Access to health care a question of justice
Letters to the Editor
The Baltimore Sun
November 4, 2007
I applaud the comments in The Sun’s column “Say yes to national health care” (Opinion - Commentary, Oct. 29).
As a medical student, I see the impact our broken health care system has on individuals and communities every day.
Figures from the Institute of Medicine show that the lack of health insurance causes about 18,000 unnecessary deaths every year in this country.
Medical students see the faces behind this number in our free clinics and emergency rooms. The patients who die under our care largely die from preventable diseases. We need a single-payer health care system to prevent these deaths.
We have tried the market-driven model of medical care - with its underlying motto of “We feel for you, but our shareholders come first.”
Many states are trying hard to come up with solutions. But although well-intentioned, these approaches often put too much financial burden on workers who are forced to buy insurance.
It is clear that we need a fundamental change to stop the human suffering we now have, and cut the health care costs that are hurting the economy.
I believe we have reached a point in history at which this is no longer just a political or economic issue; it is a justice issue.
Jay Bhatt
Philadelphia
The writer is a former president of the American Medical Student Association and board member of PNHP.