Healthcare

The November election is just days away and I wonder why there hasn’t been more (if any) discussion about health care? Health care touches us all and the costs are skyrocketing. Did you know?

• One in six Oregonians lack health insurance
• Cost of health care premiums has grown nearly six times faster than earnings in Oregon
• About 117,000 children lack health insurance in Oregon
• Approximately 46 million Americans, or 15.7 percent of the population, were without health insurance in 2004
• Nearly 82 million people - about one-third of the population below the age of 65 spent a portion of either 2002 or 2003 without health coverage
• The number of uninsured children in 2004 was 8.3 million - or 11.2 percent of all children in the U.S.
• About 20 percent of the uninsured (vs. 3 percent of those with coverage) say their usual source of care is the emergency room (2004)
• The United States spends nearly $100 billion per year to provide uninsured residents with health services, often for preventable diseases or diseases that physicians could treat more efficiently with earlier diagnosis
• The uninsured are 30 to 50 percent more likely to be hospitalized for an avoidable condition, with the average cost of an avoidable hospital stayed estimated to be about $3,300
• Only 7% of the unemployed can afford to pay for COBRA health insurance
• Over one-third of uninsured adults say they did not fill a drug prescription in 2003 and over a third went without a recommended medical test or treatment due to cost

Most of the above statistics are from 2003-2004 and things haven’t improved since then! I just don’t understand why this issue doesn’t get ample attention from both voters and elected officials.