Progressive Coalition Prescribes Health Care Reform for Ohio, America

$40 Million Campaign to Seek Quality, Affordable Health Care for All

OhioNewsBureau

By John Michael Spinelli 

COLUMBUS, OHIO: In a national press conference launching a nationwide campaign to make reform of health care a centerpiece of this year’s presidential contest, Gerald W. McEntee, President of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSME), one of many groups who work on health care who have allied themselves under the banner of the Health Care for America Now Coalition, said that because America is tired of hearing from politicians who make promises and pledges to create a system of quality, affordable health care for all but who haven’t produce results in decades, his coalition will conduct a $40 million campaign designed to “win health care coverage for everyone.”

COALITION CAMPAIGNS FOR PUBLIC PLAN, REGULATION OF PRIVATE HEALTH INSURERS

In an email sent to the OhioNewsBureau Tuesday by AFSCME announcing the start of the program in Ohio and across the nation, the groups in the coalition that promise to take on the powerful lobby of health management organizations (HMOs) and private insurance companies include ACORN, AFSCME, Americans United for Change, Academy of Pediatrics, Campaign for America's Future, Center for American Progress Action Fund, Center for Community Change, MoveOn, NEA, National Women's Law Center, Planned Parenthood, SEIU, UFCW and USAction.

The core of the coalition’s campaign is to put 100 organizers “on the ground and run major TV and newspaper ads to make sure this election is a mandate for quality, affordable health care for every American,” according to a media release. The coalition of groups, who said private insurance companies have enjoyed unregulated, bureaucratic rules designed to increase their profits and deny care to many, will work towards a “bold, new solution that gives you real choice and a guarantee of quality coverage you can afford” that includes options to “keep your current private insurance plan, pick a new private insurance plan or join a public health insurance plan.”

OHIO PARTICIPATES IN CAMPAIGN LAUNCH DAY

At a meeting held Tuesday in the Statehouse in Columbus, the capital, Democratic Senate Minority Leader Ray Miller hosted Coya Mobley of Dayton, Stephanie Beck Borden of Cincinnati and Virginia Ivery of Columbus, who provided first hand accounts of troubles they’ve encountered in the system the coalition’s campaign hopes to change. Virginia said she is underinsured and ended up with a huge co-pay that she could not pay. Borden said she has a pre-existing condition and could not get coverage.

In addition to the event in Columbus, the coalition’s campaign will be launching events in 44 cities (including 36 state capitals) across the country. Then, between today and Election Day, the group plans to spend $25 million in paid media.

Atlantic Philanthropies, based in New York, provided $10 million for the campaign, while each of 13 steering-committee members contributed $500,000 or more.

GROUPS SEEKS SIGNERS TO ONLINE PETITION

The group asks “Which Side Are You On?” a provocative teaser to sign its online petition to guarantee affordable health care for all. The petition, which asks for coverage to meet family needs based on an affordable, sliding scale, calls on government to be the advocate-in-chief for Americans and to “set and enforce the rules so insurance companies put our health care before their profits.” Continuing, it calls for a public plan so “we’re not left at the mercy of the same private insurance companies that have gotten us into this mess.”

AFSCME’S FIVE PRINCIPLES FOR HEALTH CARE REFORM

The two plans developed by AFSCME members who attended a recent international convention – a health care reform blueprint and an Rx for health care crisis – have five basic elements to them.

The first element is to guarantee everyone a choice of plans, including allowing people to keep what they have now. The focus here is to have more choices through the development of a public plan option that will afford everyone a baseline quality, affordable plan that won’t be a “one size fits all approach.”

The second element, dubbed “pay or play,” focuses on the responsibility of employers to provide health coverage. The simple formula is to either have employers provide comprehensive coverage or make a “substantial payment” towards the costs of those benefits so their workers can purchase a plan. The average cost of health coverage for a family of four is about $12,000 annually.

Anathema to many fiscal conservatives, Republicans, Sen. McCain and even Democrats, is the notion that government must be an advocate to control costs, ensure quality and keep the insurance and drug companies in check. But this is precisely what the AFSCME membership wants in its third element. It argues blind allegiance to the so-called free market system has created the harsh and unjust system America is now saddled with.

Its fourth element is to create a public plan available to all that’s modeled on Medicare, the government health plan for seniors. Medicare, according to AFSCME workers, allows people to “choose their doctors and hospitals” and declares the “claims process is easy to understand and is almost always trouble-free” grades the program as “the most cost efficient in America.” Such a program, while not mandatory, would “put pressure on insurance companies to improve their performance and become less profit-driven and more focused on their customers.”

In its fifth and final element, the group says everyone must have a “guarantee of high quality coverage.” It makes a moral and financial argument that no one should go without health care coverage, and for the 47 million American for quality as being uninsured, such a program would be a dream come true.

“Lack of health care coverage in America is not a matter of lack of money. We spend far more than any other country, on a per person basis, yet we have a higher percentage of uninsured people than any other developed country. And, the statistics show that our health status is no better, and in many ways worse, than in other countries. The World Health Organization ranks the US healthcare system 37th; just behind Costa Rica and just ahead of Slovenia.” [AFSCME, What’s at Stake]

OBAMA V. McCAIN ON HEALTH CARE

For Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic candidate for president, the health care plan he proposes still relies on private insurance companies, but guarantees eligibility, comprehensive benefits, affordable premiums, subsidies, less paperwork, easy enrollment, portability and choice and quality and efficiency.

For Arizona Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican candidate for president, his health care plan envisions returning control to patients, making it innovative, portable and affordable; reform the tax code to offer more choices beyond employer-based coverage and work with states to establish a guaranteed access plan.

To contact this correspondent about a tip or news story, send an email to ohionewsbureau@gmail.com