NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES Report
Come to the meeting on February 28, 2004 committees meet at noon, PUSH meets with PA. legislators at 2 pm, United Steelworkers HQ, 5 Gateway Center, Stanwix & Blvd. Of Allies, Down town. A local coalition to promote National Health Care has been formed.
Why National Health Care?
==Costs have gotten so out of hand that workers with full health care coverage now contribute 50% more than three years ago. Co-pays and deductibles are much higher. Employers are cutting back on benefits as costs rise.
==The number of uninsured has reached 80 million, who at some time during a year are without coverage. 43.6 million at any one time lack coverage. 80 million more are only partially covered.
==Americans pay, per capita, $4200 a year for this totally inadequate coverage. Germans pay $2400 a year for universal coverage; Canadians $2300; and in the United Kingdom the figure is $1400.
==A referendum in Philadelphia for national health care got 75% of the vote. Pennsylvania has the fewest health care workers per capita. HMOs in the state have abandoned rural areas. We in Western PA. pay more for health care than Philadelphia.
== Physicians are constrained in their practices by HMO rules and they have to hire staff to process claims. Pharmaceutical companies are the most profitable corporations in the nation. " One in every three dollars goes for overhead and bureaucracy.
== "Streamlining to Canadian levels would save us over $250 billion a year "said Dr. Ida Hollander, Executive Director of Physicians for a National Health Program [PHNP].
==Their influence was felt in the debate over the Medicare that just passed. It was written in secret and it passed only after the Republican House leaders extended debate by an unprecedented three hours to garner needed support. Lobbyists swarmed to support a stealth bill that risks the Medicare program by favoring private companies. Offers of $100,000 for campaign coffers helped to tip the balance.
==AARP, supposedly a lobby on behalf of seniors supported the bill which would benefit their insurance program.
==Dr. Ken Melani, CEO of Highmark, Inc. recently predicted that national health insurance is inevitable. A December 16 article on the business page of the Post-Gazette said ,"The average annual premium for family health insurance, which now exceeds $9000, will exceed $25,000 in 2010.
==Support is growing. 52% now support a national program that includes all Americans, even if it means an increase in taxes or insurance costs.
==Marilyn Clement, United Methodist initiator of a new campaign for national health care, put it this way: "The truth is we can pay for a Single Payer National Health Insurance Program with less money than we are now spending and cover every single person in the United States. We don?t have to break the banks. We don't have to reduce the Bush tax cuts for the very rich --although we should. Our current health care budget would pay for it. We don't even have to reduce the Bush permanent war budget--although we should. Our current health care budget would pay for it. It is matter of the will of the people to change the way that money is now being spent.
==A bill in Congress, HR 676, has been introduced by Rep. John Conyers would do just that.
==That is why a grassroots campaign beginning at the local level and challenging local, state and federal politicians to get on board is a necessity. The coalition will bring together the uninsured, under-insured, seniors, workers, families, the disabled, health care workers, and all who want to see a national program that favors people over profits. Join today to make this a reality.
== Contact tmc.organizer@verizon.net. Come to the January 24th meeting.