I uploaded
some pics and a vid from a health care reform event in Austin, TX, on Saturday. This is in Rep. Lloyd Doggett's district, so the crowd was overwhelmingly pro-reform. We had to leave before Lloyd spoke but the anti-reform people were polite for the most part (except for the smarmy guy with the loudspeaker).
There are
47 million Americans with no health insurance, according to the 2007 U.S. Census. More recent estimates place the number at over 50 million.
An estimated
22,000 Americans die every year because they are not insured and cannot pay for treatment.
The United States consistently lags behind every other industrialized nation in infant mortality, life expectancy, and other core indicators.
We currently rank 65 out of a possible 100.
The Congressional Budget Office projects that premiums for employer-provided health insurance will go up by approximately 70 percent in the next nine years.
People are dying. People are suffering. People are paying far too much. And it will only get worse--unless we do something now. Tell your Congressperson to support the public option.