30 Million Uninsured
Americans
There is a real and growing crisis in America that
affects thirty million people and you could be one of them. The problem is
“Healthcare Coverage.” The U.S. Government has deemed these numbers to be
alarming requiring immediate action to present a viable solution to address
this issue. Lawmakers are reluctant to take action acknowledging the cost to
taxpayers for now and in the future. Fear of political suicide drive much of
the idle progress of seeking the origin of this problem. Many theories has been
projected in an effort to discover the cause of this epidemic while politicians
use this fear to deliver propaganda to promote the many speculations conjuring
public support in hopes they have the right answer. I have found that there are
many explanations that can be attributed to this crisis, but there are three
that I have found to be direct. For example, the shift of manufacturing to
service jobs, non-union labor, and the rising cost of healthcare.
I can remember just like it was yesterday, in Summit
County, Ohio when companies like Goodyear, Firestone, Bridgestone, and Goodrich
was pumping out tires, on all three shifts. During the early nineties, these
companies started to shift away to find cheaper labor in countries where the
labor was cheaper and took the well paying manufacturing jobs with them. This
was process called outsourcing was justified to keep these companies from going
out of business. Akron, Ohio was not the only U.S. city that witnessed this
form of corporate practice. In fact, for the past 25 years Americans and
Europeans have seen deindustrialization shrinks their labor force (R. Rowthorn,
Economic Issues 10, P. 1). Between 1979 and 1999 Americans have suffered a
decline healthcare coverage as well as a decline manufacturing jobs. This
decline started to snowball affecting the average American income, and the Labor
Unions.
Global changes in economics were taking place before we
even realized it was happening. Like the old cliché “Hind Sight is 20/20). Many
of the employees of the big rubber manufacturers were educated, at most at the
high school level and some not at all. Finding stable employment to match the
income and benefits they were receiving proved to be very difficult. The select
employees that the companies kept working were working now in a non-union
position. Accustomed to a standard of living was a challenge to overcome. The
local workforce and the labor unions were not the only ones feeling the loss. After
a while, the snowball started to affect the hospitals. The hospitals were also
accustomed to the majority of the local citizens carrying adequate medical
coverage. Therefore, their investments, in the technology and equipment to
provide the quality of care were not being accounted for unless they raised the
cost of the paying they would have to decrease the quality of care. This issue snowballed
into the rising cost of healthcare.
Doctors and hospitals stood afloat for many of years
depending on the Government to supply health coverage to a few while charities
account for some of the healthcare costs. They only solutions that medical
experts could produce were to raise the cost and that was answer to a
short-term problem, but the inevitable was yet to come. From 1967 to 1978 the
price of a semi-private hospital room rose as fast as the consumer price index (R.
Feldman & R. Sheffler, Vol. 35, No. 2, 1982). The healthcare system has
been in a decline for many of years to come. Times have change and so should our
politics. There is no one to blame we are just transforming from one revolution
into another. When we failed to educate our citizens we failed our children in
the new technology revolution we failed our children.
If we keep on the path of change in America we will
restore the jobs, the economy, and the healthcare system. We have to focus on
education first in order to create a workforce who is competitive in a high
tech world. Although there would always be union jobs, just not the way it used
to be are going to have to take the matter of health coverage into our own
hands. The only way we can do that is by have a system in place that is fair to
the consumer. When we are not turned down, because of pre-existing conditions,
or fearing the decline in the quality of care we have a chance. The question
has already been answered.
