Monday, 26 October 2009

Health insurance: a luxury?

An article I read on the New York Times newspaper made me feel concerned and annoyed at the same time. People having no health coverage are less likely to know if they have chronic diseases. Since they cannot afford the expensive health care costs, such diseases are not detected on time, leading to heart attacks and strokes. The article compares the insured with the uninsured Americans, and figures are really alarming. Researchers found that 46 percent of the uninsured with diabetes had never been diagnosed with the disease, compared with only 23.2 percent of insured diabetics. What`s more, 52 percent of the uninsured with high cholesterol didn`t know about their condition, compared with 29.9 percent of the insured. I believe the situation is quite similar here in Argentina where there are hundred thousands of uninsured people who cannot have access to health care. My question is: Don´t you think every individual should have free access to optimal health service?

SPARKLING

1 comment:

  1. This is an issue we seldom think of until something happens that makes it call our attention, In your case it was an article, in my case, a survey I carried on last week. This survey, showed that many families do not have access to helath care. I do not know what happens in other countries, but fortunately, in our country we have many good public hospitals to help these people. Nevertheless, I strongly agree with you on that health coverage must be a right for everybody, not a luxury.
    Cheeps

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