Universal Health Care Advocates Call on President Obama to be Truthful with the American People about Health Care Reform and Single Payer

Health care advocates today said that President Obama was not being truthful with the American people yesterday at the White House health care forum when he said that nothing was off the table in the health care reform debate.

Several of his spokespeople, including Robert Gibbs, stated yesterday that President Obama would not be considering a single payer program, the one plan that cuts costs the most, provides health care for all and has the strongest support among the public, doctors and nurses.

While taking single payer off the table, President Obama and his staff however have repeatedly acknowledged that single payer would do the best job in providing health care to America. Even yesterday President Obama's spokespeople said that single payer was the plan that Obama would support if "he was starting from scratch."

The groups also noted that all other universal health care approaches actually fail to cover everyone, since they continue some variation of insurance and/or up front premiums and co-pays.

"America already has a single payer health care program. It’s called Medicare. Seniors like it a lot more than other Americans like dealing with their HMOs. Most of the rest of the industrial world has single payer or a variation thereof; all cover everyone. All the other industrial countries provide better health care at a much cheaper price than the US because they prohibit for profit private health insurance. Even though single payer has the most sponsors in Congress and has the most support in polls, we had to fight to even get John Conyers in the door while President Obama publicly was stressing the need to make sure insurance companies had a seat at the table," said Mark Dunlea, Executive Director of Hunger Action Network of NYS.

Single payer merely means that one program pays all bills, like Medicare does for senior citizens. It eliminates the paperwork, high administrative costs and profits of the for profit private insurance system. The groups noted that unfortunately President Obama has invited private health insurance to participate in the drafting of his health care agenda, thereby presumably precluding their elimination.

President Obama also said yesterday that Americans could keep their present health insurance if they wanted it. Health care bills cause over 50% of bankruptcies — and three out of four of those bankrupted had health insurance. Many American thus may be “happy” with their present insurance – until they are confronted with a major medical emergency and discover the limits of their insurance coverage.

An article in the New England Journal of Medicine concluded the single payer approach would save $350 billion a year in costs; somewhat smaller savings estimates have been made by the Congressional Budget Office. A study done for the State of California estimated that a state single payer plan would reduce health costs by $38 billion annually over a ten year period.

Single payer advocates have also been largely silenced in the media. A study released today by Fairness in Accuracy in Reporting found the views of advocates of single-payer have only been aired five times in the hundreds of major newspaper, broadcasts and cable stories about health care reform over the past week. No single-payer advocate has appeared on a major TV broadcast or cable network to talk about the policy during that period.

Two years ago Hunger Action Network successfully coordinated a statewide campaign to get NYS to fund a series of studies on how best to provide health care to all New Yorkers. Unfortunately, the studies, being conducted by the Urban Institute, are a year late. The other half dozen states that funded similar studies all concluded that single payer was the only system that reduced costs while covering everyone, providing comprehensive care and allowing consumers free choice in selecting their own doctor and health care providers.

"President Obama got elected because he promised the American people that he would fight for change that would help them. Why does he lack the courage to stand up for real health care reform? Not only is he running away from single payer when he admits it is the best program, he won't even allow single payer to have a fair comparison with other universal health care proposals. This is not the change the American people voted for. President Obama needs to stop blocking the single best approach to health care reform from being discussed. We urge President Obama to at least give single payer equal status with other plans being considered,” added Dunlea.

A recent national survey by Indiana University of 2,193 doctors found almost 60% in favor of national health insurance (NHI) -- a 10 percent increase in support since 2002. A March 2007 poll by CBS/ NY Times found that 64 percent of respondents said the government should guarantee health insurance for all; 27 percent said it should not. An overwhelming majority in the poll said the health care system needed fundamental change or total reorganization. A CBS News/New York Times poll published in February 2009 reported that 59% say the government should provide national health insurance

Nearly 50 million Americans are currently without health insurance, more than 75 million went without insurance for some length of time within the past two years, and tens of millions more have inadequate coverage. More than 18,000 Americans die annually due to a lack of insurance according to the Academy of Science. The U. S. spends 16% of gross domestic product (GDP) on health care ($7,129 per capita), twice what any other industrialized nation spends, yet ranks 37th in performance according to the World Health Organization. The US lags behind other industrialized countries in life expectancy and infant mortality.

Last session, the federal single payer bill (HR 676) gained the support of 94 representatives in the US House, 480 union bodies, 39 state AFL-CIO’s (including NY’s), 117 Central Labor Councils, 20 international unions, the US Conference of Mayors, the Houses of Representatives in Kentucky, New Hampshire and NY (State Assembly), and hundreds more cities, counties, faith groups and organizations. New York congressional sponsors include Engel, Hinchey, Maloney, McNulty, Nader, Owens, Rangel, Serrano, Towns, Weiner and Velazquez. The bill has been re-introduced and has sixty four co-sponsors at the moment, with more joining every week. In the NYS legislature, 85 members of the State Assembly have sponsored single payer and 15 Democratic members of the State Senate). The Assembly last year passed a resolution this year in support of HR 676.