by Peg R

Created on: March 18, 2010   Last Updated: March 21, 2010

It isn’t easy to say who would benefit most from healthcare reform.  All those things needing to be changed are not adequately being addressed.  The solutions have been so diluted by those who would rather see things stay just the way they are that any change may not be enough change.  The facts remain the same. Over 45,000 people die a year because of lack of health care.  That is up from 18,000 in 2002.  There are 45.7 million people in the US without health insurance. Oh you can read articles where they call this number a fallacy and that many young workers opt-out of insurance.  But they are still uninsured and the burden of their care is not covered when something happens to these young dare devils.  This number represents 15% of the population.  And yet there are over 70 million who are covered by Medicaid or Medicare. That is 22 % of the population. 

We can make a law against any type of abuse of children with the snap of a finger in this country.  There are 3,000,000 abused children every year which accounts for only 1% of our population.  Although to abuse a child is a deplorable act and serious at any level.  Is it more serious than the 7% of the US population with cancer?  We know this number because most of these individuals have been to a doctor to be diagnosed.  Yet how many of the uninsured don’t go to the doctor at all?  Half?  That would mean that 1.6  million of the 45 million uninsured people probably have cancer and don’t know it. 

The impact that having individuals who cannot gain healthcare has a far broader reach and needs the same level of attention.  The people who are not covered are usually from the 55% of the population that is considered our working class or lower class earning below $30,000 a year.  Anyone who knows what it is like to live on $25,000 a year with a child or as a couple knows how impossible it is.

These people represent more than have the US population.  The Lower Middle Class earns between $35,000 and $75,000 a year.  Even these numbers appear shocking to many who earn much more and can’t imagine a family of 3 or 4 living on that income level.  This represents 32% of the population.  We are up to 87% of the US population.  Yet our government leaders don’t fit into any of these classes.  They are not a part of the majority.  They live outside the

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