- National Nurse Hotline | SFM Episode 1 Adam Braus 24:37
Scot and Adam kick off the podcast in this inaugural episode. (Follow and tweet us @ajbraus and @scotmaupin.)
The problem with medical care in the U.S. is not the quality, it is the lack of access. Roughly 40M people in the U.S. do not have health insurance and more than double that are underinsured. Even people who are insured often are hesitant to go to the doctor because of copays and deductibles.
The Guardian reported that “A 2009 study conducted by researchers at Harvard Medical School found 45,000 Americans die every year as a direct result of not having any health insurance coverage.” That's roughly the same number as the U.S. soldiers that died in the Vietnam war.
CNBC reported that “A new study from academic researchers found that 66.5 percent of all bankruptcies were tied to medical issues —either because of high costs for care or time out of work. An estimated 530,000 families turn to bankruptcy each year because of medical issues and bills, the research found.”
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, suggested that if there were universal access to healthcare, roughly 338,000 fewer people would have died of COVID-19.
Basically, the healthcare system is a snarl. So how do we fix it?
Tune in to hear a new solution from another verse.
Comments? Feedback? Connect with us on Twitter.
Adam: @ajbraus
Scot: @scotmaupin
Thanks to Jonah Burns for our intro and outro music.
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