Tag : Bio-domination

Sam Ben-Meir* New York (The Hawk): In the debates we hear about the significance of universal healthcare, there is something frequently left out of the discussion. A universal healthcare system is about providing a just and accessible healthcare system, the resources of which can and should be made universally available. It is also about ending a system which systematically reproduces health inequity, in a county which spent $4.5 trillion on health care in 2022—more than any other country in the world and twice as much as the average member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). While we are spending far more, Americans generally have worse health outcomes than the citizens of rich European countries. Based on numerous benchmarks, we lag behind: for example, the US has the highest rate of infant and maternal deaths among the OECD countries; and one of the lowest rates of physician visits and practicing physicians. The Commonwealth Fund points out that life expectancy at birth in the U.S. was 77 years in 2020, three years lower than the OECD average. But what we tend to overlook is that we also have the foundational model of a truly universal system of healthcare right here in the United States, and while it can be improved upon it already functions quite well. That basic model, which as explained below already exists in this country, should be expanded into a national healthcare system. To fully appreciate why this should be done, it is helpful to understand first that health disparity exists, and it has a racial, gender, ethnic, and socioeconomic structure: the empirical evidence is massive and overwhelming. Studies have shown that racial/ethnic minorities are “1.5 to 2.0 times more likely than whites to ...