Jim Jordan - You Lie!

As those of us who are greeted each morning with The Courier, we are never surprised to see the absurd statements of our putative U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan. Jim was at it again in Bluffton on Wednesday. This was reported in The Courier in the Thursday, November 12, 2009 edition. I suggest that at some point this swill must stop, unfortunately, area newspaper reporters do not have the fortitude to ask questions or think. Let me provide a little response.

We know that the United States must fully embrace a health care system that provides care for health, seeks to prevent illness and rewards practices for good health. We must also embrace health care as a moral imperative and duty to each American.

Mr. Jordan's views of health care are based on self-serving myths and his fulfillment of a do nothing political agenda. His statement that it is a moral question sounds good, but has no basis in fact or any morality associated with humanity. With reference to his defense of Joe Wilson, Jim Jordan is the person who is not being straightforward with his constituents.

It is now an established fact that nearly 45,000 annual deaths are associated with lack of health insurance, according to a new study published on September 17, 2009 by the American Journal of Public Health. The study, conducted at Harvard Medical School and Cambridge Health Alliance, found that uninsured, working-age Americans have a 40 percent higher risk of death than their privately insured counterparts, up from a 25 percent excess death rate found in 1993. Call this whatever you want, it is a moral statement.

Deaths associated with lack of health insurance now exceed those caused by many common killers such as kidney disease. An increase in the number of uninsured and an eroding medical safety net for the disadvantaged likely explain the substantial increase in the number of deaths, as the uninsured are more likely to go without needed care. Another factor contributing to the widening gap in the risk of death between those who have insurance and those who do not is the improved quality of care for those who can get it. The study found a 40 percent increased risk of death among the uninsured.

Steffie Woolhandler, study co-author, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, and a primary care physician at Cambridge Health Alliance, noted: “Historically, every other developed nation has achieved universal health care through some form of nonprofit national health insurance. Our failure to do so means that all Americans pay higher health care costs, and 45,000 pay with their lives.”

Jim Jordan lives in a world of delusion. The United States now ranks 31st in life expectancy according to the latest World Health Organization figures. This puts us up with Kuwait and Chile. The United States is 37th in infant mortality and 34th in maternal mortality. A child in the United States is 2 1/2 times as likely to die by age 5 as in Singapore or Sweden. An American woman is 11 times as likely to die in childbirth as a woman in Ireland. This is a moral wrong and travesty in human terms.

I suggest that we can use common sense to provide universal health care through a nonprofit national health plan. We can participate in a system that rewards good health practices, that cares for health. A system where each of us can allow the physician or medical provider of their choice to see a comprehensive – on line - medical record. This alone would dramatically reduce unnecessary tests, missed prescriptions, conflicting diagnosis and decrease medical malpractice claims without demanding the forfeiture of patient’s rights. We may not be told that our doctor is “out of network” or that the procedure is considered “optional” without a separate medical opinion that must be covered by the patient.

How much can we save? I suggest that the savings alone will pay for the system. The final fact is that for those Americans below the age of 65, health care may be questionable, for those over 65, health care improves dramatically – why – think about it. Yes, the answer is a government run health care system – that appears to care for health. Why should we have to wait until we are 65 years old before entitlement to that care? We need politics beyond scare tactics and patriotically worded answers beyond tea bags.

American health care is a moral issue that when placed in the lives of people, we “the people” do know better. Jim Jordan – You Lie.

Respectfully, John F. Kostyo