Activists organize to demand universal health care

Health care activists from the Private Health Insurance Must Go! Coalition, in collaboration with Healthcare-NOW!, Physicians for a National Health Program (N.Y. Metro chapter) and Single Payer New York, gathered at St. Luke’s Hospital on April 24 to discuss moving forward in the fight for universal health care in the U.S.

Conference organizer and PHIMG Chair Ajamu Sankofa opened up the third annual teach-in and summit, asserting that “health care activists must develop an effective narrative showing that the current law cannot and will not work.” He raised the need to assess the current period, recognizing the pernicious impact of neoliberalism and privatization on society and the need to end the movement’s deferential treatment of the Democratic Party. “We need a movement like the civil rights movement,” he said, “to show that Medicare for all is not only fiscally responsible, but a moral imperative that saves lives and prevents pain and suffering.”

Dr. Margaret Flowers of PNHP quit her pediatric practice to become a full-time activist for single payer health care. She characterized the new law as “the exact opposite of everything we fought for — it means more power for the private insurance companies, more bureaucracy and more for big pharma [pharmaceutical industry].” Flowers pointed out that “the process of the past year shows how broken the political system is. The insurance companies and pharmaceuticals were at the table, but not the people.”

No compromise on health care

Throughout the day, lessons drawn from the struggle of the past year were highlighted: (1) the importance of not compromising the basic needs of the people, which means fighting for a publicly financed universal health care system; (2) the need to clarify that universal health care means everyone, without exclusion of immigrants and women’s health needs; and (3) the need for political independence, as every congressperson who claimed to be for universal health care — including the Democrats and “socialist” independent Bernie Sanders — caved and in the end voted for the final bill.

Dr. Leonard Rodberg, chair of the Urban Studies Department at Queens College, City University of New York, presented a compelling slide show with statistics to show that the so-called reform would leave at least 23 million people uninsured. He also documented the enormous cost of the current bill, which has no provisions for controlling insurance premiums — thus, the burden of paying would fall on those least able to do so. He pointed to the fact that insurance premiums have doubled in the last decade and that these premiums would quickly grow to more than 20 percent of annual income for millions of people.

By contrast, Rodberg pointed out that HR 676, the Medicare for All bill introduced (but then abandoned) by Rep. John Conyers, would not cost any more than what is presently spent on health care and would give everyone free choice to pick their doctors. It would allow for bulk purchasing and eliminate the 28 percent of health care funds that are now wasted on billing, coding and other unnecessary administrative expenses. Health care could be free to all, with no co-pays or deductibles, by imposing a payroll tax of 8 percent for employers and 4 percent for workers, in much the way that Social Security is funded.

Cuban medicine tops U.S.

In a panel discussion of building bridges to other movements, Basir Mchawi, host of “Education at the Crossroads” on WBAI, described the struggle against the privatization of education as being parallel to the privatization of health care. Anne Bove, representing the New York State Nurses Association at Bellevue Hospital, addressed how the health care crisis impacts nurses and hospital workers. Sharon Eolis, a nurse practitioner with the Bail Out the People Movement, spoke about how socialized medicine in Cuba has reduced infant mortality there to five per 1,000 births — a figure that is lower than U.S. infant mortality rates.

Ellen Catalinotto, a nurse midwife and supporter of the May 1 Coalition, addressed the racist exclusion of undocumented immigrants from any access to the “health exchanges” in the bill. She explained that prenatal care — which is not covered by emergency Medicaid — could detect and prevent many complications suffered by mothers and babies.

‘Mandate’ came from right-wing think tank

Dr. Andy Coates of PNHP in Albany, N.Y., pointed to the extreme drift to the right among U.S. politicians, showing that the “mandate” that everyone pay for health insurance, now enshrined in the bill passed by Congress, was originally a demand raised by the right-wing Heritage Foundation. He urged that those present “use the lessons of the civil rights movement to fight for universal health care and reject the idea that health care be dependent on a boss or a spouse.”

Panelist Katie Robbins, a national organizer for Healthcare-Now!, was among nine activists who were arrested recently for staging a protest against the insurance industry. Direct action was promoted as a way of gaining attention to the life-and-death struggle for universal health care. From the audience, a number of disabled activists raised the urgent need to include long-term care as part of any health care legislation, pointing out that current laws force people who need long-term care to impoverish themselves before they can qualify for Medicaid. They protested against the New York Health Plus bill introduced into the New York state Legislature by Dick Gottfried because it excludes coverage for long-term care.

Most of the more than 100 attendees felt energized and more dedicated than ever by the conference, which ended with the announcement of a number of follow-up meetings and actions. For more information visit www.phimg.org or e-mail [email protected].