A BBC One’s Panorama, a TV documentary show, took on the dismal state of health care in the U.S. back in January 2009 (so it is a bit dated now). Nick Cargo. BBC documentary takes on Obama’s plans for American health care system. January 25, 2009. http://rawstory.com/news/2008/BBC_documentary_takes_on_Obamas_plans_0125.html
The documentary takes on the (now) 50.7 million uninsured citizens and the length they will go for healthcare, the..”pharmaceutical industry’s rigged pricing against the American patient, and the insurance industry’s efforts to deny care whenever possible.”
Due to licensing restrictions the episode is only available for viewing by those who live in the U.K., however, it has been posted online. I have embedded the first of the three parts on YouTube below.
The documentary opens up in rural Kentucy and shows many who have driven long distances in the middle of the night who are trying to get care.
Stan Brock, founder of Remote Area Medical, says how he set up a charity to help people in the Amazon jungle says
“We discovered wow there are people here that need help just as much as they do in Guatemala or in the Amazon and all these other places we go to. So now 60% of what we do is right here in the United States. The need is enormous.”
It does not have to be this way in the United States. We can have a single-payer national health insurance such as that proposed by the Physicians for a National Health Program. http://www.pnhp.org/
Here is a link to a nice piece on Dateline showing Stan Brock and the work Remote Area Medical has done in Haiti. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/41007053#41007053