Nightline (ABC) - 1991-11-21
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Read a transcript preview of “Nightline (ABC) - 1991-11-21” from malgent, uploaded on 2025-11-16.
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Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)
[0:00] and WKRM open 24 hours a day, 7 days a
[0:03] week.
[0:05] >> 35 million people have no health
[0:09] insurance.
[0:10] >> We got our first bill and it was um
[0:14] $92,000.
[0:16] >> We finally lost our home. We have to
[0:18] pray every night that no one gets sick.
[0:20] >> Tonight, the growing political pressure
[0:22] to create a national health care system.
[0:37] This is ABC News Night Line. Another in
[0:41] a series of broadcasts listening to
[0:43] America. Now reporting from Washington,
[0:47] Ted Cppel.
[0:49] Are there villains in this story? Plenty
[0:52] of them. doctors on the take from the
[0:54] pharmaceutical companies or doctors who
[0:56] order more diagnostic tests than are
[0:59] really necessary. That drives the cost
[1:01] of medicine up. And what about the
[1:03] hospitals billing patients and their
[1:05] insurance companies 5, 10, 20 times what
[1:09] an item costs them? And of course the
[1:12] insurance companies themselves. They are
[1:14] after all first, last and foremost
[1:16] businesses, not charitable
[1:18] organizations. But how much
[1:19] responsibility should they bear for some
[1:22] of the irresponsible investments they've
[1:24] made with the money they've earned? And
[1:26] finally, there's us. The consumers who
[1:29] sue the doctors and hospitals for not
[1:31] ordering enough diagnostic tests when
[1:34] something goes wrong. The consumers who
[1:36] rarely if ever shop around for medical
[1:39] bargains since, after all, the insurance
[1:42] companies are paying the bills. There's
[1:44] enough blame to go around. But when all
[1:46] is said and done, 54% of us, the polls
[1:50] say, tell us that we worry a great deal
[1:52] about not having the wherewithal to
[1:54] afford adequate medical care. That's the