Tomorrow, the United States Senate will begin debate on whether healthcare should be a right guaranteed to all by the federal government and paid for by the upstanding white citizenry of the country:
“The racial or ethnic composition of the 42.5 million non-payers roughly mirrors the demographics of American tax filers as a whole. For example, white Americans are 83 percent of total taxpayers, and the percentage of zero-tax filers who are white is 79 percent. African Americans are roughly 13 percent of total taxpayers and 16 percent of zero-tax filers. Asian Americans comprise 3.6 percent of total taxpayers and 3.2 percent of zero-tax filers.
That said, the percentage of non-payers within each ethnic or racial group does vary: 28.6 percent of Asian Americans tax filers get back every dollar withheld, 31.1 percent of white American tax filers will owe nothing, and 41.7 percent of African Americans will file a tax return with no liability."
The current estimated price tag for the implementation of universal healthcare is at a cool $1.5 trillion, as close to 50 million Americans currently our uninsured. If healthcare legislation in enacted, it will once again be white people (a mere 66 percent of the overall population) who will fit the bill (remember, they account for 83 percent of the taxpayers) who will shelter minorities from the cold:
“As 1 in 3 Americans self-identify as a member of a racial or ethnic minority group, and it is estimated that half of the U.S. population will be a person of color by 2045, there are significant health and economic consequences in eliminating, or failing to eliminate, disparities in access to health coverage and care. People of color are disproportionately served by public programs like Medicaid, and are less likely than Whites to receive health coverage through their employer. In addition, of the 45.7 million nonelderly Americans who were uninsured in 2008, more than half (55%) are people of color. Furthermore, a recent report estimated that 30.6%, or $230 billion, of direct medical expenditures between 2003 and 2006 were excess costs due to health and health care inequalities incurred by racial and ethnic minorities.”
Remember, Black people don’t pass on seconds, which puts them at a clear disadvantage when it comes to Black people’s health (take a look at the states with the best and worst overall health):
“The annual ranking looks at 22 indicators of health, including everything from how many children receive recommended vaccinations, to obesity and smoking rates, to cancer deaths. Vermont ranked first this year thanks in part to its low rate of obesity, high number of doctors and a low rate of child poverty. New England in general sets a benchmark for the country, the report found: All six New England states are in the top 10.
These states have favorable demographics and an excellent public health infrastructure, including a large number of doctors per capita.Eight of the 10 bottom-ranked states are from the south, with Mississippi coming in dead last for the ninth consecutive year. Mississippi has a sky-high death rate from heart disease and high infant mortality.”
Eight of the least healthy states come from the south? Wait, where is it that the majority of Black people reside in the United States? That’s right, the south:
“The Black Population: 2000 [pdf], one in a series of Census 2000 briefs,shows that 36.4 million people, or 12.9 percent of the total population,reported as Black or African American. This number includes 34.7 million,or 12.3 percent, who reported as Black alone, in addition to 1.8 million,or 0.6 percent, who reported as Black in combination with one or moreother races.
The 10 states where 60 percent of African Americans resided were: NewYork, California, Texas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, North Carolina,Maryland, Michigan and Louisiana. Five of these had more than 2 millionBlacks each: New York, California, Texas, Florida and Georgia.
Of all the people who reported as Black in Census 2000, 54 percent lived in the South, 19 percent lived in the Midwest, 18 percent lived in the Northeast and 10 percent lived in the West."
Bad health and Black people are – according to the data – synonymous with each other, and the new healthcare legislation will only burden the tax payer – 83 percent happen to be of the monochromatic hue of white – with higher taxes. Consider the state of Black America’s overall health:
In 2005, the death rate for African Americans was higher than Whites for heart diseases, stroke, cancer, asthma, influenza and pneumonia, diabetes, HIV/AIDS, and homicide.
In 2005, African American men were 1.3 times as likely to have new cases of lung and prostate cancer, compared to non-Hispanic white men.
African American men are twice as likely to have new cases of stomach cancer as non-Hispanic white men.
African Americans men have lower 5-year cancer survival rates for lung and pancreatic cancer, compared to non-Hispanic white men.
In 2005, African American men were 2.4 times as likely to die from prostate cancer, as compared to non-Hispanic white men.
In 2005, African American women were 10% less likely to have been diagnosed with breast cancer, however, they were 34% more likely to die from breast cancer, compared to non-Hispanic white women.
African American women are twice as likely to be diagnosed with stomach cancer, and they were 2.4 times as likely to die from stomach cancer, compared to non-Hispanic white women.
Click here for more statistics on African Americans and Cancer.
African American adults are twice as likely than non-Hispanic white adults to have been diagnosed with diabetes by a physician.
In 2002, African American men were 2.1 times as likely to start treatment for end-stage renal disease related to diabetes, compared to non-Hispanic white men.
In 2003, diabetic African Americans were 1.7 times as likely as diabetic Whites to be hospitalized.
In 2005, African Americans were 2.2 times as likely as non-Hispanic Whites to die from diabetes. Click here for more statistics on African Americans and Diabetes.
Heart Disease
In 2005, African American men were 30% more likely to die from heart disease, as compared to non-Hispanic white men.
African Americans are 1.5 times as likely as non-Hispanic whites to have high blood pressure.
African American women are 1.7 times as likely as non-Hispanic white women to be obese.
Click here for more statistics on African Americans and Heart Disease.
Although African Americans make up only 13% of the total U.S. population, they accounted for 49% of HIV/AIDS cases in 2007."
It looks like universal healthcare passing will greatly impact the wallet of white people, for the bills will pile up to ensure that Black people’s overall health improves.
The health bill must be passed and Black legislators in Congress voted nearly unanimously for ratification, save for one, whom found himself the target of Jesse Jackson’s rhetorical bullets (remember, Mein Obama has been his target as well, er… his nuts):
"The Rev. Jesse Jackson on Wednesday night criticized Rep. Artur Davis (D-Ala.) for voting against the Democrats’ signature healthcare bill.“We even have blacks voting against the healthcare bill from Alabama,” Jackson said at a reception Wednesday night.
“You can’t vote against healthcare and call yourself a black man.”…He is also the only member of the CBC to have voted against the healthcare bill earlier this month.…Other members of the CBC found no fault in Jackson's words. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) was in the audience.
He called Jackson's criticism of Davis "accurate," but said he did not hear Jackson say "You can’t vote against healthcare and call yourself a black man."
"If it is an issue that disproportionately impacts black folks, race has to be considered," Cleaver said. Jackson, he added, "is expected by his constituency to call balls and strikes."
It was hoped that with the election of Barack Obama we would live in a post-racial world, but instead we live in a world where racial strife seems to be aggregating at an exponential rate."
Atlanta – SBPDL’s favorite city – is home to Grady Memorial Hospital, which:
“…serves a large proportion of low-income patients. The hospital is supported almost entirely by Fulton and DeKalb counties, with little help from the suburbs or state, despite serving all of metro Atlanta's several counties.Grady has also suffered from corruption and cronyism.
In 2005, a state senator was convicted of using his influence to secure overpriced Grady contracts for his temporary services business. It is further plagued by staff shortages and anachronistic technology - notably as one of every five Medicaid reimbursement billings were rejected by the state due to filing mistakes.”
Let’s take a closer look at Grady, a hospital that grants “free” healthcare to the citizens of Atlanta:
“Solving some of Grady’s financial problems would also stir political tensions, the task force soon learned.Minority communities feared Grady, which cares for many of metro Atlanta’s uninsured and under-insured, would no longer serve them.
Founded in 1892, Grady provides about $270 million — 40 percent of its budget — in free health care per year.
“I think me being a part of the committee brought some level of sensitivity and integrity to the African-American community,” Russell said. “I certainly was very clear the mission was not to discontinue services to the minority community, but to enhance the quality of service.”
The task force not only sought financial solutions to Grady, but had to “educate the community on what Grady meant,” said Correll, now chairman of Grady Memorial Hospital Corp., which oversees Grady Health System.”
How was Grady so mismanaged you might ask? The answer might surprise some:
"Its (GRADY) budget of about $750 million was largely dependent on Medicaid patients; Grady is the state's largest Medicaid provider.
The hospital took a double blow in 2006 when the state legislature sliced $60 million out of the hospital's already strained budget and the hospital's indigent care bill swelled by $73 million.
It left a staggering gap between Grady's expenses and its income.
``It, in effect, sunk us,'' said Dr. Christopher Edwards, former vice-chair of the Fulton Dekalb Hospital Authority.…The next day, Grady's CEO, Dr. Otis Story, resigned. He had been at the helm for less than a year, often at odds with Grady's leadership. Now he would not be a part of the new plan.
A week later Edwards announced his departure, and a list of nominees for the new nonprofit board was unveiled. The list, which identified 11 of the 16 proposed members, included black and white citizens from the business and healthcare communities.
The names did little to put Fort at ease.
``The people who were named were not engaged in this issue,'' Fort said. ``And the money is tied to a specific person. That person's going to drive the train.''
Fort is referring to Correll. To Fort, Correll a former Georgia-Pacific CEO represents the white takeover of Grady, which is currently run by a majority-black board, serves mostly black patients and was most recently headed by a black man.
``What they're basically saying is, 'We cannot trust black people to run that hospital,''' Fort said. ``The changes at Grady are a signal that Atlanta is changing.''
Fort sees Grady is the first domino as the business community eyes opportunities to usurp the city's black political power.
``What's next? MARTA? Hartsfield?'' Fort asked, referring to Atlanta's public transportation system and airport.”
Black political power in Atlanta is waning, which could help save Grady. MARTA and Hartsfield will be the subject of another conversation...
Healthcare reform in the United States is important, but free healthcare put Grady Memorial Hospital in a hole it will never climb out of and worse, merely changing the color scheme of the Board of Directors of that organization is grounds for racial insensitivity and racist.
Worse, the changing demographics of America will result in an erosion of the majority of the tax base, which will only cause taxes to go up. Grady Memorial Hospital is a microcosm of the problems healthcare that is universally guaranteed will cause.
Black people can’t admit the failure of that hospital is on their hands.
Black people won’t admit the massive costs of universal healthcare will be on their hands either, although the data cited in this article shows whom will benefit most from free care.
Obviously, Stuff Black People Don’t Like includes paying for healthcare, for Obama will not only pass legislation that will pay for Black people’s mortgages and gas, but also their healthcare… all on that evil, white devil’s dime. For we know Black people don't listen to CDC, thus white stewardship must include fitting the bill for Black health.
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