Column: No health care for you!

We are a country of health care Nazis. Just as the Soup Nazi in Seinfeld cried out "No soup for you!" to hungry customers, our leaders shout "No health care for you!" to the millions of Americans who desperately need medical care.

I speak with some authority on this topic because until I came to Duke, I was one of an estimated 41 million Americans without health insurance. Like them, my health didn't come with any guarantees. My mom and I were unable to afford the exorbitant cost of health insurance and so we simply did without. Luckily, we never got sick. Other Americans make this same gamble and are not as fortunate.

According to the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine, medical bills are an important factor in almost half of all bankruptcy filings.

For the millions of Americans without health insurance, the risks are even higher than simply going bankrupt. As numerous reports have shown, lack of health insurance is associated with an absence of preventive care and substandard treatment. According to the most recent edition of the North Carolina Medical Journal, the uninsured are more than five times as likely to need medical care but not receive it. They are twice as likely to be unable to fill a prescription due to cost. Since the uninsured must often postpone care, they are diagnosed with more serious health conditions, such as late stage cancer. It is quite simple: A lack of health insurance is killing the uninsured.

North Carolina is an especially harsh climate for poor people needing access to quality healthcare. About 15 percent of our population, or over one million people, is without health care. These numbers are especially telling when they are broken down into race and age categories. While 13 percent of whites are uninsured, over 20 percent of blacks and 40 percent of Latinos are without health insurance. About a third of all adults between the ages of 19 and 24 are uninsured, and 15 percent of children are uninsured. Despite common stereotypes, almost two-thirds of the uninsured are full-time workers or their dependents. With health care costs increasing all the time in this country, insurance is simply out of reach for many Americans.

For those who think extending the "luxury" of healthcare to all Americans is simply too expensive, let me point out that while we rank number one in the world for health care spending per capita, we are still the only industrialized nation lacking some kind of universal health care system. Additionally, as if the thought of people suffering isn't compelling enough, our current health care system doesn't even make economic sense. For example, young children get ear infections quite commonly and, if treated early, they are not a huge ordeal or expense. However, when people are without basic health care, their only option for medical care is the emergency room. An ear infection then becomes a medical emergency, the child and family suffer a great deal, and we all pay the expense of an avoidable emergency. Such a system is nothing short of insane.

As Duke students, we might be fairly cushioned from such suffering. But these people serve our food. They work construction at Duke and in the surrounding community. They are the children running around in Durham's playgrounds. Can we even imagine the horror of being sick and not being able to see the doctor? Or worse yet, of having a sick child and being forced to choose between food or medicine, the doctor or rent? These tortuous decisions are not supposed to exist in this country, especially for so-called "hard workers." How have we managed to silence the enraged and helpless cries of millions of Americans?

The reign of the health care Nazis must end. If you are pre-med, a medical student or involved in health policy in any way, I hope you view health care for every American as a priority. All of us must voice our concerns to our leaders and compel them to support universal health care. For those of you interested in learning more about the uninsured in North Carolina, I urge you to become involved with the Rural Health Coalition or other advocacy groups.