Please sign the petition for the following Resolution
WHEREAS, 48 million Americans lacked health insurance in
2012, and an estimated 31 million Americans will remain uninsured in 2023, and
WHEREAS, the United States ranks last out of 19
high-income countries in preventing deaths amenable to medical care before age
75, and
WHEREAS, underinsurance is growing as many patients are
forced into insurance plans with high-deductibles (> $1,000) and narrow
networks of providers, and
WHEREAS, the United States spends twice as much per
capita on health care as the average of wealthy nations that provide universal
coverage, and
WHEREAS, medical bills contribute to 62% of all personal
bankruptcies, and medical bankruptcy did not fall in Massachusetts after that
state’s implementation of reform in 2006, and
WHEREAS, 75% of people bankrupted by medical bills had
private insurance at the onset of illness or injury, and
WHEREAS, private insurance companies consume 13% of
premiums in overhead compared to fee-for-service Medicare’s overhead of under
2%, and
WHEREAS, providers are forced to spend tens of billions
more dealing with insurers billing and documentation requirements, bringing
total administrative costs to 31% of U.S. health spending, compared to 16.7% in
Canada, and
WHEREAS, the U.S. could save over $380 billion annually
on administrative costs with a single-payer system, and
WHEREAS, the savings from slashing bureaucracy would be
enough to cover all of the uninsured and eliminate cost sharing for everyone
else, and
WHEREAS, a single-payer system could control costs
through proven-effective mechanisms such as global budgets for hospitals and
negotiated drug prices, thereby making health care financing sustainable, and
WHEREAS, a single-payer reform would reduce malpractice
lawsuits and insurance costs because injured patients won’t have to sue for
coverage of future medical expenses, and
WHEREAS, a single-payer system would facilitate health
planning, directing capital funds to build and expand health facilities where
they are needed, rather than being driven by the dictates of the market, and
WHEREAS, a single-payer reform would dramatically reduce,
although not eliminate, health disparities. The passage of Medicare in 1965 led
to the rapid desegregation of 99.6% of U.S. hospitals, and
WHEREAS, a single-payer system would allow patients to
freely choose their doctors, give physicians a choice of practice setting, and
protect the doctor-patient relationship, and
WHEREAS, there is single-payer legislation in both houses
of Congress, H.R. 676 and S. 1782, and
WHEREAS, Vermont passed legislation in 2011 to create a
“pathway to single payer” in that state starting in 2017, the soonest allowed
under federal law, and many other state legislatures are considering similar
legislation, therefore
BE IT RESOLVED that we, the undersigned, support universal
access to comprehensive, affordable, high-quality health care through single-payer
national health insurance, including single-payer legislation at the state
level and urge you to cosponsor and pass the bills mentioned above.
Please sign the petition for the Resolution
For more information and local
contacts or to offer support, see www.Healthcare-NOW.org
NOW IS THE TIME TO SPEAK UP.
We have a crisis in employment because employers are
overburdened by healthcare costs. Healthy people work. If we can bring
the costs down as other countries have done, we will be more competitve in the
global markets.
Signing this resolution should help get the attention of more
representatives in Congress despite the money many take from the medical
industry.
If you disagree, please do more research. Contact a
local advocate for more information. We've had enough
suffering. Our medical system is not the world's best by many standards,
but it CAN be. YOU need to speak up to be heard.
