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Timi Papas's avatar

Alarming statistics! Especially those regarding labor costs. Maybe hospitals wouldn't have needed to hire so many privately contracted nursing personnel if they were not short-staffed to start with. And maybe if they paid their staff commensurately with the value of their service instead of skimming off the surplus value of their employee's labor to reward investors instead. Just sayin'....

But more importantly, isn't this all yet another sign that the United States of America, which spends more than twice what every other advanced economy spends on health care, ought to finally get real about ending the for-profit system that's been strangling us for decades? And forcing the vast majority of personal bankruptcies. And resulting in more than 40,000 excess deaths per year due to under- or non-insurance. Seems to me that the time and circumstances are such that universal, government-organized, privately-delivered health care that is funded by equitable taxation has got to be our next step. Everybody in. Nobody out. If other countries can do it why can't we?

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B DONATO's avatar

This problem has existed for years. I don't understand why Medicare for all is not the solution. Everyone who works would have to contribute as we do with Social Security and everyone who works would be covered. Employers would have to contribute as they do with SS. Health costs are going to bankrupt this country if Congress does not act.

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