Demand Health Care for All NOW: Talking Points

July 10, 2007

Our healthcare system doesn't work:

• The current system doesn't cover everyone. Between 45-75 million people in the U.S. were uninsured at some point over a two year period and another 50 million are under-insured.
• The current system is unfair. Only people who can afford health insurance and co-pays receive quality health care. Health care is a right, not a privilege.
• The current system is not publicly-accountable. Investor-owned companies like the for-profit insurance companies that dominate the healthcare industry report to their shareholders, not to the public.
• The current system is too bureaucratic. More than 24 cents of every health care dollar goes to paperwork, advertising, CEO salaries, profits, and other non-clinical costs.
• The current system costs lives. According to the Institute of Medicine,18,000 people in the U.S. die every year because they don't have health insurance.
• The current system is full of racial disparities:
  • About 30 percent of Hispanic and 20 percent of African Americans lack a regular source of health care compared with less than 16 percent of whites.
  • Hispanic children are nearly three times as likely as non-Hispanic white children to have no regular source of health care.
  • African Americans and Hispanic Americans are far more likely to rely on hospitals or clinics for their health care than are whites.

Single-payer healthcare is fair, equitable, and accountable to the public:

• Single-payer healthcare would actually be less expensive for most people. Insurance premiums, co-pays, deductibles, and all other out-of-pocket payments would be eliminated. Payroll taxes and shared cost savings would help pay for health care for all. The payroll tax on employers would replace all other employer expenses for employees' health care.
• A publicly-funded system is accountable to the public, while the current system is accountable to the stockholders.
• Under a single-payer system, all individuals residing in the U.S. will be covered.
• This system covers outpatient care, long term care, medical equipment, mental health services, and substance abuse treatment.
• This system allows patients to choose their own doctors, hospitals, and facilities.
• All hospitals, clinics, and other providers would be required to be public or not-for-profit. This means that medical decisions are left to patients and doctors, not corporations looking to maximize profits.
• This system eliminates unnecessary administrative costs, paperwork, and bureaucracy.

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Sources:

1. Brief Summary of HR 676, Congressman John Conyers, Jr. official website.
2. Physicians for a National Health Program
3. Institute of Medicine
4. Addressing Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care. Fact Sheet, February 2000. AHRQ Publication No. 00-PO41. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD.