[Marxism] 'Universal health care now!'

["Charles Brown" <cbrown@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

'Universal health care now!'


Gary Benjamin

By Diane Bukowski

The Michigan Citizen

DETROIT - As the City of Detroit, the Detroit Public Schools, and even the
Big Three automakers say the skyrocketing cost of health insurance has
exacerbated their fiscal woes, organizers are stepping up a campaign for
state-sponsored universal health care in Michigan.

"Employers everywhere are saying you've got to get the health care monkey
off our backs because we can't compete," said Gary Benjamin of Michigan
Legal Services. "Before a single car rolls off the assembly line, $1,500 of
its cost goes into health care for the auto workers. In Japan, that cost is
$500."

Benjamin brandished thick files full of studies on health care in
California, Vermont, Maine and other states.

"These studies all show that there's enough money to finance health care for
everyone already in each state's system," he said. "Canadians spend less
than 10 percent of their gross domestic product on health care for 100
percent of their residents under a national health care system. But the U.S.
spends 15 percent of its GDP on health care for 85 percent of the
population, with the rest going uninsured."

Benjamin and others are calling on Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm to
establish a commission to study health care financing and establish
affordable health care for all.

That includes the Michigan Universal Health Care Access Network, the Green
House, numerous government bodies, the Henry Ford Health System and Paul
Hillegonds, president of Detroit Renaissance.

"Because of the manner in which the health care delivery system is funded,
and because of the administrative costs of the system as it is presently
structured, the money is ineffectively and unwisely spent . . . and our
citizens are increasingly losing coverage because of the cost of insurance
to employers and government," says MichUHCAN's Michigan Health Care Finance
Resolution.

Benjamin said 25 to 35 percent of every health care dollar goes to
administrative costs, with an additional 19 percent for pharmaceuticals,
while the national, publicly-run Medicare system spends less than 3 percent
on administration.

At the same time, he noted, over 1.4 million Michigan residents have no
health care coverage, and, nationally, an estimated 18,000 people die
because they have no health insurance.

Many city councils in Michigan have already passed MichUHCAN's resolution,
including those of Detroit, Farmington Hills, Ferndale, Mt. Pleasant,
Pleasant Ridge, Madison Heights, Hamtramck, Van Buren Township, Ann Arbor,
Southfield, Royal Oak and Westland.

The Wayne and Sanilac County Boards of Commissioners, the Michigan
Democratic Convention, the Wayne County Medical Society and the Henry Ford
Health System have also endorsed the measure, along with 22 other groups and
individuals.

"Access to quality health care is of crucial importance to Detroit residents
and to the workforce that will support the revitalization of the city,"
Hillegond said.

The board of Detroit Renaissance is made up of executives from most of
Detroit's largest corporations.

"The fragmented, cottage industry nature of health care does not serve the
uninsured and underinsured well," Hillegonds went on. "The prevalence of
diabetes, asthma, low birth weight babies, and other serious health issues
is both a social justice issue and an economic disincentive for businesses
to locate in Detroit."

A study Michigan Legal Services sent to Granholm in 2003 estimated there is
a total health care pot of at least $25 billion in Michigan, including $13
billion in premiums paid to HMO's and insurance companies, $10 billion in
state appropriations, and over $1 billion in services that hospitals provide
for free.

The study said that pot is enough to provide an annual premium of $2,600 for
everyone in Michigan, in a single payer state-wide plan. That amount is
comparable to what is currently paid into most insurance plans.

In 2002, Maine Governor John Baldacci established the statewide Dirigo
Health Plan, which provides insurance for small employers and workers making
less than $55,000 a year, on a sliding scale fee basis, and free coverage
for the unemployed.

The plan does not supplant private insurers entirely, but sets price
controls on private insurance premiums and restrictions on new construction
and equipment purchases by private hospitals.

The MichUHCAN resolution goes further, asking for a state health insurance
system that is "affordable; cost efficient; provides comprehensive benefits;
promotes prevention and early intervention; eliminates disparities in access
and in mental health care; provides continuity of care (is portable from one
job to another); protects consumer choice; and, is easy to use."

On Tues. May 24, at 6:30 p.m., the Union of the Uninsured and Underinsured
will present a community health care forum featuring the heads of the
Detroit and Wayne County health departments, a representative of the Detroit
and Wayne County Health Care Authority, and advocates of universal health
care. For literature and more information, contact Gary Benjamin at
313.964-4130.

E-mail: dbukowski@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx



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