Why America Needs Healthcare For All

I'm James Lenhart family doctor, author and publisher of Conversations for Paco: Why America Needs Healthcare for All.

It matters not if you lean Republican or Democrat, with the Tea Party, Freedom Caucus or social progressives, as a nation we all must grapple with the daunting reality and far reaching consequences that healthcare outcomes in United States are abysmal. Compared to other developed nations that embrace the concepts of universal coverage and health care for all, life expectancy, infant mortality and the incidence of chronic conditions in the U.S. sink far below international averages.

It's not that healthcare in America is cheap; in fact it's the most expensive on the planet – nearly twice as much as many other developed nations.

It is all about the money, however, and is a matter of simple truth that the leaders of our country, major corporations, health insurance executives, big Pharma and political parties do not hold health care as a human right sacrosanct and above corporate profits and political ideology.

I count myself among the fortunate. Born and raised in Montana, educated at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine, Brown University family medicine and the University of Liverpool, I have enjoyed a rich life personally and professionally.

It wasn't, however, until I took my Masters of Public Health degree from the University of Liverpool that I began to analyze healthcare in the United States for what it is. That educational effort, plus 25 years of caring for patients persuaded me to weigh more critically the dynamics of our health care system and what drives it. It is also the basis for my novel Conversations For Paco: Why America Needs Healthcare For All.

Inspired by a true account and jam-packed with love, lust, debauchery and greed, Paco’s mysterious illness dramatizes what happens when disease collides with healthcare for profit and physician indifference in the United States.

I urge you to read Conversations for Paco, use its message to learn more about healthcare in America and communicate with your political representatives to promote health care for all in our country. Human dignity, our economic well-being and world-class health outcomes are dependent on it.

Conversations For Paco is available from Amazon in electronic, paperback and hardbound formats. Go to: https://www.amazon.com/Conversations-Paco-America-Needs-Healthcare/dp/0615471099/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1490564760&sr=8-1&keywords=conversations+for+Paco

References:

The Commonwealth Fund, 2017. U.S. Healthcare from a Global Perspective, Online [Available at:] http://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2015/oct/us-health-care-from-a-global-perspective Accessed: March 26, 2017.

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