RON GETTELFINGER the president of the UAW, auto workers trade union has urged that the US must adopt a national insurance system to provide health care.
Health care is a huge issue in the US where huge companies such as GM, Ford, and Delphi are seeking to increase workers contributions, and reduce theirs, for health provision in negotiated contracts with the trade unions, or are seeking to get bankruptcy courts to discharge them from their health care obligations.
At the same time 48 million Americans do not have any health insurance at all.
Gettelfinger said on May 5th ‘You’ve probably noticed more media attention than usual focused on America’s dysfunctional health care system during the past several days thanks to ‘Cover the Uninsured Week,’ an initiative of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
‘ “Cover the Uninsured Week” is a uniquely American event – uniquely American because the United States is the only advanced industrialised nation without some form of universal health care coverage.
‘Why? The conventional wisdom, of course, is that we can’t afford it.
‘Well, the conventional wisdom is just plain wrong.
‘It’s not that we don’t have the money; it’s that we’re spending our health care dollars inefficiently and foolishly.
‘With its patchwork health care system, the United States spends a higher proportion of its gross domestic product or total economic output and far more per capita on health care every year than any other industrialised nation.
‘In fact, America’s health care bill of about $5,267 per capita is nearly two and a half times the industrialised world’s median of $2,193.
‘Yet for all that spending, some 46 million Americans – including more than eight million children – don’t have any health insurance and an estimated 16 million more are underinsured.
‘What’s more, despite having the best doctors, nurses and other health care professionals in the world, the United States ranks near the bottom among industrialised nations on life expectancy, infant mortality and virtually every other measure.
‘In fact, the infant mortality rate in our nation’s capital is more than double the infant mortality rate in Beijing.
‘Most of us would agree that nothing is more valuable than our family’s health.
‘But the harsh reality is that a large and growing number of lower- and middle-income working Americans are forgoing preventive care and putting off medical treatment because they can’t pay for both health care and basic necessities like food, housing, gas and electricity.
‘A newly released study by the Commonwealth Fund found that slightly more than one in five of all working-age Americans, both uninsured and insured, have medical debt they are paying off over time.
‘Nearly one in four uninsured adults say they had used up all their savings to pay medical bills.
‘The Commonwealth Fund survey also found that nearly three in five uninsured adults with chronic conditions like asthma or diabetes didn’t fill a prescription or skipped taking their medications because they couldn’t afford them.
‘And, not surprisingly, uninsured Americans are far less likely than their insured counterparts to get mammograms and other cancer screenings, dental exams, blood pressure and cholesterol tests, and other preventive care.
‘The situation is nearly as bad among underinsured Americans.
‘A recent survey by the Reader’s Digest found that among underinsured middle-class Americans (defined as having household income of $25,000-$100,000, health insurance and deducted medical expenses on their 2004 federal income tax return), about half say they’ve put off or refused medical treatment for a serious condition, or delayed taking or renewing prescription drugs.
‘Nearly one-fourth say they’re behind on medical bills – and nearly half have used credit cards to meet health care costs.
‘How much worse can it get?
‘Some health care experts predict that if insurance premium increases continue to outpace growth in wages and income, 56 million Americans – including 27.8 per cent of working Americans – will be uninsured by 2013, just seven years from now.
‘And those of us fortunate enough to have coverage (and jobs) will be faced with higher premiums, co-pays and deductibles.
‘But isn’t there a better way? Of course.
‘The UAW has long advocated single-payer national health insurance as the fairest and most cost-efficient way to provide affordable, quality, comprehensive health care to every American regardless of income.
‘Sound impossible? It shouldn’t.
‘We already have more than 40 years experience with a single-payer system in America.
‘It’s called Medicare, and it may not be perfect, but it sure works better than the privatised part of our health care system.
‘Medicare spends nearly 98 per cent of its funds (our tax dollars) on actual medical care.
‘In contrast, as economist Paul Krugman noted in his recent New York Times column, Aetna, one of America’s largest health insurance companies, “spends less than 80 cents of each dollar in health insurance premiums on actually providing medical care.”
‘The rest goes to profits, marketing and administrative costs – including screening out people likely to have big medical bills.
‘In short, health insurance is one area where a government programme has proven not only fairer but more cost-effective than the private sector.
‘National health insurance made sense when President Harry Truman proposed it in 1948.
‘Today, it may be the only sensible way to fix America’s health care crisis.’