[Faith & Hunger] Faith Groups Urge NY to Enact Health Care for All

[Dunleamark@aol.com]

Faith and Hunger Network
News Release

May 4, 2006
Mark Dunlea 518 434-7371, xt 1#
Dr. Richard Propp, 518-482-0420

Faith Leaders Call on New York  State to Provide Health Care for All
Suppport the Creation of a state  Commission on Universal Health Care

A coalition of faith leaders  today called upon the New York State to provide 
health care for all New York  residents. 

The groups are participating in the national Cover the  Uninsured Week 
(http://covertheuninsured.org/). Nearly 46 million Americans –  and 3 million New 
Yorkers - are living without health insurance, including more  than 8 million 
children. They are forced to gamble every day that they won't get  sick or 
injured. Uninsured Americans live sicker and die younger than those with  health 
insurance. A new survey by the Commonwealth Fund found that 41 percent of  
nonelderly American adults with incomes between $20,000 and $40,000 a year were  
without health insurance for all or part of 2005. That's up from 28 percent as  
recently as 2001. Many of the uninsured reported spending their entire savings 
 on health care and/or that they were having difficulty paying for basic  
necessities.

The groups urged the Legislature to create a State  Commission on Health Care 
Coverage to do a cost-benefit analysis of all the ways  the State could 
provide health care coverage to all residents. On Tuesday, the  Commission bill 
(A6575) was voted unanimously out of the Assembly Health  Committee. Senator 
Marchi (S4928) is sponsoring a similar commission bill. Half  a dozen states have 
already initiated such a process. Massachusetts recently  joined Maine in 
enacting a program intended to provide universal health care  coverage.

“Every Presbyterian church in New York State, just like  every household, is 
struggling with a health care system which is broken”, said  the Rev. Cass L. 
Shaw, Presbyter of Albany. “People's well being is at stake,  and it is 
affecting our ability to do ministry, to engage in effective mission.  The high cost 
of health care means that many churches can't afford full time  pastors... 
and even those who can face the terrible irony of having to pay  exorbitant 
premiums for their pastors when all too many people in the pews and  on the 
streets go without any health care at all.  This is a crisis that  goes to the heart 
of our identity and purpose.”  

The Presbyterian  Church “supports the right of every person to have access 
to quality health care  that is adequate, affordable, and accountable. The 
private and public sectors  and voluntary organizations, individually and 
cooperatively, should work to that  end. . . The Church urges Congregations to engage 
in advocacy and work towards  just and equitable public policy on health care 
affecting a cross section of the  population.” [The 211th General Assembly of 
the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)  Statements (1999)] The health of a society 
is measured by the quality of its  concern and care for the health of its 
people. How provision is made for  children in the dawn of life, the elderly in the 
twilight of life, and the sick,  needy, and those with disabling conditions 
in the shadow of life are clear  indices of the moral character and commitment 
of a nation.”  (1988)

“Why do I advocate for more accessible and equitable health  care for all the 
peoples of the United States?” asked Rev. Ellen Tatreau of the  Emmanual 
Baptist Church. “ Because my conscience compels it and Christ commands  it.  This 
is a matter of justice; it’s a matter of mercy and; it’s a matter  of 
striving to be faithful to evidencing a love for God, self and creation that  holds 
integrity. The Health Care system in the United States fails to recognize  and 
sustain the well being and integrity of all our people, therefore, it is a  
system which is a failure.”

“Presently, the United States has a  health care system that is in crisis. 
Many people do not have health insurance  and therefore go without basic health 
care. They see physicians less often and  die younger than those with 
insurance. Even people with apparently good health  insurance coverage have hidden 
vulnerabilities when faced with payments for  expensive medical conditions. In 
accordance with our 1975 Policy Statement on  Health Care, we believe that 
health care should be viewed as a right, not a  privilege, and that the basic goal 
for health care reform should be universal  access to comprehensive benefits. 
[American Baptist Resolution on Health Care  for All, General Board of the 
American Baptist Churches, June  1992]

“All faith traditions, despite encompassing a wide spectrum  of beliefs, hold 
central a conviction that life is a gift from God to be  cherished and that 
God’s people are called to care for one another, provide  healing and prevent 
suffering with compassion and a commitment to justice,”  stated Mark Dunlea of 
the Faith and Hunger Network. “Providing health care to  all would save money 
for taxpayers and consumers,” he noted. Many groups support  a Medicare for 
All system which by eliminating the paperwork and bureaucracy of  the private 
health insurance industry could save more than $200 billion  annually.

“Health care is a right not a privilege for those who can  afford to pay. 
Health care lives in a twilight zone between the for profit  entities and non for 
profit regulations. The myth is that we have the best  health care in the 
World. In reality we pay twice as much as many European  countries and have 
higher mortality, morbidity rates as well as a shorter life  expectancy, said 
Sister Mary Ann Rogers. “We do not have a health care system  but rather episodic 
and non sequential care. Our model is emergency care, a  disease model, not a 
wellness model built on prevention,” added Sr. Rogers, who  has worked in a 
hospital setting for more than 30 years..

The US  Catholic Bishops have stated: “Every person has the right to adequate 
health  care. This right flows from the sanctity of human life and the 
dignity that  belongs to all persons, who are made in the image of God... Our call 
for health  care reform is rooted in the biblical call to heal the sick and to 
serve 'the  least of these,' the priorities of justice and the principle of 
the common good.  The existing patterns of health care in the United States do 
not meet the  minimal standard of social justice and the common good.”

"Judaism teaches  us that when there is a way to alleviate suffering, not to 
do so is to deny our  responsibility to humankind,” stated Dr. Richard Propp 
of the Capital District  Alliance for Universal Health Care and a a 
spokesperson for the B'nai Sholom  Reform Congregation of Albany. “The question, "Am I my 
brother's keeper?" has  always been answered affirmatively in Jewish 
tradition.  In modern society,  which places a very high value on good health as a 
necessity for full  participation in the benefit of our secular culture, the 
financial costs of  medical care have risen to a level that effectively bars large 
numbers of people  from relief from and prevention of suffering.”

The B'nai Sholom  Reform Congregation of Albany supports the following 
principles, affirmed by its  Board of Trustees in April 2006:
Health care coverage should be guaranteed to  every person living in our 
country. 
Health care coverage should be  continuous through all stages of life 
The health care financing strategy  should be one that is both affordable and 
sustainable for society 
The health  care coverage should encompass a system that promotes access to 
high quality  preventive, acute, and chronic care that is effective, safe, 
timely, and  equitable for patients and health care professionals. 
The provision of care  should remain private utilizing individual physicians, 
group practices, and  not-for-profit hospitals."
The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism has  urged Congress and the 
Administration to develop a comprehensive national health  care plan that ensures 
adequate coverage for all Americans [National Health Care  (Leadership Council 
of Conservative Judaism, 1992)]

The Commission  proposal has been endorsed by more than 250 organizations, 
including the NYS  Nurses Association, NYPIRG, Physicians for a National Health 
Plan (NY),  Rekindling Reform, Hunger Action Network of NYS, 1199 SEIU, NYSUT, 
Albany County  Central Labor Council, Community Service Society, American 
Medical Student  Association (Albany Med and Cornell), Rochester Interfaith 
Health Coalition,  ES2, SENSES, NASW NYS, UJA Federation of NY, Federation of 
Protestant Welfare  Agencies, Public Health Association of NYC, Professional Staff 
Congress,  Congress of Senior Citizens, Metro Health NY, Western NY Health 
Care Campaign,  NYS Health Care Campaign, Citizen Action, Working Families Party, 
NYSUT, SCAA.  

The current system of health coverage undermines the health and  financial 
security of those who lack coverage; imposes increasing financial  burdens on 
employers, taxpayers and individuals who pay for health coverage;  unfairly 
distributes the economic and social costs of health care; and  undermines the 
financial viability of health care providers.  The  commission on health coverage 
reform would evaluate and make recommendations  concerning mechanisms for 
providing comprehensive, affordable, quality health  coverage to all New Yorkers 
while controlling costs and ensuring freedom of  choice for consumers.  

The commission would evaluate the  effect of  proposals on: (a) advancing the 
goal of universal health  coverage; (b) controlling the cost of health 
coverage and health care; (c)  fairly and equitably distributing the cost of health 
coverage and health care;  (d) the level and distribution of costs as a 
barrier to health coverage or  health care; (e) employers and employment; (f) the 
special concerns of small  businesses; the self-employed and sole-proprietors; 
collective bargaining  arrangements; people with multiple, seasonal or sporadic 
employment; low-income  households; and people who are unemployed, 
under-employed or unable to work;  and, (g) the economic viability of hospitals, 
community health centers, health  care professionals, and other health care providers.

The groups  pointed out that a universal health care system would also help 
reduce the costs  of workers compensation, medical malpractice and auto 
insurance  premiums.

Every year, 18,000 Americans die prematurely because they  don’t have health 
insurance, according to a comprehensive report by the National  Academy of 
Sciences’ Institute of Medicine. Since they receive inadequate health  care and 
their major illnesses are diagnosed too late, the uninsured become  sicker and 
die sooner. For instance, uninsured women with breast cancer have a  30 to 50 
percent higher risk of dying than women with health insurance. The  current 
system for providing medical care to the uninsured drives up health care  costs 
for everyone else. When the uninsured do receive care, it is often at  
hospital emergency rooms and urgent care clinics, costly and inefficient places  to 
provide primary care.  Nationwide, facilities that treat the uninsured  provide 
nearly $100 billion in healthcare services each year. To pay for  
unreimbursed costs, these facilities have to increase costs to public and  private 
insurance programs, driving up rates for  everyone

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