IS IT TIME FOR A GUARANTEED NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE PROGRAM?
A PUBLIC FORUM
Date: Thursday, May 31
Time: 1:00 pm doors open
1:30- 4:30 pm presentations and discussion
Where: Delray Beach Library
100 West Atlantic Avenue
Delray Beach, FL 33444
The Program: American Health Care In Crisis
Why We Need HR 676: The National Health Insurance Act
Ajamu Sankofa, National Organizer, Healthcare-NOW
A New Health Care System includes New Alternatives for Care: Transplants, Stem Cell Research, and Critical New Approaches
Gary Friedman, MD
Trustee, The New Jersey Stem Cell Research & Education Foundation
Founder, International Regenerative Medicine
Panel for Q & A with representatives of several organizations
Sponsored by Take Charge! Cure Parkinson’s, Inc.
BACKGROUND:
How can we
Curb rising health care costs?
Insure all Americans, whether employed, unemployed, married, single, young, old, healthy, ill?
Assist small business owners and large corporations alike to remain competitive in the global market while ensuring that all Americans regardless of their employment, income, or pre-existing conditions have access, guaranteed by law, to the highest quality and most cost effective health care services?
In February 2003 HR 676,The United States National Health Insurance Act was first introduced by Representative John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) with original cosponsors Donna Christensen (D-VI), Jim McDermott (D-WA) and Dennis J. Kucinich (D-OH). Major national support for the bill has been gaining momentum across the country. It is the largest movement for universal health care with single-payer financing for expanded and improved Medicare for All. Support for the bill currently includes the support of 70 cosponsors, coalitions in 200 cities, 238 labor unions and 14,000 doctors.
Ajamu Sankofa of Healthcare-Now, will discuss the importance of this bill which proposes a single payer national health insurance program that would control costs while covering health insurance and prescription drugs for all Americans and allow them free choice of physicians.
Currently, people under the age of 65, forced out of employment by failing health are likely to have extremely limited options for health coverage. If they are under 65, and on disability, they are usually unable to secure a secondary or supplemental policy. They must navigate HMO Medicare Advantage Plans, restricting choice of doctors, medical facilities, tests and treatments, quite often impeding them from selecting a physician or facility of choice. The most appropriate for treating their condition are often denied.
Take Charge! Cure Parkinson’s, as sponsor of this forum, wishes to encourage community support of this ongoing effort to redesign and improve health care for everybody in the United States. Along with the general public and representatives from the various organizations, local and state representatives have been invited.
“Comprehensive coverage is particularly important to individuals experiencing pre-existing conditions, chronic illnesses, or early onset of long term illnesses,” said Alison Landes, founder and president of Take Charge! Cure Parkinson’s. “Currently, people under the age of 65, forced out of employment by failing health are likely to have extremely limited options for health coverage.”
Organizations including Healthcare-Now, Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP), Florida Alliance for Retired Americans (FLARA), Florida CHAIN, the AFL-CIO executive committee, Palm Beach-Treasure Coast AFL-CIO, Health Care for All –Florida, Florida National Organization for Women, Floridians for Health Care and the National Nurses Organizing Committee support this bill.
The League of Women Voters of Palm Beach County will discuss voting and absentee ballot procedure. They will have registration forms available, distribute the 2007 edition of the voters digest and advise on how to be most effective in contacting legislators.
The Florida Alliance for Retired Americans (FLARA), with a membership of over 213,000 is part of the Alliance for Retired Americans with over 3.4 million members nationwide. The Alliance supports HR 676. Tony Fransetta, the president of FLARA is attending the forum and participating on a panel for Q & A. “Healthcare for all is moral right and should be above politics,” states Fransetta.
Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP) with 14,000 members, gives its full endorsement to HR 676. “We believe HR 676 to be the only long term solution to our national health care crisis,” states Nicholas Skala, Research Associate. Dr. David Prensky of Palm Beach, a member of PNHP is also participating on the panel.
While not an integral part of HR 676, the debate that continues nationwide on stem cell research was again at the forefront during recent Senate hearings
in Washington, D.C. Dr. Elias Zerhouni, Director, National Institutes of Health, stated his support for federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. Dr. Zerhouni vowed to “always stick to the scientific truth” and stated that “disease knows no politics.” He also dismissed arguments that adult stem cells negate the need for embryonic stem cell research.
The limitations imposed on some areas of research by current legislation, further reduce options for care in the U.S., and are also of critical concern. Gary Friedman, MD, Founder of International Regenerative Medicine will share insights of transplant scientists and physicians dedicated to the development of therapeutic applications of human stem cells. He will discuss how the current health care system can be revitalized by more economical and definitive cell-based treatments. “As a transplant physician, I know first-hand how desperate people are for alternatives to the current state of medicine. Stem cell therapy is one of these clear alternatives with great near-term promise to provide relief to millions of people worldwide.”
FACTS
Insurance rates have increased 73% since 2000.
The U.S. spends more on healthcare than any other industrialized nation yet lags behind other developed nations in overall healthcare.
Our life expectancy is shorter and our infant mortality higher
Many employers are cutting or eliminating health benefits or passing on more and more of the costs to employees
More than 30 cents of every healthcare dollar goes towards paperwork required by over 1,000 insurance companies, each with hundreds of different health plans, rules and reimbursement methods.
In 2005, 46.6 million Americans were uninsured and almost 50 million underinsured
Florida’s percent of the uninsured population is 2nd highest in the nation. Texas has 24.2% of its population uninsured and Florida has 20.7%. That is approximately 3,700,000 of Florida’s total population of 17,789,864 are uninsured.
TIME FOR A GUARANTEED NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE PROGRAM?
Organizations supporting HR 676 include:
Take Charge! Cure Parkinson’s, Inc. (TCCP): www.cureparkinsons.org . For more information call 561.620.1970
Healthcare-Now: www.Healthcare-Now.org
Representative John Conyers, Jr.: www.johnconyers.com/hr676
Physicians for National Health Program (PNHP): www.pnhp.org
Florida Alliance for Retired Americans (FLARA): www.flara.org
Health Care For All – Florida: www.hcfafl.org
Florida CHAIN: www.floridachain.org
CNA / National Nurses Organizing Committee: www.calnurses.org/nnoc
The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO): http://afl-cio.org/issues/healthcare/
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