Thursday, April 06, 2006

How f@*#$& are you?

Well, according to a very comprehensive study on drug/alcohol usage in the United States (conducted by the US Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services), we now know the following:
  • 62.1% of adults use in alcohol in Wisconsin (high).
  • 29.3% of adults use in alcohol in Utah (low).
  • Illicit drug use in 12-17 year-olds is 10.9% in the past month.
  • National average for drug use (all age groups) in the pasth month is 8%.
  • Alaska is 12%.
  • 15000 adolescents go to the emergency room after trying to commit suicide by drugs annually.
How did they pay for their treatment?
  • Private Health Insurance - 25.9%
  • Medicare - 12.1%
  • Medicaid - 14.2%
  • Public assistance - 15.9%
  • Own Savings/Earnings - 43.9%
  • Family Members - 17.8%
  • Courts - 9.5%
  • Military Health Care - 4.9%
  • Employer - 6.2%
  • Free - 7.1%
The numbers are greater than 100% because of multiple ways of paying.

Hmm, so what does this mean. >54.2% of the time, the taxpayer is footing the bill. Including the greater impact on the public, >69.9% of the time someone outside of the immediate family is paying the bill. For those of you who are rail against a socialist system... guess what, you're in one. It's merely a question of how efficient it is.

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