While Republicans Stall, 1 American Dies Every 12 Minutes Due To Lack Of Proper Health Care

by: One Citizen

Fri Sep 25, 2009 at 00:51:36 AM EDT

Top Harvard Medical School researchers recently revealed that

Americans are dying at a faster rate - 1 every 12 minutes, 5 an hour, 120 a day, 45,000 a year - not from war or natural disaster, but from lack of health insurance.

Meanwhile, Republicans are trying every stupid stunt in the book as they try to keep Democrats from fixing our terminally inadequate system of health care coverage. For example, Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS) argued that the Senate Finance Committee should delay a vote on legislation a full 72 hours just to allow time for senators to consult with health insurance lobbyists. (watch it below)

The Harvard Institute of Medicine estimated in 2002 that more than 18,000 Americans between the ages of 19 and 64 were dying each year as a result of being uninsured. The new number is two and a half times that figure.

Trying to get by, the uninsured and underinsured delay necessary care, put off filling drug prescriptions or take only some of their medications each day. Most are just one major illness or accident away from financial ruin.

Despite the fact that most Republicans admit that something needs to be done to fix the system, even casual observers of Senate Finance committee markup procedures could tell that Republicans weren't there on behalf of Americans, but to represent the health industry.

Yesterday,  Sen. John Rockefeller (D-WV) called out the special-interest representation in response to an amendment offered by Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX):

ROCKEFELLER: This is a very very important amendment, and it's a very very bad amendment. If there's anything which is clear, it's that the insurance industry is not running this markup, but it is running certain people in this markup. [...]

   CORNYN: With all due respect, senator, I don't know what amendment you're referring to -

   ROCKEFELLER: I'm referring to yours.

   CORNYN: - you're certainly not referring to my amendment -

   ROCKEFELLER: I am.

Watch it below the jump

Transcript lifted from THINKPROGRESS

   ROCKEFELLER: This is a very very important amendment, and it's a very very bad amendment. If there's anything which is clear, it's that the insurance industry is not running this markup, but it is running certain people in this markup.

   What you have done through your amendment, Sen. Cornyn, is to take the very clear fact that those who are self-insured through their companies - that the insurance companies would be grandfathered from ever accepting any of the disciplines which we are putting on the rest of non-self-insured population. So that what you're saying, almost half of all Americans, because of the grandfathering, will not get the restraints on the caps, the recissions, all of those things, which are standard fare for what we think over here. We think the insurance industries are the major problem.

   As Maria Cantwell says, this bill is about giving subsidies to insurance companies to do what's - instead of giving it, helping people. This is the grandfather of all grandfathers.

   CORNYN: With all due respect, senator, I don't know what amendment you're referring to -

   ROCKEFELLER: I'm referring to yours.

   CORNYN: - you're certainly not referring to my amendment -

   ROCKEFELLER: I am.

   CORNYN: - because what you're proposing by proposing new mandates on employer-provided policies - we're not talking about insurance, we're talking about coverage that's provided by an employer that's subject to the Employee Reduction Insurance Act. It's not standard insurance policy.

According to the Houston Chronicle, Sen. John Cornyn reportedly said

"Texas is a national model for improving access to health care because it limited lawsuits against doctors."

Oh, and one more thing. In 2007, Cornyn voted six times against bipartisan legislation to extend SCHIP funding and expand it by $35 billion over five years. He did it although in 2007 Texas had the highest number (1,410,000) of uninsured children of any state.

Kudos to Senator Rockefeller for shining a light on La Cucaracha Cornyn.