Colorado Launches Quest to End Health Care Carnage and Suffering

Mike & Friends Blog

Donna Smith

Donna Smith, American SiCKO, is executive director of the Health Care for All Colorado Foundation

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June 2nd, 2013 8:27 PM

Colorado Launches Quest to End Health Care Carnage and Suffering

Colorado health as a human right campaign, Donna Smith, SiCKO, Michael Moore, NNU, CNA, NNOC

By Donna Smith

As May closed its grip -- finally -- on the health care dead and broke and June began to log its own death and bankruptcy tolls related to the dysfunctional U.S. health care system, citizens of Colorado began their campaign to achieve health care as a human right and a public good. Many Coloradans have had enough of the killing and financial devastation, and citizens have launched a ballot initiative effort to enshrine the right to health care in the state's constitution.

On hand to witness the first signings of the petitions were its two primary proponents, Nathan Wilkes and myself, along with U.S. Representative John Conyers, Jr., who traveled to Denver to be a part of Health Care for All Colorado's annual meeting. The three were joined in the signing by Jim Hoffmiester,a devoted Colorado progressive who donated supplies to the campaign and who has offered his advice and wisdom on the ballot initiative process.

I was glad to be able to announce the endorsement of the ballot initiative campaign by National Nurses United, the California Nurses Association, the National Nurses Organizing Committee, Academy Award winning filmmaker Michael Moore, and documentary film producer and attorney Anne Moore. Numerous other individuals have endorsed the campaign. To endorse the campaign and lend support, click here: Colorado's Right to Health Care campaign.

With the achievement of health care as a human right and public good, Colorado could make a dent in the grim statistics that continue to plague the nation. The right to health care amendment, when passed by Colorado's voters in 2014, would direct Colorado's lawmakers to create in policy a public, universal, single-payer model for financing health care -- an improved and expanded Medicare for all for life model.

But for today, the numbers continued to grow.

Today's count:

The 2013, to date, U.S. medical-financial-industrial -complex system dead: 18,573

The 2013, to date, U.S. health care system bankrupt: 298,688

** These figures are calculated based on the Harvard University studies on excess deaths in the U.S. due to lack of insurance coverage or the ability to pay for needed health care, and the Harvard University study that calculated the high percentage of personal bankruptcies attributable to medical crisis and debt in the U.S. 123 people die daily due to lack of coverage or cash to pay for care; 1,978 go bankrupt every day due to medical crisis and debt though the majority had insurance at the time their illness or injury occurred. This statistic is also based on the 1.2 million bankruptcies in the U.S. in 2012, according to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, and calculating those medically-related bankruptcies from that number.

Follow Donna's blog daily at:http://donnasicko.blogspot.com/