By Nicholas Regush

- Isn,t it great that conventional medicine is providing Americans with so many breakthroughs? Or, at least, the hype says so. And isn,t it terrific that alternative medicine has so many answers in little bottles or powders, herbs and pills and many so-called cures to be found in natural healing clinics?

Sure, if you can afford to buy the insurance required to gain access to the so-called breakthroughs. And sure, if you have the money to travel to the clinics and pay high prices for many of the potions at your friendly health food store. Great! More power to you.

The fact is, tens of millions of Americans can,t afford even the health-care basics. Never mind the breakthroughs and the terrific new formulas for greater health and longevity.

The fact is, the poorer you are, the less healthy you are likely to be over a shortened lifetime.

The fact is, when you have only a little money, you,ll likely pay the electric bill and forget about the medicine (whether it's conventional or natural). Forget about the so-called "breakthroughs."

The fact is, in this so-called "advanced" democracy, blacks and ethnic minorities have much less access than the norm to basic health care.

The fact is, that Hispanics and American Indians have close to three times the rate of diabetes, compared with whites.

The fact is, about 18 million women in the U.S. live in poverty and their health is seriously affected.

The fact is, if you,re poor, you may not feel you have much, if any, control over your life -- and that may influence your health status.

I can go on and on with facts, but the fact is, poverty makes you sick.

The fact is, poverty kills.

Whack! I just gave myself a slap in the head. Why am I telling you all this? It's an old story. I'm sure you don,t need a wake-up call. We,ve known about the "health gap" for decades.

We,ve known that without wide-scale insurance coverage, millions of people's lives would be seriously affected. They would get sick more often and have shortened lives.

We,ve known that without huge expenditures to provide access to adequate health care that the health consequences would be grave for millions of Americans.

Are we still waiting for those so-called "breakthroughs" to trickle down to the poor?

Are we still waiting for the new magic "bullet" or "potion" to be available to everyone in need?

Are we still waiting for the poor to "buck up" and "get down to it" and "show their stuff" and "rise up through the ranks" and "make the effort to be well?"

Are we living in some wild fantasy?

Or maybe we don,t even care much, as long as we have the access to the so-called "breakthroughs" and "magic potions."

Or maybe we simply don,t care at all.

Whack.