f o cus health millions of america from harelb math cornell edu misc activism progressive co moderator subject f o cus health millions of americans un under covered f o cus health millions of americans un under covered percentage of population covered by public health insurance country percent country percent australia sweden canada united kingdom denmark austria finland france ireland switzerland italy spain japan belgium new zealand germany netherlands united states norway sources organization for economic cooperation and development paris health data file u s national center for heath statistics advance data no june we re number one in percentage of population without health insurance the main reason we re number one in percentage of population without health insurance is that we re last in percentage of population covered by public health insurance only about one fifth of americans qualify for the main types of public health insurance available in the united states medicare medicaid and veterans benefits l of those who don t qualify many have private insurance but almost one in seven americans million people most living in families with a working adult have no insurance at all and one in four million have been without insurance for a substantial period of time during the last two years many more have inadequate coverage meaning that they could be bankrupted by a major illness in fact one health care expert says that because only percent of the population has private longterm care insurance virtually any american could be impoverished by a prolonged disabling illness additionally as many as percent of those eligible for some forms of public aid do not receive it these gaps in health care result directly from the fact that the united states is the only major industrialized nation other than south africa without a national health insurance plan providing universal coverage while controlling costs from we re number one where america stands and falls in the new world order by andrew l shapiro new york may vintage books a division of random house paperback isbn transcribed by jhwoodar well sf ca us joe woodard america is becoming a land of private greed and public squalor this book is an indispensable road map through the wreckage the facts it reveals will startle you they may depress you but ideally they ll fire you up to help rebuild this nation robert b reich author of the work of nations
