“Poverty is a carcinogen”–Dr. Stephen Bezruchka, a longtime emergency room physician and med school professor, talked with us about his essential book *Inequality is Killing Us All.” Bezruchka goes into depth on the way that economic inequality determines our access to healthcare. The U.S. spends more money on healthcare than any other country, but our outcomes, and especially our life spans, are not good. Children in America get less medical attention, poor people don’t have access to essential services, and we’re daily pummeled by the stresses of being poor and having to pay bills, go to work, pay rent, and be prepared if a medical emergency arises.
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This is a vital contribution to any national debate on health care, and Bezruchka is a passionate advocate for a more humane and democratic healthcare system.
Bio//
Stephen Bezruchka is on the faculty ofthe School of Public Health at the University of Washington in Seattle, and author of “Inequality Kills Us All: COVID-19’s Health Lessons for the World.”
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