Poverty Is Bad For Your Health

(Cartoon above is by Bill Sanders at Sanders cartoon/commentary.)

It has become obvious during this campaign that Willard Mitt Romney (aka Wall Street Willie) has no conception of how hard life is for those living in poverty. he seems to have the idea that poor people don't want to work. They just want to lay around the house and collect a government check. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Most people living below the poverty line have full time jobs -- they just don't earn enough to lift them out of poverty.

And he thinks the same when it comes to health care. He doesn't believe there are thousands of people dying every year in America because they can't afford health care. He says they should just go to the emergency room (like that doesn't have to be paid for). And he promises to repeal Obamacare, to make sure the poor aren't allowed to receive decent health care. And he would drastically slash other social programs, which would throw even more people into deep poverty.

What Willard doesn't understand is that emergency rooms are for emergencies. They are not designed to provide the preventive care that could save thousands of lives, and by the time a poor person is sick enough to go there the chances are that their disease may be too far along to be cured. And now a new survey shows us something that most of us already suspected -- living below the poverty line is dangerous to a person's health.

This was revealed in a new Gallup Poll, taken between January 2nd and December 31st of 2011. The survey involved 353,492 randomly selected Americans (and had a margin of error of only 1 point). The poll found that those living below the poverty line are much more prone to have medical problems -- both physically and psychologically. Here are a few comparisons:

DEPRESSION
in poverty....................30.9%
not in poverty...............15.8%

ASTHMA
in poverty....................17.1%
not in poverty...............11.0%

OBESITY
in poverty....................31.8
not in poverty...............26.0%

DIABETES
in poverty....................14.8%
not in poverty...............10.1%

HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE
in poverty....................31.8%
not in poverty...............29.1%

HEART ATTACK
in poverty....................5.8%
not in poverty...............3.8%

There were two areas where those not in poverty had higher rates -- cancer (0.8% higher) and high cholesterol (1% higher).

One of the biggest differences between the two groups was access to a regular doctor. About 80.7% of those not in poverty had a personal doctor, while only 62.1% of those in poverty said they had a personal doctor (this was probably those lucky enough to qualify for Medicaid or Medicare). And having a personal doctor is the best, and many times only, way to get life-saving preventative care. Here are some other factors that can contribute to more medical problems among the poor:

21.3% more of the poor said they struggled to afford health care.

23.8% more of the poor had no health insurance.

8% more of the poor found it hard to afford fresh fruits & vegetables.

10.4% more of the poor found it hard to find a safe place to exercise.

12.3% more of the poor found it hard to afford needed medications.

Obamacare is not perfect, because it will still leave some people without insurance. But it will also cover many more people (if the states will cooperate), and that will reduce the health problems of the poor. It's bad enough that Willard and his GOP cohorts want to cut education and social program funding (which will just raise the poverty rate), but repealing Obamacare is even worse because it will make sure many of the poor don't get needed medical care (especially preventative care) -- and it will make sure more of them die because of that lack of care.