We all know horror stories of people in this wealthy country who suffer health crises because they cannot afford health insurance. Many workers who are fortunate enough to have health insurance pay a high percentage of their pay check for that coverage and are required to handle co-payments on top of that.
Due to the sweeping change in political power on Capitol Hill following the November elections, this is the best time we have seen in a decade to get national legislation to improve our health care system. What could be more important?
We are even fortunate enough to have a very dedicated and brilliant member of the House of Representatives who has studied this issue carefully, worked with organizations across the country, and has crafted legislation that would give us a single payer, not-for-profit health care system in the United States – H.R. 676. It would be funded on a sliding scale according to income.
The Congressional Research Service summary of the legislation starts out this way: United States National Health Insurance Act (or the Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act) - Establishes the United States National Health Insurance Program (the Program) to provide all individuals residing in the United States and in U.S. territories with free health care that includes all medically necessary care, such as primary care and prevention, prescription drugs, emergency care, and mental health services. (Click here for the full bill summary.)
Are we crying yet as we contemplate the potential we have to be a moral and humanistic country? There is nothing in the way of creating this system other than the unending greed of the corporations who are making money off of the current set-up that does not meet the needs of our people. They are going to fight every step of the way to make a single payer system seem crazy and unrealistic.
Healthcare-NOW, a national coalition of organizations and local organizers across the country, is calling for 1,000 Truth Hearings to be held in Congressional districts over the next two years.
They are also calling on Congressman Charles Rangel (D-NY), chair of the House Ways and Means Committee to hold hearings on H.R. 676 the week of Dr. Martin Luther King's memorial on April 4th – they point out that one of his most famous statements concerning healthcare was:
"Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane."
Please take time out of your busy holiday season to check the list of H.R. 676 endorsers. If your representative is on it, thank them with an email, letter, or phone call. If they are not on it, ask them to endorse. The more endorsers we have on the bill as the new Congress comes into session, the better. Visit the Healthcare-NOW website for lots more information, resources for organizing, and for a letteryou can send your representative.
Comments