Thursday, June 28, 2007

Democrats' health care plan would help red states most

Sorry I haven't updated you on the Democrats plans to fix health care, but we've been busy moving mom into the nursing home this week. My husband and I live more than an hour away from her and the rest of my family, so we spend quite a bit of time on the freeway traveling back and forth. I'm happy to report that the transition went smoother than we anticipated and mom seems to be adjusting well in her new environment. We're immensely relieved, as you might imagine.

Anyway, as soon as I get a decent block of time, I'll put together my information and post it. In the meantime, I wanted to share this article from Mother Jones that illustrates perfectly how people continue to vote against their own self-interests when they vote for Republicans.


Democrats' Plans for Universal Health Care Helps Red States Most
Let's say a Democrat wins the 2008 election and institutes universal health care. Who benefits the most? Republicans.

That's right -- a new study shows that the red states (mostly in the South) consistently rate at the bottom of the country in terms of health care for residents. The Commonwealth Fund report ranked states according to 32 indicators of health care access, quality, outcomes, and hospital use. Consider the political leanings of the top ten and the bottom ten.

States 1-10: Hawaii, Iowa, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, South Dakota.

States 50-41: Oklahoma, Mississippi, Texas, Arkansas, Nevada, Louisiana, Kentucky, West Virginia, Florida, Georgia.

This shouldn't be a surprise. States led by Republicans are more likely to have laissez faire attitudes towards health care and be less sympathetic to the plights of those who cannot afford it. It doesn't help that these states are often the most hostile towards workers' rights, thus driving down wages, and often have the highest number of single mothers, due to the nation's highest rates of divorce and out-of-wedlock births. Get all the details and schadenfreude at PERRspectives Blog.
Click the PERRspectives link to read more, but the bottom line in their post says it all:
By almost any measure of societal breakdown that so-called Republican "values voters" decry, it is Red State America where moral failure is greatest.
And part of that moral failure includes 44 million uninsured women, men and children.

5 comments:

Larry said...

Good post, and glad things are settling in on the homefront.

This has been a problem with so much of America. People hear catch phrases and follow those, instead of looking to see what they will be getting.

Often, those in America have become our own worst enemy.

Lew Scannon said...

It has been my experience that those who prattle on most about "morals" are the most morally decrepit.

Anonymous said...

That's the part that always gets me - how Americans are so easily persuaded to vote against their own best interests. Why, I'd bet that could be fixed by taking the money out of politics, as somebody keeps harping on. ;-)

Anonymous said...

Well, no surprises there, eh? I have no doubt that Republicans will disingenuously refer to all the pork that a health care bill would create for the Democratic states.

Larry said...

Do the Democratic elite really want healthcare for all?

Their words seem to miss their actions.