‘Something Wrong in America’

by Mike Hall, Sep 22, 2008

Sometimes the only way to control the spread of a hazardous infection is to quarantine it at the source.

More than 150 union members and allies did just that today when they “quarantined” representatives of the nation’s private for-profit insurance industry—along with one of their biggest allies, Newt Gingrich—at a downtown Washington., D.C., hotel.

The event, spearheaded by the California Nurses Association / National Nurses Organizing Committee (CNA / NNOC), included members of the Washington, D.C., Metro Council and the AFL-CIO community affiliate, Working America.

The symbolic quarantine featured several CNA/NNOC members in bio-hazard suits and protesters carrying signs that read “Warning! The Insurance Industry is Hazardous to America’s Health.” They strung yellow “Caution” tape in front of the hotel where members of the American Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) and Gingrich were meeting to discuss how they can “Save Medicare”—and make a tidy profit.

Calling for a guaranteed health care program that would provide coverage for all in a Medicare-like system, CNA/NNOC spokesperson Donna Smith told the crowd:

In the United States, health care system profit margins define care instead of patients’ needs…. The health insurance industry is toxic to the health of the American people. Every day, millions of lives are at risk because we have a health care system that puts its wealth ahead of our health.

Said the Rev. Lennox Yearwood, CEO of the Hip Hop Caucus:

There is something wrong in America. People are dying in the richest country  in the world because they can’t afford health care. There is something wrong in America….We need health care for all. We need health care for the staff that opens the doors of this hotel. We need health care for the police officers back there. We need health care for all.

According to CNA/NNOC, the United States spends more than twice as much on health care as any other industrialized nation, but the private insurance industry that is at the heart of the health care system

…performs poorly. One-third of every health care dollar is taken up by paperwork and other administrative costs of private insurance that has nothing to do with  addressing diseases or injury.

Health care reform is a major issue in this year’s presidential battle. Not only does Sen. John McCain want to tax employer-provided health care benefits, he says the nation’s broken health care system should be modeled on the nation’s fractured banking and finance industry.

In a recent magazine article, McCain writes that we should deregulate the health insurance industry “as we have done over the last decade in banking.” Click here to find out more about McCain’s health care plans.

Meanwhile, Sen. Barack Obama’s plan would let families who are satisfied with their existing coverage keep it. It also allows offers options such as letting individuals and small businesses join cost-effective large insurance pools. By extending coverage to more people, encouraging preventive care and updating health care technology, Obama’s plan would lower costs for working families. Lower health care costs will take a lot of pressure off families getting squeezed in this economy.

		Become a Fan on Facebook			Follow Us on Twitter			Subscribe to YouTube			Subscribe to Blog RSS

Print This Article | E-Mail This Article |Comments (0)