ProgressOhio

It’s a simple proposition and poll after poll shows most people agree that:

In America, No One Should Go Without Health Care.

Today, as new figures from the federal government show there are 2.2 million more Americans, including children without health care coverage—a record 47 million with no coverage—the AFL-CIO launched a mobilization drive to fix our broken health care system.

Speaking at a press conference in Washington, D.C., today to describe the new campaign, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney  says the effort will:

…put the full-force of the 10 million union members and three million union retirees behind winning high quality, secure health care for every person in America by 2009.

Nobody should have to live in fear of an accident or illness or an unexpected medical bill. Nobody should have to go deep into debt or declare bankruptcy to pay for a life-saving operation—especially while drug and insurance company CEOs are pocketing tens of millions of dollars a year. No company should have to shut its doors because it can’t compete with businesses who shirk health care obligations, or businesses in other countries that have public health care systems overseas.

Initial key elements of the health care drive include a focus on the 2008 presidential election, creation of a million-member mobilization team of union activists to arm union members with the information they need to be active players and health care voters, creating alliances with grassroots organizations and reaching out to employer groups to craft and win a meaningful national health care policy.

Jean Tome, from Columbus, Ohio, is among the millions of U.S. workers struggling to pay for health care. At today’s press conference, the Working America member told reporters about how she is only one medical problem away from financial ruin. She also spoke about her hardships trying to pay for vital prescription medication and medical bills. She has a job but can’t afford the health insruance that her employer offers.

I am one of 47 million Americans without health insurance. I am employed and I work hard everyday….A few  months ago I became ill with pink eye and strep throat…I didn’t want to  go to the doctor. I couldn’t afford it. I was already getting docked wages from the days I was missing and I had no health insurance to back me up. It’s hard to believe that a person gets to be my age in this country and is afraid to go to the doctor because they don’t know how they’re going to pay for it. I live on the edge every day.

Connecticut nurse Mary Florio, an AFSCME member who has been a bedside nurse for 31 years, has seen how the nation’s health care system has spiraled downward. She told reporters:

The people I’m seeing now are coming in so much sicker than they were when I first got out of school…They are not going to the doctor because they don’t have health insurance. Or if they get to their doctor they can’t afford the medicine they need to take to get better. They system needs to be fixed.

Says Sweeney:

Health care is the top domestic issue for our members and all Americans, and the AFL-CIO is making the 2008 elections a mandate on fixing this broken system. We will hold candidates at every level responsible for supporting comprehensive, progressive national health care reform, and we will elect a president and a Congress prepared to turn their campaign promises into reality.

 In America—no one should go without health care.

Many of the presidential candidates have outlined their health care plans and there are several health care bills in Congress. Many of the plans and bills contain important pieces of the puzzle to bring health care to all. The AFL-CIO has not endorsed a particular plan, but a health care blueprint must:

• Control rising and irrational costs.
• Provide comprehensive, high-quality health care to all.
• Give every family the opportunity and responsibility for preventive care.
• Preserve the right to choose and use your own doctor.
• Ask the government to play a strong role to curb corporate greed and incompetence and ensure more fairness and efficiency.
• Lower employer costs and, in turn, ask them to pay their fair share.
• Build on what’s best about American health care, while drawing what works from other countries.

New figures from U.S. Census Bureau show there are 47 million people who had no health care coverage at all in 2006, a jump of 2.2 million from 2005 and 8.6 million more than 2000. That’s a 22 percent increase in the six years since President Bush has been in office. Also the number of uninsured children jumped to 8.7 million in 2006, a 7.6 percent increase over 2005.

In addition, workers with health care coverage are facing higher and higher costs to maintain that coverage and those rising costs eat away at their income and living standards. Health care costs are rising at twice the rate of inflation and health care premiums have increased 81 percent since 2000, but wages have risen just 16.5 percent. As more employers cut back or refuse to pay their fair share, millions of workers may lose their employer-based coverage.

The union movement’s new health care campaign has an immediate goal: protecting the millions of children who currently receive health care coverage from the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) from President Bush’s threat to veto legislation reauthorizing the program. Without reauthorization, SCHIP will expire Sept. 30. Says Sweeney:

We will hold George Bush responsible for his threat to veto SCHIP—funding approved by Congress to continue coverage for nearly 7 million children and provide health insurance for the first time to up to 5 million more. Working America—our community organization for people who don’t have a union on the job—is knocking on more than 3,500 doors a night talking to people about children’s health care funding. And we’ll bring together children and retirees across the country to support children’s health.

Union activists is several states held press conferences on the new health care mobilization, including a standing-room-only event in  Louisville, Ky., where Rep. John Yarmuth (D) pledged his support for the campaign and where several workers and health care professionals spoke out for reform.

We will keep you posted on the fight to save SCHIP and the new health care campaign. Be sure to check out the new AFL-CIO Health Care website that includes:

• Videos of real people talking about their health care struggles;
• A roundup of the latest health care news from the blog world;
• Information on health care facts and fixes;
• News from the state health care battle front; and
• A petition you can sign and send to your lawmakers in Washington, D.C., calling for comprehensive health care reform.