On a slow news day, a Drudge link to the Chicago Tribune caught my eye regarding an article headlined, “Dental health on decline for Chicago's needy.”
Writer, Patrick Svitek, addresses a report by the Chicago Dental Society released Thursday saying: “From 2006 to 2011, more than a quarter of the region's low-cost dental clinics were shut.”
The report “details how the local availability of dental treatment has declined for the neediest patients, leading to what one dentist calls a "perfect storm of an oral health crisis." Dr. Susan Becker Doroshow, secretary of the dental society, says they have "almost nowhere to go at this point. The path for them is already irreversible."
Dr. Doroshow continued that, "The economy has hit our area hard. When people are strapped financially, they take away the things from their budget they think are the easiest to postpone."
Mr. Svitek points out that, “In 2011, more than half of Chicago-area residents surveyed by the dental society said they put off dental treatment in the past year because they couldn't afford it.”
He then goes on to state that “Most factors cited in the report could apply to any municipality — strained budgets, fundamental misconceptions about oral care and shrinking income thanks to stubborn unemployment. But the dental safety net in Cook County and Chicago is especially vulnerable, according to oral health advocates.”
I mention this today because Chicago’s the incumbent’s backyard and believe his own policies and legislation are likely the major factors underlying the damage being done to his former neighbors and core supporters.
For example, how much more could folks in Chicago afford -or anywhere else across the U.S. for that matter- if they didn’t have to pay three times as much for fuel as they do now? And how many more jobs would there be if Obamacare wasn’t causing layoffs and reductions in hiring? How much more money would flow through our economy if trillions in offshore funds weren’t parked there due to fears of over-taxation? And what if oil came from our neighboring Canada instead of the volatile and price-abusive Middle East by simply okaying the Keystone pipeline?
So, while the suffering folks in Chicago aren’t likely to see much change in their unfortunate position regarding dental care, I hope they at least take the time to consider that a significant cause of their problem is one of their own. And maybe next time he comes to visit they can ask him why he decided to keep on harming so many of them now.
That’s it for today folks.
Adios
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