FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Katie Robbins, National Organizer, Healthcare NOW!, katie@healthcare-now.org, 330-618-6379
Kay Tillow, All Unions for Single-Payer Health Care, nursenpo@aol.com, 502-636-1551

Not Just Simpson, but Entire Deficit Commission Must Go

September 8, 2010 (Philadelphia, PA) – After months of meetings behind closed doors, the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, aka the Deficit Commission, has captured national attention with comments from co-chair Alan Simpson comparing Social Security to a milk cow with 310 million tits [1], implying that the entire nation is milking this system. Advocacy groups including seniors, women, and veterans, outraged at Simpson’s clear contempt for one of the nation’s most important social insurance programs, have called for Simpson to step down from his seat.

Healthcare-NOW!, an advocacy group that stands for the right to health care and an improved Medicare for All system, calls for the disbanding of the entire Commission due to the evidence that it is not competent to address the nation’s deficit or strengthen social insurance programs. Earlier this year, Congress rejected the president’s call for such a commission. President Obama proceeded to establish by Executive Order this Commission, and has packed it with persons who have stated their readiness to suggest cuts or privatization of social insurance programs to a lame-duck Congress for an up-or-down vote.

In at least one public hearing the Commission has held since its formation, they received an outpouring of testimony that cuts to Social Security and Medicare will not reduce the deficit, but will do grievous injury to seniors, women, people with disabilities, and others who depend on these programs as a vital source of income. In addition, groups pointed out that the crisis around Social Security is phony. The trust fund is completely solvent until 2037, and tweaks can be made to the program that will strengthen it for years to come without cutting benefits now.

Simpson’s counterpart on the Commission, Erskine Bowles, thinks the government is spending way too much, claiming “All of our revenue is completely consumed by entitlements.” Bowles told a meeting of North Carolina bankers in March [2], “we’re going to mess with Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.”

In addition to the co-chairs, commission member and CEO of Honeywell, David Cote, wants to end retiree health benefits and raise out of pocket costs for workers to an annual $8,500 at his plant in Metropolis, Illinois. When workers objected, pointing to the massive health dangers they face in making uranium hexafluoride, Honeywell’s response was to lock them out. Cote’s total insensitivity to the health care needs of these workers shows he should not be entrusted to make decisions on Medicare and Medicaid [3].

Healthcare-NOW!. a national membership organization of advocates for a single-payer national health care system, or improved Medicare for All, sent an email action alert to their membership to point out the inability for members of the commission to separate the strengthening of social insurance programs from the deficit problems, and to call on President Obama to disband the Commission immediately.

“Implementing a single-payer, improved Medicare for all system would be a long-term deficit reduction plan that deserves attention from anybody giving serious consideration to the nation’s economic woes. Given that the Commission now sitting has been unwilling to put all deficit reduction solutions on the table, they have not met the charge given them by the President,” states Donna Smith, Legislative Advocate for National Nurses United.

Instead of cuts to social insurance programs, Healthcare-NOW! advocates for a single-payer system that will provide universal health care and implement real cost controls that the current health care system doesn’t allow such as negotiating prices for pharmaceuticals and medical equipment, global budgeting for hospitals, and the elimination of the wasteful practices of the private insurance industry.

“The best thing to come from this Commission is no recommendation at all. Discussion of how to strengthen our social insurance programs does not belong on the Deficit Commission’s agenda. This Commission must go,” states Kay Tillow, Healthcare-NOW! board member and Coordinator for All Unions Committee for Single-Payer HR 676.

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[1] http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/08/meet-the-16-men-and-two-women-who-could-determine-the-fate-of-social-security.php

[2] http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aGIN8ZpPJxlE%20

[3] http://www.handsoffourmedicare.org/honeywell-locks-out-workers-over-healthcare/

Former Senator Alan Simpson, who called Social Security a milk cow with 310 million tits, clearly doesn’t have the facts on Social Security if he is implying we’re all milking the system.

Simpson co-chairs the Commission with Erskine Bowles, who thinks the government is spending way too much, claiming, “All of our revenue is completely consumed by entitlements.” Bowles told a meeting of North Carolina bankers in March, “We’re going to mess with Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.”

Commission member and CEO of Honeywell, David Cote, wants to end retiree health benefits and raise out of pocket costs for workers to an annual $8,500 at his plant in Illinois. When workers objected, pointing to the massive health dangers they face in making uranium hexafluoride, Honeywell’s response was to lock them out.

Healthcare-NOW! is outraged by the Commission’s lack of understanding of how our social insurance plans work and the disrespect for human needs.

This Commission is stacked with people who will recommend regressive policies to degrade the contract that the government has with working people.

Implementing a single-payer, improved Medicare for all system would be a long-term deficit reduction plan that deserves attention from anybody giving serious consideration to the nation’s economic woes. Given that the Commission now sitting has been unwilling to put all deficit reduction solutions on the table, they have not met the charge given them by the President.

The bottom line: this Commission was created by Executive Order from the White House, and it will take an Executive Order to disband it before it destroys our social insurance programs.

Join Healthcare-NOW! by telling President Obama that the Deficit Commission must go! Call the White House (202-456-1414) and say, “Disband the Deficit Commission. Co-Chairs Simpson and Bowles along with Commission member David Cote are not qualified to improve Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. Instead, they want to threaten these programs with cuts and privatization. I say disband the Deficit Commission and expand Medicare to all.”

Thanks for making the call. Please let us know how it went.

A new survey shows an average worker with a family plan pays nearly $4,000 a year, up 14% from 2009. Meanwhile, the average employer contribution to a family plan hasn’t increased at all.

By Noam N. Levey, Los Angeles Times –

As employers struggle with rising healthcare costs and a sour economy, U.S. workers for the first time in at least a decade are being asked to shoulder the entire increase in the cost of health benefits on their own.

The average worker with a family plan was hit with 14% premium increase this year, pushing the bill to nearly $4,000 a year, according to a survey by the nonprofit Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research and Educational Trust.

That is the largest annual increase since the survey began in 1999 and a marked change from previous years, when employers generally split the rise in the cost of premiums with their employees.

The average employer contribution to a family plan did not go up at all this year, meaning the entire increase was borne by workers.

At the same time, nearly a third of employers reported that they either reduced the scope of benefits they are offering this year or increased the amount that workers must pay out of pocket for their medical care.

Workers saw average copayments for routine office visits increase 10% and deductibles continue their surge upward.

In 2010, more than a quarter of American workers with employer-provided health coverage were in plans with deductibles of at least $1,000.

“It’s really bad news for everybody,” said Helen Darling, president of the National Business Group on Health, an organization of large employers that provide coverage to about 50 million workers, retirees and dependents.

Overall, premium growth slowed slightly this year to 3%, with the average annual cost of a family health plan reaching $13,770. Workers picked up 30% of that bill. The average plan for an individual cost $5,049.

The squeeze, reported by employers between January and May, largely reflects the fallout of the ongoing economic slowdown and may be ameliorated in future years as the new healthcare law is implemented.

But it could further complicate the Obama administration’s efforts to rally support for the law, which is expected to do relatively little in the short term to contain rising medical bills.

“There have been times when employers have been able to absorb costs. This is not one of those times,” said James Gelfand, health policy director at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a leading critic of the new law.

The law, which focused on expanding coverage for Americans who don’t get insurance through work, was designed to largely preserve the existing employer-based healthcare system.

Independent analyses of the law estimate that most Americans will continue to get insurance through their employer, as about 157 million do now.

Administration officials Thursday pointed to two new studies from the Rand Corp. and the Commonwealth Fund that predicted small businesses in particular would probably expand coverage in coming years, in part with help from billions of dollars of in new tax credits.

“We have really just begun our efforts,” said Nancy-Ann DeParle, director of the White House Office of Health Reform, emphasizing the growing number of tools government regulators have to control insurance premiums.

The Kaiser survey found that the percentage of firms offering health benefits rose to 69% from 60% this year, an unexpected increase that analysts speculate may reflect the failure of many businesses that didn’t offer benefits.

But the survey suggests that the coverage workers are being offered is becoming increasingly unattractive as employers try to control their costs in the down economy.

“We were all so focused on the reform debate that I think we took our eyes off the fact that what we call heath insurance in this country is changing,” said Kaiser foundation President Drew Altman. “What workers get looks less and less like the comprehensive coverage their parents had.”

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Healthcare-NOW! 2010 National Strategy Conference
November 13 and 14
Philadelphia, PA

Join single-payer activists and supporters from all over the US in Philadelphia, PA to plan our strategy for 2011. By learning and sharing with one another we can build on the successes of the last year and develop the plan to win single-payer national health insurance.

You’ll have plenty of opportunity to have your opinions and ideas heard. You’ll hear engaging speakers who will inspire us. And we’ll be in the beautiful William Way Community Center in Center City where our national office recently relocated.

Join us for a good time where we’ll be networking, brain storming, and strategizing with friends to plan our vision for success.

When: Saturday, November 13th and Sunday, November 14th
Where: William Way Community Center, 1315 Spruce St., Philadelphia, PA (map)
Time: Sat, 4pm to 9pm
Sun, 8am to 4pm
Fee: $30 for Healthcare-NOW! Members and $50 for Healthcare-NOW! Non- Members

Go to our National Strategy Conference page to register and more information.

By M. Tracey Brooks for the Times Union –

The people of New York and the nation should be outraged at the sacrifices being made in health care reform to the detriment of women. After taking a major hit in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act passed in March, women’s health care faced three more attacks in July alone.

The health care reform package passed in March contains severe new abortion coverage restrictions. Federal funding of abortion has always been prohibited. The new law, however, severely restricts access to abortion coverage in the insurance exchanges, even for individuals who pay for coverage with their own money.

Women (or their spouses, partners or parents) will have to write one check for abortion coverage and a separate check for the rest of their coverage. Insurance industry experts believe the administrative nightmare of keeping these funds separate will dissuade insurers from maintaining abortion coverage in their plans. Congress sacrificed this important women’s health care benefit to pass the reform package.

Attacks on women’s health care continue. In July, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services proposed a rule to eliminate coverage for abortion in the states’ new temporary high-risk insurance plans, with the exception of rape, incest or to preserve the life of the woman. There is no exception to preserve the health of a woman with such conditions as kidney disease or cancer.

This shortsighted decision discounts the fact that women with pre-existing conditions are the patients who are most at risk of experiencing a complicated pregnancy and may need an abortion as an option. Individuals and families will not be able to pay for such coverage with their own money if they are insured through these high-risk plans.

The department also released its list of preventive health care services soon to be available at no cost to consumers. Birth control was not on the list, and its inclusion as a no-cost benefit may not be decided until 2011. Once approved, it could take months for insurance companies to implement it.

There is no reason to wait until 2012 when there is an abundance of medical and scientific data proving the effectiveness of birth control in preventing unintended pregnancies and reducing infant and maternal illness and death.

Yet another attack on reproductive health came in the House Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations Subcommittee. Ranking member Todd Tiahrt, R-Kan., proposed an amendment on Health and Human Services funds that was essentially the same as the Stupak-Pitts Amendment defeated during health care reform negotiations that would have banned any abortion coverage in health insurance exchanges, even if paid with personal funds. Thankfully, Tiahrt’s amendment was voted down, protecting women’s health care — for now.

One of the most important health care reform promises has been broken. We were assured that no one would lose existing benefits. However, all women and their families have lost because religious and other anti-abortion activists have continually exercised undue influence over lawmakers, and Congress has succumbed.

Using access to abortion and contraception as a political bargaining chip in major U.S. policy decisions is offensive and shortsighted. In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that the right to privacy encompasses women’s access to full reproductive health care. Infant and maternal morbidity and mortality have decreased dramatically. We should not have to continue the fight for access to abortion and contraception nearly 40 years later.

Will women’s health care continue to be sacrificed with each new implementation phase of the most sweeping health care reform of our lifetime?

If so, the women who lose are our spouses, our daughters, our sisters and our mothers. Putting greater restrictions on women’s comprehensive health care will never put Americans in a winning position.

M. Tracey Brooks is president and CEO of Family Planning Advocates of New York State.

Advocates for a dedicated tax to pay for basic health coverage want to introduce a single-payer bill next session

By David Rosenfeld for The Lund Report –

A loose coalition of single-payer advocates in Oregon has taken the first steps toward developing legislation for the 2011 session

The bill would ultimately work in conjunction with the state’s ongoing efforts to form a health insurance exchange and possibly a public option, supporters say.

State Rep. Michael Dembrow, a first-term Democrat from northeast Portland, is interested in sponsoring a state-based single-payer bill, but first wants to give advocates a chance to reach consensus.

Groups involved in the effort include Portland Jobs with Justice, Physicians for a National Health Program with chapters in Corvallis and Portland, Health Care For All Oregon and the League of Women Voters.

“It’s all very preliminary,” Dembrow said. “There are many of us who feel that ultimately the best way to pay for healthcare is through a single-payer program – not deliver it, but pay for it. It’s something that needs to remain in the conversation.”

States including Vermont, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and California – where a Democratic-controlled legislature twice passed single-payer bills that were vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger – are also working on single-payer legislation this year.

A recent letter from U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) to Democratic and Republican leaders in the Oregon Legislature gave encouragement to the idea of seeking federal waivers so states can pursue innovative ideas that go further than the federal law. The letter did not, however, offer any specific concepts.

“I write to lend my support to your efforts to develop an Oregon-specific plan for our state to do health reform its own way,” the letter states. “I believe in the concept of ‘state choice,’ and that every state has the right to provide healthcare to its own residents in its own way, as long as the goal is to provide all citizens with quality, comprehensive coverage.”

Wyden said he authored section 1331 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to give states the ability to continue working toward cost-effective healthcare while retaining access to federal funding.

“We don’t see ourselves as acting in contradiction to anything people are doing in Salem,” said Peter Shapiro, an organizer with Portland Jobs with Justice. “We just see it as part of the mix.”

While the details of the proposed bill haven’t been ironed out, the tenets are strong. There would be a dedicated tax based on ability to pay, universal access, and a shared risk pool to increase purchasing power and reduce administrative costs.

“The basic principle is equity,” Shapiro said. “Everybody should have the same access to treatment regardless of how much risk they are or how much money they have in the bank.”

The group will soon begin working with a consultant on the costs of such a plan and the barriers, including ERISA that governs employee benefits, that could be overcome with federal waivers.

The Oregon State Public Interest Research Group is also pushing state healthcare leaders to do more with what’s already allowed in the federal law passed earlier this year. OSPIRG’s efforts, however, have focused on strengthening the health insurance exchange and creating a strong state-based public health insurance option, not a single-payer plan.

Laura Etherton, OSPIRG’s healthcare lobbyist, is pleased Oregon is among the first states to get out of the blocks to establish an exchange where individuals and small groups can purchase insurance that’s highly regulated and possibly subsidized. But, thus far, the draft plan which was released on Aug 14 falls short, Etherton said.

“Just an exchange by itself is not going to solve all the problems in healthcare,” she said. “But it’s a great tool to help us drive solutions.”

Etherton said the draft plan doesn’t allow the exchange to negotiate premiums on behalf of its members. It could include small businesses with more than 50 employees earlier. It needs stronger public accountability. And it lacks adequate protections to prevent the insurance industry from undermining the exchange’s stability, she said.

According to OSPIRG, the exchange as currently drafted would “let insurers cherry-pick only the healthiest people, and enroll them in plans only available outside the exchange. This would leave older, relatively less-healthy people inside the exchange.”

“The details matter,” Etherton wrote in comments to the draft plan on OSPIRG’s website. “Done right, the exchange will pool the buying power of hundreds of thousands of Oregonians, so all of us can get a better deal on healthcare. But done wrong, the exchange will just be a nifty website with the same expensive plans and spotty coverage.”

Single-payer advocates hope the state goes a whole lot further.

“There are a lot of people who want to see the conversation about single payer still happen,” Dembrow said. “I hope the federal plan will work. I’d like to see the state really seize the moment.”