Stephen Flynn’s recent book The Edge of Disaster, featured on national public radio this week, describes a number of large scale vulnerabilities across the United States. His thoughts on pandemic flu, while certainly concerning, pale in comparison to the real numbers.

Mr. Flynn describes 80 million infected with as many as 800,000 dying of the disease. However, a review of Avian flu pandemic over the last 300 years shows that one-third of the U.S. population or 100 million people will be infected. If this is not enough one half of these individuals or 50 million will require some level of hospitalization or institutional care from bone health all the way up to intensive care unit services. As Mr. Flynn correctly pointed out there are fewer than 970,000 hospital beds in the United States far less than the 50 million that will be required.

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Will people support the real need for a national health care plan that would cover all people ? A national health care plan would remove the need for medicare. Medicare is already trillions of dollars in debt and growing. I believe that there is a national health care plan for all people that need to be covered by it. I think this plan would take care of our elderly people that have no health care to cover them. Supporting a health care program like this would save hundred of billions of dollars in the long run. A national health care would cover all people that are already covered by medicare and people who need health care. One national health care plan to cover every person who needs to be covered by a national health care plan. I believe that one plan to cover all medical needs for the elderly and people who do not have health care. I believe that it would be easier to make sure this plan only gets used by people who really need a health care but can not afford it.

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