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Resolution
Supporting Universal Health
Care Coverage
WHEREAS, people are waiting
longer for appointments, fewer people are
getting the doctor of their choice, and
pre-existing illnesses are being used to deny
coverage; and
WHEREAS, it is
undisputed by all that insurance companies do
not heal or treat anyone, but rather physicians
and health practitioners do; and
WHEREAS,
thousands of doctors support a single-payer
system because it reduces the bureaucracy and
shelters the doctor-patient relationship from
HMO and insurance company encroachment; and
WHEREAS,
insurance companies are getting richer day by
day by increasing their premiums on a whim by
directing the cost toward the individual and
small business that don’t have the buying power
of the large multi-national companies; and
WHEREAS, such
increases in health care costs translate into
higher costs that force people into choosing
between health care and food for their family,
forcing companies to discontinue health care
coverage for their employees and resulting in
loss of competitiveness in the business world;
and
WHEREAS,
universal health insurance will decrease total
healthcare spending while providing more
treatment and services-through reductions in
bureaucracy and cost-cutting measures such as
bulk purchasing of prescription drugs; and
WHEREAS, funding
for such a system can come primarily from
existing government healthcare spending and a
phased-in tax on employers of 7.7 % which would
actually be less than the 8.5% of payroll now
paid, on average, by companies that provide
private insurance; and
WHEREAS,
universal health insurance publicly financed
health care systems have worked well worldwide
in nations that have never spent as much per
person on healthcare as the United States; a
fact affirmed in many studies, including those
conducted by the Congressional Budget Office and
the General Accounting Office; and
WHEREAS, even
the GAO has acknowledged, “if the US were to
shift to a system of universal coverage and a
single payer, as in Canada, the savings in
administrative costs (10% to private insurers)
would be more than enough to offset the expense
of universal coverage”; and
WHEREAS, it is
evident that Healthcare for Everyone makes
economic sense, it has not made political sense
to some, due to the power of the private
insurance lobby; and
WHEREAS, the
proposed Medicare prescription drug benefits is
too little, too late, fraught with deficiencies
and will only serve to further drive up the
costs of prescription drugs for non-Medicare
patients and increase the premiums paid by them
to compensate for the Medicare-only
prescriptions; and
WHEREAS,
enhanced “Healthcare for Everyone’-a universal,
single-payer system of national health
insurance, carefully phased in over 10 years
will address everyone’s needs, include the 40
million Americans without coverage and those
pay-g exorbitant rates for health insurance; and
WHEREAS, this
approach to healthcare coverage emphasizes
patient choice, puts doctors and patients in
control of the system (not insurance companies),
will be more complete than private insurance
plans, encourage prevention and include
prescription medication; and
WHEREAS, it is
wiser to take the money out of the insurance
companies’ hands, put it into the hands of the
physicians and treatment-professionals that are
helping people and let our government monitor
and regulate it.
NOW THEREFORE, BE IT
RESOLVED, that at this time that we let
all the candidates know, at the next national
elections, that the PEOPLE have decided that
they want HEALTHCARE FOR EVERYONE in the form of
universal, single-payer system of universal
health insurance regulated by people, for the
people.
Submitted by Henry A.
Echezabel, LULAC Tampa Bay Council No. 7006.
Adopted this 10th day of July
2004.
Hector M. Flores
LULAC National President |
