Adding up the economic toll on the nation caused by the health care crisis, the head of the Catholic Health Association urged the United States to "act in its own best interest and in the interest of its people" to solve the problem.

Sister Carol Keehan, a Daughter of Charity who is CHA president and CEO, spoke on "Health Care Reform That Is Worthy of the American People" May 16 at the City Club of Cleveland.

The club's prestigious Friday Forum has hosted speakers that include U.S. presidents from Theodore Roosevelt to Bill Clinton, as well as public figures such as Gen. Douglas MacArthur, W.E.B. DuBois, Cesar Chavez, William Jennings Bryant, Rosa Parks, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and many more. The forum airs on a radio network in more than 40 states from Maine to Alaska.

Sister Keehan presented what she called "a very ugly picture of what many people in our country are having to cope with."

With the U.S. spending 16 percent of its gross domestic product on health care and other developed countries spending a median of 8.5 percent, U.S. businesses face "a serious competitive disadvantage," she said. U.S. firms also pay twice as much for health insurance as their foreign competitors, she added, citing a study by the New America Foundation Program.

But that does not result in better health care or reduced mortality in the U.S., Sister Keehan said.

She called the estimated 18,000 unnecessary deaths that result annually in the U.S. because of the lack of insurance or underinsurance "a silent tsunami that we are ignoring every year."

In addition to the 47 million Americans who lack any health insurance, many other millions are sacrificing food or other necessities to pay their premiums; are able to access care only in emergencies because of high co-pays and deductibles; or are forced to remain in their current jobs so as not to lose their health insurance, Sister Keehan said.

"No matter what you care about the most -- the poor, or the stock market, or anything in between, such as workers' salary depression, consumer spending or any other economic issue -- letting the current situation continue is counterproductive," she said.

She also cited a recent CHA survey that showed 85 percent of likely voters believe "there are moral and ethical reasons for making sure everyone in the U.S. has health care." Nearly four in five (79 percent) said a candidate's position on health care will affect their decision on whether to vote for a particular candidate.

Almost half (44 percent) of likely voters said they think the economy would be strengthened "if the federal government were successful in making available quality health care to everyone." One-fourth thought it would weaken the economy and 24 percent said it would have little effect.

The margin of error for the survey made public April 30 was plus or minus 3.46 percentage points.

Sister Keehan said the health care debate is hindered by a number of "utterly inaccurate beliefs about health care delivery."

"Many people in the U.S. have been absolutely convinced that there is no possible way that we could ever cover everyone," despite the fact that other industrialized nations do so at a lower cost per capita than the U.S. already spends, she said.

"In no other area that I am aware of do Americans believe that other nations are smarter or more compassionate than we are," the CHA leader added. "If they can do it, it would seem to me that we ought to believe we can do it as well."

"Another crippling misconception ... is that we have the best health care in the world as demonstrated by our health status and our outcomes," Sister Keehan said. In reality, "we consistently, in almost every health metric of importance, score poorly against other industrialized nations" and even against some "very small and relatively poor nations," she added.

"One of the most tragic misconceptions we ever accepted" was that we could avoid the costs of health care coverage by simply refusing to cover the uninsured, she said.

"Today the uninsured are getting care in the most expensive and least effective places to get care, and ... the costs for that are being passed on to American people and American businesses," Sister Keehan said.

She called for a national dialogue on how to achieve a health care access system that is "worthy of our people and compatible with our cultural values."

"It is a doable task," Sister Keehan said. "But until a sufficient and diverse number of people and groups demand this, we will not have the national will to deal effectively with this problem."