BEIJING, Mar.2 (Chinese medianet) -- As unemployment reigns
recession, Americans skip medications as loosing a job means no medical
insurance.
A vast majority of working class in the U.S. faces an
unprecedented rise of employer-based health insurance, forcing people to put off
getting care. As the economy continues to crumble, people sacrifice their homes
and retirements in order to pay for mounting medical bills, and forego essential
care because of high costs.
Every day, shrinking city, county and state budgets
result in cutbacks in essential programs, closing of critical safety-net
hospitals, and reduction of staff and services in surviving hospitals; nurse and
doctor shortages, mounting racial, gender and class health disparities, and a
woefully under-resourced public health infrastructure.
In Maine, where the unemployment rate reached a
16-year high of 7 percent in December and the economy shed 3,400 jobs, bringing
the total loss for the year up to 11,700, more and more people have lost their
health insurance.
"If I had a catastrophic event 每 a heart attack or
major surgery 每 it would wipe us out financially," said Deborah Pyne Young who
lost her job following slowdown. "Nevertheless, I don't dwell on it. I try to
stay positive, and I try to stay well," the 52-year-old Young said.
Like a lot of Mainers, Young, who's a registered
nurse, and her husband, Phil, a commercial fisherman on disability, pay for
groceries, heat and other necessities in addition to 400 U.S. dolars a month for
their medications. Like a lot of Mainers, the couple skip healthcare in order to
set aside some money.
(Agencies)
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