Vote with the Facts!
Voter Guide
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© 2004, Vote with the Facts & US Face to Face
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Health Care
1) How many people in the
45 million Americans, or 15.6 percent of the population.
Source:
Jobs shift away from industries that provide
health insurance to their workers, Economic Snapshot for
http://www.epinet.org/content.cfm/webfeatures-_snapshots_05122004
2) How many adults are estimated to die each year in the
18,000.
Source: "U.S. Advisers Call for Universal Health Care," Maggie Fox,
Reuters, Wired News,
3) How has Medicare been affected by the Bush administration's policies?
In September, the Bush administration raised Medicare premiums17.5% bringing the total monthly payment to $78.50. This is the largest premium increase in 15 years and will affect 42 million senior and disabled Americans. In sheer dollars, the premium increase, up from $66 this year, is the largest ever.
"Robert M. Hayes, president of the Medicare Rights Center, said, "More older Americans will face harsh choices in meeting basic human needs -- health, food and housing.""
Source: "Medicare Premiums To Rise By 17.5%" By Ceci Connolly, Washington Post, September 4, 2004, www.washingtonpost.com/ wp-dyn/articles/A59772-2004Sep3.html
5) How much have health care premiums risen in the past
year?
11% - this is the fourth year in a row that they have risen at a double
digit pace. It is five times the rate of inflation, and five times
the rate of increase in workers' wages.
"The Kaiser study found that, for the first time, insurers charged
an average of more than $10,000 to provide a family of four with the most
common medical plan, known as a PPO, or preferred provider plan... That's up
$900 from 2003."
Source: "Premiums for health care rise over
11%" by Mark Schwanhausser, Mercury News, Sep 10, 2004
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/9627148.htm?1c
6) What was the average cost for each American to have health care during 2002?
About $5,440. For 2001, this country spent 47% more
per person than
Source: "U.S. Health Care Spending Surges Again," Mark Sherman,
Associated Press, Atlanta Journal-Constitution,
7) What is the corrected cost of the Medicare bill which Bush signed in December 2003?
President Bush last year signed a Medicare prescription drug benefit with an estimated price tag of $395 billion. A month later, the White House said the actual cost was more like $534 billion.
Source: Bush Team's Fuzzy Math, Jarrett Murphy, CBS
News,
8) How many Americans were uninsured for a month or more in either 2001 or 2002?
72 million, or 30% of all Americans under the age of 65.
Source: http://www.fightforthefuture.org/bushrecord/bush_healthcare.cfm
9) How many administrators are there in the private
In 2001 administrators outnumbered doctors and nurses combined by 300,000.
Source: ABC World News Tonight with Peter Jennings, "Health, Critical
Condition,"
10) What percentage of adults, ages 18-64, lacked health coverage for the entire year of 2002?
19.5%, up from 17.8% in 2000.
Sources:
11) Patented drugs cost how much more in the
1.69 times as much, on average, to more than 3 times as much for some drugs.
Source: "Drug Pricing: A Comparison between
Specific examples, expressed in US dollars:
Mirapex (for Parkinson’s) — costs $157 in
Seroquel (for insomnia) — costs $33 in
Source: ABC World News Tonight with Peter Jennings, "Health, Critical
Condition,"
12) Currently Medicare is prevented from negotiating for better
prices on drugs with the
Section 1860D-11(i)(2) of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 prevents this type of negotiating with the pharmaceutical industry, thus protecting the industry’s profits.
Ref.: Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 [H.R.1.ENR], http://thomas.loc.gov
13) Why do Americans pay so much more for prescriptions than citizens of other industrialized countries do?
The
• Existing drugs prices may rise no faster than inflation.
• New drugs may not cost more than similar drugs for the same illness.
• A breakthrough drug may not cost more than its median price among other countries.
Source: ABC World News Tonight with Peter Jennings, "Health, Critical
Condition,"
14) Have price controls in
No, there are only 6 drugs and 3 contraceptives sold in the
Source: ABC World News Tonight with Peter Jennings, "Health, Critical
Condition,"
15) What’s the Bush Administration’s policy on limiting world population?
They withdrew $34 million to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in July 2002.
Source: The United Nations Population Fund, "Statement on U.S. Funding
Decision,"
16) What happens when funding to the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) gets cut?
UNFPA officials estimated that the loss (in July 2002) of the United States contribution of $34 million, representing fully 13% of UNFPA’s budget, could result in 2 million additional unwanted pregnancies, 4700 maternal deaths, 60,000 cases of serious maternal injury and illness, 77,000 infant deaths, and 800,000 abortions.
Sources: The Library of Congress, House Resolution 1196 in the year 2003, http://thomas.loc.gov/ [type HR1196 in "Bill Number"field]
United Nations Population Fund, http://www.unfpa.org/news/news.cfm?ID=146&Language=1
17) What did Republican William Milliken, the longest-serving
governor of
"The right wing is seeking to impose an entire set of doctrinaire beliefs that will sharply restrict health care for women and, as a result, actually increase the number of abortions worldwide.
"We know that the lack of access to basic family planning services and information undermines a woman’s ability to determine her own destiny. It also increases illness and mortality rates of women and their children, and inhibits the ability of families to climb out of poverty.
"The GOP is allowing itself to become identified with an agenda
on family planning that threatens to reverse the decades of progress in
empowering women in the
Source:
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