And now, on the topic of healthcare reform...

[dwer.livejournal.com]

Comments

Re: Death certificate/ first comic.

[mikepictor.livejournal.com]

I think his point is that it's disingenuous to claim that lack of insurance is the cause of 45,000 deaths per year.

We'd need a stat that shows the number of uninsured deaths that would have survived if they had insurance...which is a tricky stat to collect.

Re: Death certificate/ first comic.

[dwer.livejournal.com]

that number has been used by a lot of disparate sources. I'm gonna lean in the direction of it having been vetted.

Re: Death certificate/ first comic.

[mikepictor.livejournal.com]

nice...I am not ready to make any assumptions just because I see a number.

Not that number of deaths is the defining argument for health care reform. Health conditions of people who are alive, and economic conditions of people who can't afford it are even more relevant.

Re: Death certificate/ first comic.

[dwer.livejournal.com]

It's not just seeing a number. Many people whom I believe are trustworthy have used it. It's an assumption, I suppose. If it's wrong, then prove it. It's not like proving a negative. These are people who would have lived if they had treatment from a doctor/er (meds, surgery, MRI scan showing tumors, etc) who didn't think they could afford it, delayed going, and therefore died (burst appendix, rapidly metastasizing cancer, severe asthma attack, etc).

economic conditions of people who can't afford it

The 45,000 a year would be among that group.

Re: Death certificate/ first comic.

[badlydrawnjeff.livejournal.com]

You probably believe 45m Americans are uninsured, too.

Re: Death certificate/ first comic.

[dwer.livejournal.com]

of course I do. And you cannot prove otherwise, either.

Re: Death certificate/ first comic.

[badlydrawnjeff.livejournal.com]

LOL (http://www.census.gov/prod/2009pubs/p60-236.pdf). Check the appendixes, I think appendix C is the relevant data you need.

Re: Death certificate/ first comic.

[dwer.livejournal.com]

Um... do you not know how to read? The very first line of Table C-1 says that there are 46,340 THOUSAND people not covered.

301,483,000 people total. 255,143,000 people covered. 46,340,000 not covered.

If this isn't proof that you only see what you want to see with the blinders you specifically put on yourself, I don't know what is.

Re: Death certificate/ first comic.

[badlydrawnjeff.livejournal.com]

And I assume you drilled down on the demographics, right?

Re: Death certificate/ first comic.

[dwer.livejournal.com]

34.9 million whites (including hispanics) not covered.
7.6 million blacks not covered.
2.3 million asians not covered.

only 8 million of the 46 million are between 18-24.
only 10 million of the 46 million are between 25-34.

But who gives a fuck? It still adds up to about 46 million people.

Re: Death certificate/ first comic.

[badlydrawnjeff.livejournal.com]

Keep drilling. Did you hit up the appendices?

Re: Death certificate/ first comic.

[dwer.livejournal.com]

dood, do you need to go see a doctor? It's the last four pages of the document. Table C-3, pages 64-67 (71-74 of the actual doc).