand Medicaid? After all, the federal government would pick up 100% of the cost until 2017, and 90% thereafter. What rational person would turn down a chance to expand Medicaid to millions of poor people in their state for 10 cents on the dollar? That seems like a no-brainer and all upside for the people in their state. Isn't there a cost to not covering people? The answer is simple. Their anti-tax, anti-government ideology and hatred of President Obama is more important than people's lives, especially poorer people's lives. Is that the decision a leader would make? Isn't a Governor supposed to be the state's political leader? Isn't there a reason we have people in leadership positions - to do what is right for ALL the people in their states, not just the wealthy? There is no way to justify not expanding Medicaid when the federal government will reimburse states for 90% of the cost. Why is it so hard to expand health care? Yes, the insurance industry is a very powerful lobby but its also because more Americans have health insurance than don't. As with so many other issues I think the have's are way too disconnected from the lives of people who don't have health care. So how about a walk down memory lane? During the health care reform debate, Rich Stockwell of MSNBC Countdown came up with the idea of raising money for free health care clinics in key states. One free clinic was setup in New Orleans and this was one of many health care horror stories
It happened as I watched a 50-something woman walk out, after spending several hours being attended to by volunteer doctors. "She's decided against treatment. A reasonable decision under the circumstances," the doctor tells us as she heads for the next patient. The president of the board of the National Association of Free Health Clinics tells me why: "It's stage four breast cancer, her body is filled with tumors." I don't know when that woman last saw a doctor. But I do know that if she had health insurance, the odds she would have seen a doctor long ago are much higher, and her chances for an earlier diagnosis and treatment would have been far greater.
This happens every day in our country. Yes, it happens significantly less with the ACA, but it still happens. Why should this happen to anyone? These health care horror stories need to be publicized to increase awareness. To make it so people can draw some connection to the uninsured and those who lives are cut short by the tragedy of not being able to pay for health care. In fact, this happened to Daily Kos front page writer Susan Grigsby's brother Steve. She wrote a moving diary about it. The story went viral, Markos wrote a diary about it and Move On made a video about it.YouTube Video In 2009, Eve wrote a diary where she interviewed several people at the Arkansas free clinic who were getting health care services. Maybe its time we asked those Republican Governors a question similar to what Susan asked in her video- just what do they really believe about the people in their state who will die or suffer serious complications due to their own refusal to expand Medicaid? Do they really believe that's how ANY American should be treated? Why refuse to expand it for 10 cents on the dollar? What would a leader do? Why, even the Texas business community is complaining to the state legislature about the refusal to expand Medicaid -link here. They aren't complaining because they care about people - the business community never does anything that's not in its self-interest. They are complaining because the state is refusing free money and they know there is a cost to having people go without health care. So, Republican Governors, I challenge you to help fund and personally attend free clinics in your state! I challenge you to take the time to get to know the people in your state who are without health care. Wendell Potter also lived a life of privilege - he was an executive for Cigna but he took that challenge and became a better man for it. He wrote a diary about it here.
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About Support the Dream Defenders
Members of the Daily Kos group Support the Dream Defenders invigorate three ongoing projects:
1. We coalesced to support the Dream Defenders in Florida and their mission, our first project and the origin of our name. The Dream Defenders defend the Dream of Martin Luther King Jr. by "develop(ing) the next generation of radical leaders to realize and exercise our independent collective power; building alternative systems and organizing to disrupt the structures that oppress our communities." Please donate here.
2. Our Michael Brown Over-Policed Rights Act, crowd-sourced at Daily Kos in the fall of 2014. This bill quickly gained the support of the NAACP and the ACLU. The NAACP forwarded our bill to members of Congress, and we distributed it to members of the Congressional Black Caucus and other progressive members of Congress. President Obama signed into a law a small piece of our bill in December 2014. Our state version of the MBOPRA is currently in committee in the Kansas legislature.
3. Our Freedom of Information Act project. Nineteen Republican governors chose to kill poor people by not expanding Medicaid. Ebola has killed about 9000 people in total; Republican governors kill 17,000 people PER YEAR by refusing federal support for Medicaid, a story ignored by traditional media. Our project forces those governors to out themselves, clapping them in a Catch 22. We will publicize our results through letters to the editor and via press releases. We no longer need volunteers to file FOIA requests, since we have already mailed all such requests.
More information about STTDs here.
This is a community diary.
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