We face a grave and gathering danger. It isn't terrorism. It is the health care crisis. The government estimates that 46 million people go without health care coverage, and experts say that as many as 100 million have inadequate coverage.

According to the Institute of Medicine, which advises the federal government on health issues, 18,000 adults die each year because of inadequate access to medical care. Families are forced to choose between rent and doctor’s visits. Retirees go without food and prescription drugs. Welcome to Bush's America.

There is a real solution to the crisis, but you haven't heard about it from the President, the Republicans, or the right-wing dominated media.

As President Bush has made clear, the Republican plan is more of the same disaster. Privatization will save you, they say. Narrow-minded as they are, they can't see beyond the end of their corporate sponsored noses.

They want to make a massive social problem into a massive private one, controlled by corporate bureaucrats, motivated by the almighty dollar. The corporations will take care of you, Republicans insist. Anything else is socialized medicine, they bluster.

But privatization will not fix the problem. It is a recipe for more of the same disaster.

Tax credit plans, which are even endorsed by some mild-mannered Democrats, are not the solution. Under most tax credit plans, families and individuals would get credits to help them buy insurance. This changes nothing about the system itself and simply would not control or cover skyrocketing premiums.

According to a statement by Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP), a growing organization of more than 14,000 doctors who support universal health care, 'the average cost of family coverage is now about $10,000, while the President suggests offering the poor only a $3,000 tax subsidy.' Low-income and even middle-income families simply won't be able afford to buy new insurance under this model.

Bush and the Republicans also keep pushing their Health Savings Account (HSA) concept, which essentially turns hundreds of billions annually over to HMOs, weakens existing, encourages employers to reduce their contributions to their employees' coverage, and adds new layers of already expensive corporate bureaucracy. HSA rules force families to buy high-deductible, low-coverage insurance plans, increasing their out-of-pocket expenses when family members have to use the insurance.  In the end, low-income families are stuck without insurance, middle-income families can’t afford to even use their HSAs, while higher-income households, which can already afford health insurance premiums, reap massive tax breaks from them. Is this fair?

In this way, the Republican privatization concept will not control rising costs or reduce the number of uninsured.

According to PNHP, about 30 percent of what consumers pay in premiums goes toward administrative costs and profits for private corporations. In other words, your insurance premiums are high because you pay salaries for corporate bureaucrats who control your access medical procedures, the bloated salaries and benefits of corporate executives, and so on.

In contrast with exaggerated claims by Republicans that medical malpractice lawsuits are the true cause of inflated health care costs, a study by the non-partisan Economic Policy Institute shows that the '$27 billion cost of medical malpractice, including every legitimate claim that was settled without a trial and every claim proved in a court of law, amounts to only 1.6% of national health care expenditures.'

Medicare for All

If the Republican plan is simply a boondoggle and massive corporate giveaway that won’t control costs, what is the real solution?

It is simple, easy, and cost-effective: Medicare for all.

Medicare is an efficient program with administrative costs of about three percent of its overall expenditures each year, about one-tenth of the corporate health care sector. By guaranteeing coverage for everyone, no one would be left without adequate coverage for any illness or medical procedure.

Such a plan has already been introduced in Congress. It is called the US National Health Insurance Act (H.R. 676), introduced by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI). As the Medicare-for-all concept is becoming more publicized around the country, support for it is growing.

Because the conservative-biased media has failed to talk about it, ordinary people who support the bill have held dozens of public town hall meetings from Buffalo to Atlanta, Detroit to Bellingham, Washington, meetings with congressional representatives, and letter writing campaigns and much more just to get the word out.

People who want real health care reform are beginning to make some impact. This is why Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA) recently wrote, 'Medicare has shown us the power of simplicity; we need only expand its promise to the rest of our population. '

Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) echoed this sentiment: 'The time has come to make Medicare available to every American who wants to enroll in it. It’s the best way to bring the enormous promise of this new century of the life sciences to every American. '

Kentucky's House Health and Welfare Committee voted to urge Congress to pass H.R. 676, a monumental statement from a state that voted for Bush in both 2000 and 2004.

City councils in Boston, Massachusetts, Baltimore, Maryland, Erie, Pennsylvania, and Morehead, Kentucky have passed resolutions in support of the Conyers' national health program bill.

National surveys conducted by the Pew Research center show that about two-thirds of Americans support a national health program, even if it means higher taxes. This includes strong support among people who identified themselves as conservative.

What does this bill say? It would apply a small increase in the Medicare payroll tax, which most working people and employers already pay. This increase would be more than offset by reduced health care expenses and would pay for an efficient system that guarantees coverage.

According to estimates by Healthcare Now, a national organization that supports passage of the bill, average family premiums for private insurance currently at close to $10,000 would be eliminated and average family payments into the Medicare system would stand at about $1,600 annually, a savings of about $8,000 per year.

Employers who provide health insurance benefits for their employees would see their costs reduced by more than half.

The bill would prohibit insurance companies from preying on families by not allowing the companies to sell insurance that duplicates the Medicare plan. Sure, private corporations would continue to profit from selling medical services, but their actions would be under scrutiny by the Medicare system and subject to federal criminal penalties if they abused the system, cheated patients, or stole from taxpayers.

Additionally, because the pool of insured program users would be increased by millions, Medicare could use its purchasing power to control skyrocketing costs, including for prescriptions drugs.

Learn more at:

Physicians for a National Health Program

Then send your thoughts to your congressional representatives urging their support for Medicare for all. Click below for contact information:

House of Representatives

Senate