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The healthcare delivery system in America is more than a crisis.  It is a source of national shame and international embarrassment. In spite of expenditures that more than double what most other industrialized nations pay per capita, we are ranked only 37th in the world by the World Health Organization in terms of longevity, infant mortality, fair access, and overall health maintenance. Recent census data show that 47 million Americans remain uninsured, with another 50 million inadequately protected against catastrophic illness. More than a quarter of the uninsured are between the ages of 19 and 29.  Physicians for a National Health Program report that half of all personal bankruptcies in this country are the result of medical bills, with 3/4 of these occurring in families who had insurance when illness struck. And, perhaps most shocking, the National Institute of Medicine reports that an estimated 18,000 American die needlessly each year simply because they can’t afford health care or are denied treatment by insurance companies (that's more than 82,600 deaths since March 2003!) in spite of the wealth of resources in this country.

The reason for this dismal failure is simple.  Under our current for-profit insurance system, more than 30% of all healthcare dollars are wasted on administrative costs (primarily aimed at avoiding insurance payouts), expensive advertising and marketing schemes, excessive corporate salaries, lobbying for legislative protection of the status quo, and stockholder profits. In spite of ever increasing premiums shared by employers and employees alike, 60% of all healthcare spending is currently paid by federal programs, and 20% is paid by individuals through co-pays and deductibles, leaving for-profit insurance companies responsible for only 20% of monies paid out while they collect billions from both business and individual policyholders. Insurance companies are free to avoid covering sick people, to deny coverage based on prior illness, and to earn enormous profits by insuring primarily the young and the healthy, while public programs struggle to care for the old and the sick.

The answer is equally simple: A single-payer, publicly funded, privately provided healthcare delivery system would cover all Americans, while eliminating administrative waste and duplication of services.  In 2003, Congressman John Conyers introduced HR 676 (The United States National Health Care Act), which would establish such a single-payer system.  When Conyers reintroduced HR 676 on January 26, 2009, 30 of his colleagues in the U.S. House of Representatives signed on as cosponsors within the first hour.  Presently there are 83 cosponsors.  (The same bill had 93 cosponsors in the 110th Congress.)   It will take grassroots action to make single-payer politically feasible.  For example, House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) said just the day before Conyers reintroduced HR 676, that he would oppose any comprehensive healthcare reform this year.  Yet he was one of the 93 cosponsors in the previous Congress!  (You can call Congressman Clyburn's office at 202-225-3315.)

HR 676 is currently stalled in Congressional committees due to the opposition and influence of big insurance and big pharmaceuticals. Supported by Physicians for a National Health Program and Healthcare-Now!, alongside a broad grassroots network of activists, faith-based organizations, labor, and professional groups, HR 676 would provide comprehensive health care coverage to all Americans while saving an estimated $56 billion annually. It does this by cutting out the middleman, eliminating duplication of coverage, improving and expanding the current Medicare system (which operates successfully with a 3.5% overhead), without excluding pre-existing conditions or limiting care, while preserving complete freedom of choice of healthcare providers and leaving all treatment decisions to the patient and chosen physician. Click Here to read more about HR 676.

The San Antonio Healthcare-Now Coalition is affiliated with the  national Healthcare-Now movement.  We are NOT affiliated with Health Care for America Now (HCAN).  Read about the difference between Healthcare-Now and HCAN here.