About 11,000 people in the country die needlessly and prematurely each year simply because they do not have health insurance and, therefore, do not get medical care when they need it, according to a 2009 study by the American Journal of Public Health.
This statistic is based on an estimated 49 million people who did not have insurance that year.
If legislators and Maine’s governor are successful in cutting 27,000 people from MaineCare, that means that, on average, five or six people will die needlessly in the coming year and each year these cuts are in effect.
Of course, many more also will have poorer health and suffer more, even if they don’t die.
So, who is responsible for those deaths?
The governor?
Legislators?
Should they be prosecuted for manslaughter, for every person who dies because they didn’t have health insurance?
Larry Dansinger
Monroe
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