State of Emergency: Health Reform

Families living on the edge of financial ruin; People suffering from pain and uncertainty; Americans are living with a crippled health care system in a "State of Emergency."

The United States may be the richest country in the world with the best technology, but the very health of its people is threatened by an ailing healthcare system.

Today, 15% of Americans have no health insurance. Americans who are seriously ill often go bankrupt because of escalating medical bills.

"We're in a crisis now, it's not 20 years from now, it's now," says Dr. David Goldstein, chief of geriatric and internal medicine at USC's Keck School of Medicine.

While the uninsured are not getting enough care, some argue the well-insured are getting too much.

"State of Emergency: Health Reform and the Election" looks at the big picture: KNBC reporters John Cadiz Klemack examines the crisis of the uninsured and under-insured, Kim Baldonado looks at the strain of health insurance costs on small businesses, Doug Kriegel investigates why healthcare costs are so high, and Conan Nolan lays out the health reform platforms of Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Obama and Republican Presidential Candidate John McCain. Each offers very different solutions; Which plan will help you, and your children?

As election day approaches, it is up to voters which direction to take the country.

ADDITIONAL LINKS:

Resources for Patients:

Choosing the Best Health Plan http://ncqa.org/

General Health Sites www.HealthCentral.com , www.everydayhealth.com , www.webmd.com

Finding the best hospitals www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov , http://whynotthebest.org/

Avoiding Medical Mistakes http://consumermedsafety.org/

Health Management Tools: www.google.com/health , www.healthvault.com

For more background on healthcare costs and health reform:

California Healthcare Foundation www.chcf.org

Alliance for Health Reform www.allhealth.org

For more details on the Presidential Health Platforms: