The Time Has Now Arrived For Action
"Millions of our citizens do not now have a full measure of opportunity to achieve and to enjoy good health. Millions do not now have protection or security against the economic effects of sickness. And the time has now arrived for action to help them attain that ...
"Millions of our citizens do not now have a full measure of opportunity to achieve and to enjoy good health. Millions do not now have protection or security against the economic effects of sickness. And the time has now arrived for action to help them attain that opportunity and to help them get that protection."
These were the words of President Harry Truman when he delivered a message to Congress about the need for national health care on November 19, 1945. Almost sixty-five years later, those words still ring true for too many Americans.
By 1949, the private corporate forces which opposed national health care were offering $3,000 prizes to those political cartoonists who best depicted the evils of “socialized medicine." Sound familiar?
Twenty years later, on July 30, 1965, Truman stood with then-President Lyndon Johnson at the bill signing for Medicare, the first major publicly-administered health care program in the United States. Prior to Medicare, half of our seniors lived in poverty and could not get health insurance. After the creation of the program, poverty decreased by two-thirds as seniors and disabled people enjoyed dependable health insurance.
Today, the same powerful forces want to stop health care reform efforts and, just as in 1949, they are masters at creating a climate of fear and confusion. But ask any senior today if they “fear” being eligible for Medicare benefits and here's the answer you'll most likely hear: “Why should anyone be afraid of Medicare?” The program offers them the peace-of-mind we all deserve: No one will drop them from insurance if they get sick, no one will deny them treatment for a pre-existing condition, and no CEO will bring home a multi-million dollar salary amassed from their premiums.
The current controversy over the proposed public option -- which seeks to expand health care availability and bring down costs -- is nothing new. This struggle has raged in our country for nearly a century. On November 14, 1934, Franklin D. Roosevelt first noted that, “economic loss due to sickness,” results “in problem for many families with and without incomes."
Perhaps during this new round of debate, as Americans are once again getting bombarded with misinformation regarding publicly administered healthcare, we should heed Roosevelt’s most famous words, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself."
Now is not the time to allow the politics of fear to delay history. Now is the time to make history. If you have not yet volunteered or worked for health care reform, do something and do it soon. This is undoubtedly the most historical opportunity for change in our generation. Don’t sit on the sidelines. Be a part of history.
Lynda DeLaforgue is the co-director of Citizen Action/Illinois, the lead Illinois member of the Health Care for America Now (HCAN) coalition. To learn more, visit their website or Facebook page.
Comments
Can you give me one example of an insurance company in Illinois who has "dropped" someone's contractually provided health insurance because they "got sick," that's pure hogwash and I'm sick of hearing the ill informed scream about it, it just never happens. How can an insurance company "drop you?" And how can you say they do when clearly it's just not the case? Shame on you.
The only people who get "dropped" are people who lied on health insurance applications then later submit claims. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm all for reforming health insurance in this country, but I won't ever accept a government run anything. This country can make dozens of proper and necessary reforms right now that both sides agree on. Why should be have the Federal Government expand with a "public option" when the private insurance industry already exists and runs fairly cost effectively?
Steve,
See:
http://progressillinois.com/2009/7/29/end-rescission-pass-bill
Now you apparently think that these are all cases where people lied on their apps. I don't see how you could possibly make that call without looking at the individual cases. But who has time for that. So, consider this: the insurance company's standard for dropping people is going to be: (a) how much they can save by canceling coverage, versus (b) the risk of getting sued and how much they could lose in a lawsuit. Even if they drop coverage on entirely illegitimate grounds, the risk of getting sued is going to be quite low, since almost no one has the resources to take on an insurance company, least of all when they are busy fighting something like cancer. So how likely do you really think it is that all cases of rescission involve people who deserve to have their coverage dropped because they "lied"?
Healthcare is not priority of all those people who are unemployed. jobs,Food, housing , etc. is!!! Get us taken care of and then move forward on those bills that are goingto take longer. I am in my middle 60's, single and have no job and no money. This is happening to me after working ever since I was 19 years old and now have lost everything. What's is the matter with all of you in our government? Get your priorities right!! I have never had to get help before and now when I need ot, you don't think I am important enough!
US Congress get it straight for once and for all...As long you do not give a damn about the unemployed Americans and as long as you keep losing jobs - not creating new ones - NOBODY wants to hear one more word about your damn Health Care Reform!
PASS UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS EXTENSION FOR ALL STATES NOW AND FOR AS LONG AS IT TAKES PRESIDENT OBAMA TO START CREATING THE 3 MILLION JOBS THAT HE PROMISED THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.
QUIT TALKING ABOUT HEALTH CARE! NOBODY IS LISTENING! TAKE CARE OF THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE LOST THEIR JOBS DUE TO FAULT OF THEIR OWN! GET YOUR PRIORITIES STRAIGHT FOR A CHANGE. WE PAY YOU AT CONGRESS TO REPRESENT OUR INTERESTS AND OUR PRIORITIES! PRESIDENT OBAMA, WITH ALL DUE RESPECT: QUIT WASTING OUR MONEY IN FANCY EXCURSIONS TO EUROPE.
"These were the words of President Harry Truman when he delivered a message to Congress about the need for national health care on November 19, 1945. Almost sixty-five years later, those words still ring true for too many Americans."
Madame DeLaforgue,
Perhaps, you and your buddies in Washington should wash your mouths before speaking about President Harry Truman and use his words to sell some cheap talking points. If President Truman was alive today he would have never been talking like you and or President Obama who just keep talking about Health Care Reform just because you like to hearing yourselves talk. President Harry Truman would have never been going on and on about Health Care at a time that 16 million Americans are unemployed and about 1.5 million will be exhausting theor benefits by the end of this fall. President Truman would be talking about jobs jobs jobs at a time like this - not stubbornly demanding "we must pass healeth care reform now because I said so". Obama's stubborness about the Health Care Reform issue makes those of us who are unemployed, as well as our family members and our friends more stubborn to tune our President and this Congress (all of whom we pay to reperesents us) completely out. YES, WE ARE TUNING YOU ALL OUT UNTIL YOU DECIDE TO GET YOUR PRIORITIES STRAIGHT.
GOOD LUCK TO ALL OF YOU IN 2010 AND 2012 !!!
"Lynda DeLaforgue is the co-director of Citizen Action/Illinois, the lead Illinois member of the Health Care for America Now (HCAN) coalition. To learn more, visit their website or Facebook page."
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WE DO NOT TAKE ADVICE ON HEALTH CARE FROM ANYONE ESPECIALLY FROM THOSE IN THE MOST CORRUPT STATE IN THE NATION - ILLINOIS THAT IS!
It is rather amusing that people think there are people who intentionally lie on insurance forms. Who thinks they are easy forms to understand in the first place? My father has a genetic disorder. CIGNA continues to deny and stall on claims because the date of birth they have on record for him does not match his actual date of birth. Pretty convenient for CIGNA, huh? Delay paying a claim based on information that is available from multiple public sources, the Social Security Administration, The Internal Revenue Service, City Hall birth records. Well, you get the point. I don't think my father "lied" on his insurance application to CIGNA about his date of birth. I am pretty confident that my dad remembers when he was born!
It is just a convenient way for CIGNA to stall payment so it can increase its profits through cash-flow management. The more cash they can hold onto every month the more money they can make in interest. So he has to "prove" with every new claim he was really born when he was. CIGNA has yet to change their records to reflect the correct information. Do you know how much time he has to waste on the phone to just get his doctors paid?
Just a classic example how the "private sector" is doing such a better job then a "public sector" could.
I think we need to realize that, for some unemployed workers, the issues of UC benefits and health care are definitely tied together...here's an example...sixteen months with no real work, no money to pay health insurance premiums...A small skin lesion on the left shoulder and the reason for being unemployed...a work related injury (hernia) that my former employer fired me for, because I reported it...no one will hire if the health issues are discovered, so they need fixed while I scrape by with the unemployment...my guess is that with the stubbornness of this "recession", there are many more like myself out there hoping BOTH pass in a timely manner
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