At its core, this Occupy Healthcare movement stands for providing healthcare for all. The clarity of this conviction should serve as our guide for all future efforts. Rather than see our momentum dissipate across a seemingly endless archive of blog posts, I would rather we now focus on achieving clear-cut goals that get us closer to our ideal.
There is presently a legislative bill entitled House Resolution 676 which if passed, would, “assure universal coverage of all medically necessary services under a non-profit single payer program, while containing costs by slashing bureaucracy.” It is jointly authored by Congressmen Dennis Kucinich and John Conyers. This bill also states it will protect a patient’s choice of doctors and grant doctors a free choice of practice settings. The Government Accountability Office estimated that the savings accrued from switching to a single payer system at 10% of health spending would be enough to cover all uninsured and would improve coverage for people who only have partial insurance coverage now.
The advent of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act meant that H.R. 676 would be ignored, but its economic benefits are too significant to ignore.
As Conyers himself noted in an editorial for the Atlanta Journal Constitutional, “there are no effective cost-containment mechanisms in place to control the private market costs of prescription drug costs, corporate hospitals and medical technology which are the main drivers of Medicare costs.” Conyers goes on to cite economist Dean Baker, who estimates that the government and Medicare recipients would, “save $600 billion between 2006 and 2013 if Medicare were allowed to directly negotiate prices with pharmaceutical manufacturers.” Conyers adds that hospital charges account for one-third of total healthcare spending, and points out that 25 of these hospitals in 2009 generated profit margins of approximately 25% or more, close to that of multi-national corporations.
We all have limited time commitments, so I urge us to apply a laser-sharp focus on getting the basics right. Let’s lobby for universal coverage that provides for single payer program. We can begin taking any and all of the steps below:
- Have our organization support the H.R. 676 Resolution here
- Craft our own personal letters to our Congressional reps here
- Want talking points? Here they are.
- Make a collaborative overture to the Physicians for a National Health Program who have been championing this specific issue. Ask them how we can help using social media and in offline activities to support the cause.
We know what we want. Let’s work together to make it happen.
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Want to know who else is supporting H.R. 676? Go here for a list of medical organizations, civic groups, political groups, faith groups, government bodies, and others.
