Commentary: I watched my patients die of poverty for 40 years. It’s time for single-payer health care.
By David A. Ansell
Sarai was 25 when she died of Wilson's disease, an inherited disorder that causes liver failure. A liver transplant could have cured her, but she was uninsured and was denied an appointment at two prominent Chicago transplant hospitals, including my own. Sarai's plight was brought to my attention when a local religious group held a hunger strike advocating transplant access for Sarai and other uninsured patients. When she died, her congregation marched seven miles, ...
Senator Bernie Sanders
American doctors are sick and tired of our inefficient, wasteful, dysfunctional health care system. They want Medicare for all. pic.twitter.com/3QQwFlzf85
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) September 13, 2017
I watched my patients die of poverty for 40 years. It’s time for single-payer.
The Washington Post | David A. Ansell
Sarai was 25 years old when she died of Wilson’s disease, an inherited disorder that causes liver failure. A liver transplant could have cured her, but she was uninsured and was denied an appointment at two prominent Chicago transplant hospitals, including my own. Sarai’s plight was brought to my attention when a local religious group held a hunger strike advocating transplant access for Sarai and other uninsured patients. When she died, her ...
Trump calls single-payer ‘a curse’—here’s what data from other countries actually show
CNBC | Ester Bloom | 10:34 AM ET Fri, 15 Sept 2017
A group of 17 Senators led by Bernie Sanders (I-VT) introduced a bill calling for "Medicare for All" this week, a position supported by over 50 percent of Americans, according to an Economist/YouGuv poll from this year. With the Trump Administration and the Republicans in Congress opposed, it's unlikely to advance, but top officials have nonetheless come out firmly against the idea.
That's despite the fact that increased ...
Author David Ansell Exposes Inequality’s Deadly Influence
Tuesday, August 22, 2017 |by Martha Jablow, special to AAMCNews
Drawing on a four-decade career of practicing medicine in Chicago, David A. Ansell, MD, MPH, has written The Death Gap: How Inequality Kills, an indictment of economic inequality and its impact on health. The book was published in May by the University of Chicago Press.
Ansell is professor of medicine at Rush Medical College, senior vice president for community health equity at Rush University Medical Center, and ...
Author of “The Death Gap” explains how where you live impacts your life expectancy
The Death Gap: How Inequality Kills (2017: University of Chicago Press), is written by David Ansell, MD, SVP for Community Health at Chicago’s Rush University Medical Center. “Inequality is a disease,” says Ansell, “and we need to treat and eradicate it as we would any major illness.” To do so, he outlines a vision that will provide the foundation for a healthier nation for all. David believes basic health care should be available to all individuals, a right similar to basic educat...
New book explores the deadliness of inequality
By David Ansell, M. D.
Contributor
Life expectancy in Oak Park and River Forest is 83 years. But cross Austin Boulevard into the Austin neighborhood of Chicago and life expectancy plummets to under 72.
While headlines portray Austin as an epicenter for Chicago's violence epidemic, the life span gap between Austin and Oak Park result from excess cases of heart disease, diabetes and cancer.
Read the full article >>
Why The Haves Are Healthy And The Have-Nots Suffer
WBEZ Chicago
We often hear about how the growing income inequality in America is preventing families from buying a home, or paying for college. But the sharp divide between the haves and the have-nots also has a serious impact on people’s health.
There is a staggering 30-year gap in life expectancy between the rich and the poor in America, and this trend holds true in Chicago where a person’s lifespan is based on race, income, and neighborhood.
Read & Listen >>
Streetwise: The Death Gap
By: Suzanne Hanney
June 15, 2017
When David A. Ansell, M.D. co-hosted a fundraiser for Barack Obama’s U.S. Senate campaign in 2003, he asked the future president about national health care reform. Obama gave Ansell the outline of the future Affordable Care Act (ACA).
Obama favored a single-payer system, but said “it will never get passed in the United States.” Health insurance companies held so much political power – 250,000 employees across the U.S. and a huge lobbying apparatus ...