AMA Calls for Universal Health Care

Buffalo doctor who heads the AMA issues call for universal health care

By Jerry Zremski – News Washington Bureau
Updated: 09/23/08 10:01 AM

Charles Lewis/Buffalo News file photo

Nancy H. Nielsen of Buffalo said the number of uninsured is “a tragedy and a national disgrace and we need to do something about it.”

WASHINGTON — The Buffalo physician who heads the American Medical Association came to the capital today to reignite the debate on universal health care at a time of great sickness in the American economy.

“You may wonder why we are doing this at a time when Wall Street is tanking, but it just couldn’t be any more timely,” said Nancy H. Nielsen, the Buffalo internist who became the AMA’s president in June.

“We know the number of uninsured is 47 million in this country,” she added at a briefing on the issue at the National Press Club. “These are not people living under bridges. They are our friends, our neighbors, our acquaintances … This 47 million is not a statistic. It’s a tragedy and a national disgrace and we need to do something about it.”

Several of the panelists at the discussion agreed, noting that the number of uninsured is likely to rise if the economy goes into free-fall amid the nation’s financial crisis.

Yet the panelists also agreed that it would be difficult to get Congress to quickly solve the problem, no matter who is elected president in November.

“We don’t really have a health care system; it’s a free-for-all,” said Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. “It’s so complicated and so many people have knee-jerk reactions to it that everybody’s going to have to step back and reexamine their assumptions and pause before saying, ‘No, this won’t work.’”

Paul H. Keckley, executive director of the Doloitte Center for Health Solutions, agreed.

“It’s a perplexing problem that’s not going to be solved in four years,” Keckley said. “It took us 60 years to get here.”

And now, a new president and Congress will be forced to try to deal with the problem of the uninsured amid great uncertainty about the American financial system, which the Bush administration proposes spending $700 billion in federal funds to rescue from its bad debts.

“I think the rolls of the uninsured may have expanded recently” thanks to newly unemployed investment bankers, said Brian Kelly, editor of U.S. News and World Reports, which sponsored the discussion along with the AMA.

Kelly also proposed a quick, if flip, solution to the problem of paying for insurance for those who remain uncovered.

“You could fit it into the bailout bill as a rounding error,” he said.

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Are you really covered by your health insurance?

Though it may seem like a stretch to report on health insurance on a blog about homelessness, it certainly is not. It is not uncommon for someone living in poverty to experience a significant health emergency and seek care for which they are not covered, only to fall behind in bills because they now have a hefty hospital debt to pay. This can result in eviction and/or utility shut-off and, consequently, homelessness.

But even the average American is beginning to feel the strain of precarious health care coverage. Consumer Reports investigated this and reported in September 2007:

29 percent of people who had health insurance were “underinsured,” with coverage so meager they often postponed medical care because of costs.

49 percent overall, and 43 percent of people with insurance, said they were “somewhat” to “completely” unprepared to cope with a costly medical emergency over the coming year.

20 percent of people said they were so disappointed with their HMO or PPO that they wanted to switch plans

16 percent had no health plan at all, including many working respondents whose jobs didn’t offer insurance, or who couldn’t afford the premiums or deductibles of the available plan.

Read the full story here.

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Presidential Candidates on Poverty

Special thanks to the Cleveland Plain Dealer for the following summary of the remaining Presidential Candidates poverty platforms. More information can be found on the PD blog at the following link

Plain Dealer Blog.

Poverty platform:

Clinton:
• The author of “It Takes A Village: And Other Lessons Children Teach Us” targets the nearly 13 million children living in poverty, calling it a “blight on our nation’s conscience and our economic future.”
• The senator’s nine-page position paper focuses on specific actions she would take on issues ranging from enforcing child support payments to nurse home visitation for new at-risk mothers.
On a larger scale, the Senator touts universal health care, a moratorium on foreclosures, and the creation of at least 5 million “green collar” jobs for low-wage workers.

Obama:
• The former Chicago activist describes his anti-poverty policies as “the single most important focus of my economic agenda as president.”
• Details are sketchy, but include access to safe, affordable housing, job programs, and financial and medical assistance to single parents.

McCain:
• America’s most famous POW takes aim at urban poverty by taking back the streets, improving urban school systems and updating job training programs.
• Again, specifics are vague.

New ideas:

Clinton:
•The former first lady would work to end child hunger by strengthening the food stamp program, improving the food safety net and providing more access to healthy, fresh food.
•She would provide economic opportunity to low-income families by raising the minimum wage, and expanding new job training opportunities.
•She would also establish a pilot program to reduce homelessness among veterans, and develop a community based re-entry plan to help ex-offenders receive job training and placement as well as drug and mental health counseling.

Obama:
• The son of a single mother, his most ambitious anti-poverty policy would be to replicate the success of the Harlem Children’s Zone in 20 cities nationwide.
• He also wants to spend $1 billion for a jobs program that would place the unemployed into temporary jobs and train them for permanent ones.
• He would also offer incentives for businesses to relocate, or start-up, in distressed inner cities.

McCain
• The former naval aviator equates economic prosperity to the war on terrorism. “For the same reason you have to fight the war against the Islamic extremists on the international level, you have to ensure the streets are safe so people can go to work and businesses can operate,’ said the senator’s senior policy advisor.
• The burgeoning crime rate is compounded by an inhospitable economic climate that McCain would fight by lowering taxes and improving business investment incentives.

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Buffalo News Series on Poverty

In response to the announcement made on this past August that Buffalo is the 2nd poorest city in the nation, the Buffalo News has begun a series on child poverty in Buffalo. Much like the series in 2006 entitled “The High Cost of Being Poor“, this series attempts to bring to light the struggles of those experiencing poverty in Buffalo – recognizing the paradox of poverty locally. Reporter Mark Sommer “notes that because of Buffalo’s segregated housing, most Western New Yorkers never see the poverty. What has resulted is a paradox’. Poverty in Buffalo is both widespread and invisible,’ Sommer says.”

Editor Margaret Sullivan writes about the series:

This series is squarely on task with the mission that this newsroom has developed: enterprise journalism that makes a difference in its community. Issues involving economic justice and children are of particular interest.

So far, the series has highlighted child hunger, the pressure of single-parent households trying to make ends meet on unsustainable wages, and the rescinding of federal funds for services for low-income families. This is all done through the eyes of those who are experiencing these struggles and those who are attempting to meet their needs.

The series is worth checking out. Read the stories here.

Visit the Homeless Alliance at www.wnyhomeless.org

Go to the top of the blog by clicking here. 

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The Middle-Class Squeeze: Health Care and Housing

MSNBC has done a series of stories on the economic state of the middle-class in America this month as a part of an ongoing series called Gut Check America. This series examines the erosion of the quality of life of those who could be considered being “middle class”. Many of the households they profile earn between $60,000-100,00 per year and yet are having a hard time making ends meet due to health care, housing, and transportation costs. One particular survey compares the cost of living to a single-income family in the mid-70′s (adjusted to inflation) and dual-income families today. The survey finds that mortgage costs have almost doubled, taxes have more than doubled, and health care costs have risen by 76% even with the second income to support the household.

In comparison, the median income of Buffalo residents in 2004 according to the US Census was $28,500.

A particularly interesting quote is from a husband and father of two from Washington State. Though he earns $70,000, just 8 percent less than the median income of his area ($75,600), he is unable to make a down payment on a home or obtain a mortgage due to high housing costs. He says:

“We are doing all the right things with our money and I feel like the dream of owning a home is still so out of reach for us… I just feel like our middle-class income should be enough and it’s not.”’

Read more here.

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