Healthcare for Every American!

Can we afford it? We already do. We spend more on healthcare, per person, than any other nation.¹ But more and more of us are getting less healthcare each year.

What is driving up our healthcare costs? The uninsured, who can’t the get care they need, get sicker, and miss more work. And expensive treatments that don’t necessarily mean better care. Meanwhile, the medical industry and technology are booming at great profit from - and cost to - the economy. We are all paying for the growth of medical technologies that will soon be affordable only to our wealthiest citizens.

Who wins in this crisis? Most drug, insurance, and other medical industry companies, as well as some hospitals and doctors generate profits. But most general practice doctors and patients are losing. Medical bills cause 50% of all personal bankruptcies² and private insurance companies are squeezing family doctors’ fees tighter and tighter; they can even pay less than Medicare.

How many Americans have no health insurance?    45 million Americans can’t afford insurance; count the underinsured and that number goes to 75 million, which means little or no healthcare for most people. ³ In 2003, 2.4 million more Americans lost their health insurance. From 2000 to 2004 insurance costs went up three times faster than wages.⁴ “The moral test of a society is how that society treats those who are in the dawn of life - the children; those who are in the twilight of life - the elderly; and those who are in the shadow of life - the sick, the needy, and the differently-abled.”⁵ Is this how we value life? If not, we must meet the challenge of providing healthcare to all.

How do we rate in the world community? Declining, since 1960. We now rank 184th in the world – right behind Cuba - in the infant death rates often used to measure the overall quality of a country’s healthcare.⁶ We rank toward the bottom in both life expectancy and infant mortality among the 29 industrialized nations.⁷ The healthcare crisis is a financial and moral drain on the American spirit and economy; fixing it will be good for our spirits and our wallets.

Is a non-profit “single payer” system the answer? Yes, it’s the best answer. Single payer isn’t socialized medicine; it is national health insurance. We would save so much money in paperwork that we could insure everyone. It will cost employers less. And your insurance will no longer be tied to your job! An ABC News Washington Post Poll found that Americans prefer universal healthcare over the current system 2 to 1.⁸ But even though it’s good for business and for people, the drug and insurance companies are spending big money fighting to protect their profits.

How can I help change the system?

Learn, organize and speak out! States are leading change in healthcare.⁹ Contact: Hilda Enoch at Kansas Healthcare For All, 785-842-6513 or henoch@sunflower.com. Or its parent organization, Universal Healthcare For All at www.uhcan.org. Physicians for a National Health Program has good action ideas for doctors and others at (312) 782-6006 or www.pnhp.org. Or conduct workshops: the contact for “Talking to Unions” is Rand Wilson, organizer for Jobs with Justice at rand@mindspring.com.

¹ Anderson 1972; Wildavsky 1977; Evans and Stoddart 1994 ² Financing Healthcare for the Uninsured in Georgia, ³ US Census Bureau, ⁴ Families USA “Health Care: Are You Better Off Today?” 9/2004, ⁵ Attributed to numerous sources, qtd. From Universal Health Care Action Network, ⁶ United States CIA “The World Factbook 2005”, ⁷ Gerard Anderson, PhD, Health Policy and Management Professor, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, ⁸ABC News /Washington Post Poll Oct. 9-13, 2003 ⁹ “Restoring the Promise of America 2005 Progressive Agenda for the States, Editor Center for Policy Initiatives