THE YIN AND YANG OF STATISTICS VS. ANECDOTES IN EDUCATING THE PUBLIC ON SINGLE PAYER PAUL RICCI

SINGLE PAYER HEALTHCARE

• The United States spends the most Healthcare as a % of GDP (18%)

on health care than the next highest country (Micronesia, 14%)

• However the US ranks 31st in life expectancy in 2012 and 27th in infant

mortality in the world among developed nations.

• A single payer system similar to Canada’s has been shown to be most

efficient at providing care and controlling costs.

HEALTHCARE 4 ALL PA

• My organization, Health Care for All PA is pushing for a single payer

system in Pennsylvania.

• Vermont passed a similar plan in 2010 to be fully implemented in

2017.

CHALLENGES

• Top insurers and drug companies in Pennsylvania have billions of

dollars to spend on lobbying and advertising to prevent a healthcare

system to challenge their profits.

ORGANIZATIONAL STRATEGY

• Healthcare for All PA has a two pronged strategy for promoting

awareness about the need for a single payer system. Social media is

the primary tool for disseminating both.

• Healthy Artists a film documentary project which profiles local artists and their

struggles with healthcare.

• A statistical blog which discusses issues with the uninsured and the

underinsured in Pennsylvania

HEALTHY ARTISTS

CANADIAN HEALTHCARE OPPONENTS AD

STATISTICS: THE BORING PART

ILLITERACY ESTIMATES BASED ON THE NATL. ASSESS. OF ADULT LITERACY SURVEY OF

BASIC PROSE LITERACY

STATISTICS: THE ENTERTAINING PART

TOOLS FOR VISUALIZING STATISTICS

• The Gapminder Institute has an interactive visual graphic application

that can be downloaded for free which I will demonstrate now.

• http://www.gapminder.org

CONCLUSION

• Facts can be distorted with statistics (unless you read between he

lines) but it is a lot easier to do with words.

• The Fraser Institue states that 40,000 Canadians come to the US for

care but with a population of 35 million that would be 0.12% of it’s

population.