Why a National Healthcare System Will Save Our Cities

baltindyThis article was published in the Baltimore Indy Reader.

The U.S. and its cities are in the midst of a healthcare crisis caused by a broken system that values profit over quality, affordable care.

Cities faced with rapidly increasing employee health insurance premiums, including Baltimore, are cutting back on much needed services to balance their budgets.

City residents aren’t better off. Increasingly, people are going without insurance, while they put off care or rely on extremely expensive emergency rooms for preventable issues.

National, single-payer healthcare is needed now, more than ever, to free cities and families from the private health insurance industry that has profited from devastating levels of inequality in care and quality of life. It would reduce healthcare costs by removing profit and reducing wasteful spending on insurance paperwork that take up 30 percent of current costs ($230 billion nationally). Continue reading “Why a National Healthcare System Will Save Our Cities”