15 June 2009 
If you have tried to visit within the past 24 hours you already know that I have had some technical difficulties.
My content is now back up. I’m still tweaking some things.
I have decided to take advantage of this necessary maintenance work to put in place a new design.
I apologize for any inconvenience.
You said I believe our Nations long-term fiscal problems, and the problems resulting from the growth of per capita health care spending, are higher priorities to solve than reducing the number of uninsured Americans now.
I said. Our fiscal issues, health care costs, and uninsured are all very much related. It is not an either/or issue.
Dont have a link but I recall a poor kid who had an infected tooth, couldnt afford to go the dentist, infection spread to his brain, ended up having very expensive brain surgery at taxpayer expense, and then died.
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jharp says:
June 13, 2009 at 1:45 pm
Here it is. I beg of you to read it. An $80 extraction would have saved his life and saved the taxpayers $250,000.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/27/AR2007022702116.html
Twelve-year-old Deamonte Driver died of a toothache Sunday.
A routine, $80 tooth extraction might have saved him.
Deamonte Driver, sitting next to his mother, Alyce, shows the scars from incisions for his brain surgery.
Deamonte Driver, sitting next to his mother, Alyce, shows the scars from incisions for his brain surgery. (By Linda Davidson The Washington Post)
If his mother had been insured.
If his family had not lost its Medicaid.
If Medicaid dentists werent so hard to find.
If his mother hadnt been focused on getting a dentist for his brother, who had six rotted teeth.
By the time Deamontes own aching tooth got any attention, the bacteria from the abscess had spread to his brain, doctors said. After two operations and more than six weeks of hospital care, the Prince Georges County boy died.
Deamontes death and the ultimate cost of his care, which could total more than $250,000, underscore an often-overlooked concern in the debate over universal health coverage: dental care.
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Sorry for the double post but I feel it is a very important example that I’d like to see the other commentators address as well as you. And I am glad to see you have your technical difficulties resolved.