Health Care Figures No One is Talking About

I recently read Peter Singer's essay about health care. As the corporate media machine steamrolls over the truth in their drive to kill universal health insurance, here are a few figures from his article I am not hearing elsewhere:

• Health-insurance premiums have more than doubled in a decade, rising four times faster than wages.
• Health care now absorbs about one dollar in every six the nation spends, a figure that far exceeds the share spent by any other nation.
• Estimates of the number of U.S. deaths caused annually by the absence of universal health insurance go as high as 20,000.
• In one study, 43 percent of Americans with insurance reported that cost was a problem that had limited the treatment they received.
• More than 60 percent of all U.S. bankruptcies are related to illness, with many of these specifically caused by medical bills, even among those who have health insurance.
• In 2008, according to a Gallup survey, 73 percent of Canadians and 73 percent of Britons said they had confidence in their countries’ health care systems. In the United States, the figure was 56 percent.

Source: Singer, P. (2009, July 15). Why we must ration health care. The New York Times Magazine. Retrieved July 20, 2009, from http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/19/magazine/19healthcare-t.html?ref=magazine

Two More Examples Supporting Chomsky's Propaganda Model

Here are two more examples of journalists discussing our "free" press:

"In 1960, during the Wisconsin primary, Mr. Cronkite asked Kennedy, then a senator, about his Roman Catholic religion. As Mr. Cronkite recalled in his memoir, Kennedy called Frank Stanton, CBS’s president, to complain that questions about the subject had earlier been ruled out of bounds. He then reminded Mr. Stanton that if he were elected he would be appointing members of the Federal Communications Commission. Mr. Stanton “courageously stood up to the threat,” Mr. Cronkite wrote. "
Martin, D. (2009, July 18). Walter Cronkite, 92, dies; Trusted voice of TV news. The New York Times. Retrieved July 17, 2009, from http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/18/us/18cronkite.html?ref=obituaries&pagewanted=print

“I just don’t go out to industry events, in part because it puts my sources in an awkward situation,” she said, adding that “the other thing about going out with these people is that when it comes time to cover something involving them, they say, ‘But, Nikki, we’re friends.’ I don’t want those kind of friends.” "
Carr, D. (2009, July 17). A Hollywood blogger feared by executives. The New York Times. Retrieved July 17, 2009 from http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/17/business/media/17blog.html?sq=finke&st=cse&scp=1&pagewanted=print