Health Care Gaps Increase Vulnerability to Ebola

Ebola will test the world’s diverse systems of health care. The United States is alone among advanced economies in lacking a universal health care system, and its health care costs more per capita than that of any other country. A system with unequal benefits makes the country vulnerable on two fronts: US hospitals offer state-of-the art treatment, a plane ride away, for the insured or those with money to pay. At the same time, a large number of uninsured and underinsured US residents, many with low-wage jobs in the hospitality industry, avoid seeking costly care, giving any infectious disease more time to spread. “America’s vulnerability, not shared by our friends in Canada or Europe, is the 13.8 percent of us – about 43.3 million individuals – who still lack health insurance and millions more whose policies entail co-payments that are exorbitant for working people,” writes Laurie Garrett, renowned author on health issues. Petitions circulate in the United States, demanding a ban on travel from Africa. But critics question missteps on the first US Ebola diagnosis in Texas, after a man with symptoms and reporting travel to Liberia was sent home. – YaleGlobal