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Got a Job, Can’t Afford Health Coverage |
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More than 47 million people in this country have no health insurance. Yet the vast majority of those who have no health insurance are employed—a travesty that sometimes ends with tragic consequences, as Sharon from Michigan told the AFL-CIO/Working America 2008 Health Care for America Survey.
My mother-in-law was employed in a low-wage job that did not provide health care coverage. She became ill and could not afford to go to a doctor on her own. My husband and I urged her to go, stating we would pay for the visit.
By the time she got to the doctor, she had pneumonia and required hospitalization. The pneumonia placed so much stress on her system that she ended up dying. If she had had health care coverage and been able to go to the doctor for treatment earlier, she likely would not have died.
Nearly 27,000 people took the survey and close to 7,500 of those, like Sharon, shared stories about their personal experiences with the nation’s broken health care system.
Some 95 percent of the people who took the survey—union and nonunion workers, young and old, insured and uninsured—say the health care system in this country needs fundamental change or to be completely rebuilt.
Seventy percent of respondents say that when they step into a voting booth in November—and 97 percent say they will vote—health care will be a major issue when they mark their ballots. The AFL-CIO will present the results of this survey to candidates for public office at every level and increase its mobilization to help ensure that candidates who win in November go into office with a mandate for real health care reform.
The two Democratic candidates contending for the presidential nomination, Sens. Hillary Clinton (N.Y.) and Barack Obama (Ill.), have released comprehensive health plans aimed at providing health care coverage. The proposal by Republican Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) relies on the current private insurance industry-based system and new taxes on working families with employer-provided coverage—just like President Bush’s failed health care proposal.
In April, central labor councils across the country will focus on health care and the 2008 elections, letting working families know where the candidates for president and Congress stand on health care.
For more on the AFL-CIO’s efforts to achieve health care reform, click here. Click here to become a health care activist.
1 Comment
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If 95% who took the survey and say the healthcare system in this country needs fundamental change or completely re-built, then why is the AFL-CIO presenting the results of this survey to candidates for public office at every level? The presidential candidates, all 3 rely on the current insurance industry-based system. Tax breaks, vouchers, mandates, give me a break!
It is time to re-build the system, tell insurance companies thanks but no thanks, you’ve ripped off the American people enough!
CEOs, take your greedy, obscene, multi-million dollar salaries and find something else to do. As long as the insurance industry sits at the table trying to “reform” health care, WE WILL LOSE!
The Attorney General should prosecute the industry for the thousands of deaths that have occurred because of denying coverage, underinsuring, refusing to pay for procedures.
Rep. Conyers’ HR 676 is again the solution. CLCs should be pushing this measure in April. We know where the candidates stand on health care. It is not acceptable.