WASHINGTON,
D.C. -- I want to thank Representative John Conyers for his tremendous
leadership in the fight for universal health care and for ending poverty
in America. I am grateful for your leadership, passion, and inspiration.
I
also want to thank the many advocates – organizations and individuals –
who are supporting our health care resolution and demanding that our nation
join the rest of the industrialized world in guaranteeing access to health
care as a right, not a privilege.
In
particular, I want to thank Margy Heldring of America’s Health Together
and Ken Frisof of UHCAN. These two organizations have put together
a coalition of faith-based, provider, consumer, labor, disability and senior
organizations that are bound together by a common commitment to health
care justice.
I
serve on the Government Reform Committee, which has been charged with writing
the bill to create the Department of Homeland Security. We are all
joined when it comes to defending the security of our country. Unfortunately,
we are not as united in Congress when it comes to protecting the health
security of children, adults and families.
We
are here today to say that it is time for Congress and the White House
to stop accepting what is unacceptable.
It
is unacceptable that our nation leads the world in terms of spending in
every category but ranks 37th in terms of meeting the health care needs
of our people. It is unacceptable that access to health care is discriminatory
and unjust.
We
discriminate every day on the basis of income – if you can’t afford it,
you don’t get it. We discriminate every day on the basis of employment
– if you’re lucky enough to have a job with affordable health benefits,
you’re in luck. If you lose that job, you’re in trouble. After
September 11, we learned not just that our nation was insecure, but that
thousands of laid-off workers and their families were insecure in their
health care coverage.
We
discriminate every day on the basis of health status. If you are
one of the 1 in 4 Americans will suffer mental illness in your lifetime,
be prepared for mental health disparity. We discriminate every day
on the basis of race and ethnicity. African Americans and Latinos
are more likely to be uninsured, to undergo preventable illnesses and die
prematurely. Even if they are insured, they still face discrimination
in getting access to top-of-the-line procedures.
This
discrimination costs us dearly in many, many ways. It is not just
a question of unfairness to individuals and their families. It actually
costs us money to discriminate – it takes a lot of administrative costs
and bureaucrats to manage this fragmented and dysfunctional system.
And that is money that doesn’t go into providing health care.
Our
“system” puts profits ahead of people, discrimination ahead of fairness,
the rights of health care CEOs ahead of the needs of doctors, nurses and
patients.
H.Con.Resolution
99 would change that. It lays out a vision, but a vision that is
not pie in the sky or out of reach. It is a vision that works in
countries around the world where they spend fewer dollars and guarantee
universal coverage without discrimination.
We
can make the vision of H.Con.Res. 99 a reality. The majority of Americans
want to make sure that every person has the right to affordable, quality
and comprehensive health care. We need to translate that majority
view into a political movement. |