Press Release from Health Care Now - people DO want national healthcare...its just a matter of time - the sooner the better -
Continuing their historic role in support of social justice, labor unions and workers from 161 unions across all divisions are in the forefront of the national single payer healthcare coalition movement. They are calling for a single payer system that would cover everybody in the United States with quality and affordable healthcare.
As a part of Healthcare-NOW and its partner ALL UNIONS COMMITTEE for SINGLE PAYER HEALTH CARE…., over 161 labor endorsements have been voted for H.R. 676, the single payer national healthcare legislation, by unions, Central Labor Councils of the AFL-CIO and Internationals. H.R. 676, the Conyers bill, would assure quality, comprehensive and affordable healthcare for every resident of the United States,
Healthcare-NOW, the national coalition dedicated to this healthcare advance is headed by a team of three national co-chairs representing labor, faith and the medical profession. They are now launching their new “Elect a Healthy Congress” campaign calling on politicians to support single payer national healthcare for all and to commit to refuse contributions from insurance and pharmaceutical drug companies.
This coalition is determined to defeat the corporations that want to keep healthcare as a profit-making industry rather than a guaranteed right for all. They are challenging the Healthcare Industrial Complex: the insurance companies, the pharmaceutical drug corporations, the for-profit hospitals and lobbyists and calling for public control of the financing of the healthcare system.
The Single Payer leaders who co-chair Healthcare-NOW are Leo Gerard, President of the United Steelworkers, Jim Winkler, head of the United Methodist Board of Church and Society, and Dr. Quentin Young, National Coordinator of the fastest growing and most progressive group of doctors in the nation, Physicians for a National Health Program.
Explains Gerard: “The news about healthcare is worse every day. The costs are going up. Employer contributions are going down or becoming non-existent. Quality of care is questionable, and corporate fraud is rampant. Every contract is about negotiating healthcare benefits rather than for better salaries and working conditions. But there is a solution and it is a single-payer system.
What would a single payer system do for us? According to Jim Winkler, “We would get a lot more than we do now. All medical, dental, optical, mental health coverage, all hospitals, medical equipment, pharmaceutical drugs, long term care, drug and alcohol treatment and more would be a part of the new system. Attention to and control over the corporate fraud that now takes away hundreds of billions of dollars would help us pay for this kind of healthcare for everybody.
How much would we pay? Surprisingly, we would pay less than we are paying now considering premiums, co-pays, deductibles, and uncovered costs such as dental, pharmaceutical drugs and long-term care. An average family of three that pays more than $10,000 a year now – including all of the above costs, would now pay about $1,200 a year– or $100 per month.
Employers would contribute equally – the same amount per employee based on their income. How would this work? We would all be paying a small amount into the system. The big corporate insurance and HMO entities would no longer be handling the money and reaping huge profits, paying for advertising and lobbying and denying our needs. Instead we would have a single payer and we would have an entitlement to healthcare.
