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One of the
most potent obstacles in the way of a Congressional approval of Bush’s ambitious
and politically-motivated space proposal (and he could have read his script
more enthusiastically, I thought) will be the much more immediate and personally
understood issue of health care in the United States, which received a serious boost
yesterday on the long path ahead. As cited below, with 43 million uninsured
Americans, the report boldly calls for universal health coverage by 2010,
saying, “There
have been times in our history when we have galvanized ourselves to action.
This may be one of those points in history." See
their checklist, below. -
KWC Panel
Urges Health Care Coverage for All by 2010 By Rob Stein,
Washington Post Staff Writer, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2004 @ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A18404-2004Jan14.html The United States must
find a way to provide health care coverage to all Americans by 2010 to prevent
more unnecessary suffering, death and economic costs to society, the National Academy of Sciences concluded yesterday. Culminating the most
detailed, authoritative examination of the impact of leaving millions of
Americans without health insurance, a committee of the academy's prestigious Institute of Medicine (IOM) for the first time formally recommended
that the United States guarantee health insurance for every citizen. "The lack of
health insurance for tens of millions of Americans has serious negative
consequences and economic costs not only for the uninsured themselves but also
for their families, the communities they live in, and the whole country,"
the 16-member
committee
concluded, after more than three
years of research that produced six reports. "The situation is dire and expected to
worsen. The Committee urges Congress and the Administration to act immediately
to eliminate this longstanding problem." The panel sidestepped
recommending a specific approach for achieving the highly complex, politically
volatile goal. Instead, it issued a "checklist" of five principles it
said should guide federal officials, politicians and policymakers in tackling
the problem -- and voters in assessing candidates for elected office. "We're not saying
that one plan is better than another. There may be a blend," said Mary Sue
Coleman, president of the University of
Michigan, who co-chaired the panel. "Our point is not to say we know the
right plan for the nation, but what we have done is provide the evidence for
the nation that something must be done, and provide principles for achieving
that goal." With the number of uninsured Americans at more than 43
million and rising,
increasing public
anxiety about the issue and a presidential contest underway, Coleman said she hoped the IOM
committee's uncharacteristically bold and direct recommendation could become
the tipping point for creating the national momentum necessary to finally
accomplish the elusive goal. "We're calling
for action. We're
calling for universal coverage by 2010," Coleman said. "There have been times in our
history when we have galvanized ourselves to action. This may be one of those
points in history." Although some
criticized the report for a lack of specificity and for not urging quicker
action, overall it drew praise from across the political spectrum. Stuart M. Butler of
the conservative Heritage Foundation called it "pretty much on the
mark," though he wondered what the committee meant by language calling for
minimum coverage, and about costs. Ron Pollack of left-leaning Families USA
called the report "very significant" and said he hoped it would
"catapult this issue to the top of the agenda." A White House
spokesman said Bush, who has proposed new tax credits to help the uninsured buy
coverage, is committed to making health care insurance available to more
Americans. "The president is working toward making health care affordable
and accessible to as many Americans who desire to have it through . . . a host
of measures, without creating a government-run health care system that rations
and may ultimately be counterproductive to the high quality of care that
Americans enjoy today," said spokesman Trent Duffy. Senate Majority Leader
Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) praised the report but said he was "concerned that
the report may not focus enough on the reasons why health care costs continue
to rise and how to pay for any reform." Frist said he had asked Sen. Judd
Gregg (R-N.H.) to lead a task force to study the issue. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy
(D-Mass.) said the report had "made it clear that the cost of continued
inaction is unacceptable -- for individuals, for families, for communities and
for our nation," and he criticized the Republicans for failing to act. Most of the nine
Democratic presidential candidates have offered ambitious plans for moving
toward more universal coverage, using combinations of expanded government
programs and new tax breaks. The IOM report is the
final in a series of in-depth examinations of the problem of the uninsured.
Previous reports concluded that: • Uninsured Americans
get about half the medical care of people with insurance, which tends to leave
them sicker and likely to die younger. • About 18,000 Americans die unnecessarily because they lack
health insurance. • When even one family
member is uninsured, the whole family is at increased risk for financial
catastrophe because of the expense of an illness or injury. • The nation loses $65 billion to $130 billion a year because of the poor health and premature
deaths of uninsured Americans. The committee said any proposed solution
should be: • Universal. • Continuous, so
workers do not lose coverage when they change jobs. • Affordable to
individuals and families. • Affordable and
"sustainable" to society. It also said coverage
should "enhance health and well-being by promoting access to high-quality
care that is effective, efficient, safe, timely, patient-centered, and
equitable." >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> |
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