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Article: HEALTH CARE CALLS FOR COMMON SENSE AND EQUITY.(Editorial)
- Article from:
- Seattle Post-Intelligencer
- Article date:
- February 23, 1999
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1999 Seattle Post-Intelligencer. All rights reserved. Reproduced with the permission of the Dialog Corporation by Gale Group. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Common sense is the hallmark American characteristic. ``Let's get it done. Here's a problem, let's solve it.''
But, common sense has never been the hallmark of the American health care ``system.'' In fact, the reverse is true. Some examples:
-- Until the mid-1980s, we would pay $40,000 plus per year, usually out of public money, to pay for elderly people in nursing homes. Until then, we would not pay about $5,000 a year for meals on wheels and chore services so they could remain at home where care was not only cheaper, but the patient was also happier.
-- Some states used to consider contraceptives to be illegal. It took two Supreme Court ...