Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Latin American Herald Tribune - Blacks, Hispanics Join Forces to Demand Health Reform

"The groups said they support comprehensive health care reform that includes the “public option” whereby the government can compete with private insurers; has universal medical coverage, without regard for work status or people’s health, and offers high-quality coverage at affordable prices.

Calculations are that approximately 47 million people lack health insurance in the United States, and although legislators acknowledge the urgency of reforming the system, for the moment they have not managed to reach a consensus about how to do so without inflating the budget deficit.

Pointing to Census Bureau figures, the groups said that more than 100 million people belong to minorities in the United States, or some 33 percent of the population.

In Florida and Louisiana, minorities comprise 40 percent of the population."
The numbers are unbelievable, but I know this already just based on what I grew up. My grandmother, her children and my mother have always been afraid of Doctors and not trusting them. Doctors were only to be seen in absolute extreme measures, most of the time by then it was to late. Many African Americans suffer from Diabetes which is a pretty manageable disease, however more African-Americans die from the complications of Diabetes . It is very rare that you will hear that someone died from diabetes they usually die from Kidney failure or Heart disease , after years of High blood pressure. This is a result of diabetes.

Health care reform would hopefully lead to more African Americans and other minorities to seek out Doctors with the idea of preventive care then to simply ignore their health concerns and say " I can't afford to go to the Doctor".

1 comment:

  1. I await the ironic turnaround in 20 years, when 50% of the population is mostly young working "minorities", and they're slaving away and paying 40% of their paychecks in taxes to support Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security for the elderly mostly white population of Baby Boomer retirees. Something tells me by that point they won't find all these entitlement programs quite as appealing.

    ReplyDelete