The Real Crisis in America

"The American health care system is confronting a crisis."

"This," observe the editors of Monthly Review, "was the not very surprising conclusion of a study by a National Academy of Science panel on the U.S. health care system, carried out at the request of the administration and released in November 2002. The report, entitled Fostering Rapid Advances in Health Care, describes conditions that are little short of horrendous. Health care costs are increasing at an annual rate in excess of 12 percent. The insured are receiving far fewer benefits while paying much more in out-of-pocket expenses. States in fiscal trouble are cutting benefits for Medicaid and other health programs. The number of uninsured has climbed to 41.2 million or 14.5 percent of the U.S. population. This means that one in seven individuals in the United States lacks any health care coverage whatsoever, and many more have inadequate coverage. A quarter of U.S. children aged to nineteen to thirty-five months are deficient in immunizations. Tens of thousands of individuals die every year from medical errors and many more than that from injuries caused by the health system."

In a related column, Geov Parrish asks, "Why, when health care is something almost all of us will at some point need, is this not a political crisis and scandal vastly larger than Saddam Hussein? Why, when it should be so immediate and close to home, is this not a political earthquake that both major parties are scrambling to capitalize on?"