| Allegheny County, PA | November 4, 2008 Election |
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Universal Health CareBy Christopher Titus "Titus" NorthCandidate for US Representative; District 14 |
This information is provided by the candidate | |
The United States is the only industrialized nation without a national health care system. The current system's high costs and widely recognized failures demand that bold steps be taken. The Green Party supports a universal, comprehensive, national single-payer health insurance program as the only solution to the current disastrous for-profit system.We all know that there is a health care crisis in this country. 45mn Americans without health insurance. More of us are at risk of losing health insurance should we lose our job. As the economy sinks into recession, how confident can any of us be that we will be able to secure treatment should a family member have a health crisis within the next few years? It's not as if we as a society cannot afford to offer free healthcare to all our residents. We are already paying 16% of our GDP towards healthcare. European countries as well as Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, and Cuba are able to provide all their citizens with quality health care at a fraction of what we spend, and lead longer, healthier lives. So why is it that we spend more and get less? It's because of the gross inefficiency and exploitation of our private health insurance system. We have all gone to a doctor or hospital and found that the staff has no idea what services are or are not covered by our insurance. That's because there is a myriad of companies with a plethera of plans, each with its own rules and bureaucracies. This redundancy in administration is unimaginable in other countries. 45 million Americans without healthcare. That"s 15% of the population. Do you know what percentage of our health insurance dollars go towards administration, marketing costs, plus profits? 15% or more, depending on the company. And that doesn't count the bloated executive salaries. We are paying to insure everyone, but the corporate criminals who control our health care system are diverting 45 million people"s health care money for their own benefit! Jeffrey Romoff, CEO of the so-called non-profit UPMC, which pays no real estate taxes to the city of Pittsburgh, paid himself $3.9 million last year. Now, an employer pays an average of $12,000 per year to insurance companies to cover a worker with a family of four. Let's do the math. Romoff's salary could pay for health insurance at those prices for over 300 families. What could he possibly be doing that could be worth more than healthcare for 300 families? And UPMC is the biggest advertiser in the Pittsburgh region. Everytime you see a health insurance commercial, remember that it is being paid for by sacrificing someone"s health care. The Democrats won't support a single-payer system because it would be too politcally difficult -- that is to say that they are in the pockets of the insurance industry. Ending slavery was politically difficult, but it needed to be done. And we don't have to fight a civil war this time. We just need to do what the Europeans and the Japanese did and demand it of our elected officials. If we are not willing to vote for candidates who support what we need, how can we expect to get it? |
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pa/state Created from information supplied by the candidate: October 10, 2008 04:56
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