The Bush Legacy - Health Care

I know that President elect Obama is busy building his cabinet and figuring out how to pull our economic butts out of the fire. I hope, however, that he jumps on the health care issue quickly. Aside from sucking the life out of the American people in two economically disastrous wars...aside from killing decent public education in the name of saving the poorest among us...aside from handing the riches of the American people to his friends and family...aside from making this one of the worst industrial countries in terms of "good places to raise children"...he has put the proverbial fox in charge of the "health care chicken coop."

Here's just a sampling of the "Bush Legacy" on health care from Think Progress.

----------------

– Since 2000, the ranks of the uninsured have grown by 7.2 million.

– Health care premiums have doubled under Bush. Employer-sponsored health insurance premiums have risen from $5,791 in 1999 to $12,680 in 2008.

– The fastest growing component of health care is health insurers’ administrative costs.

– Enrollment in Medicare private plans doubled. Through such plans, insurers “have increased the cost and complexity of the program without any evidence of improving care.”

– The combined profits of the nation’s largest insurance companies and their subsidiaries increased by over 170 percent between 2003 and 2007.