Group Wants More Health Care Reform
Posted on: Tuesday, 9 September 2008, 14:20 CDT
A coalition of business and labor groups frustrated by the political bickering that has blocked U.S. health care reform for years has joined with an advocacy group for the elderly to try to break the gridlock and achieve success under the next president.
The nearly 40 million-member senior citizens group AARP, the Business Roundtable, the National Federation of Independent Businesses, and the Service Employees International Union has been dogging candidates on health care for more than a year.
To ensure health care takes center stage in this year's congressional and presidential elections on November 4, their "Divided We Fail" campaign includes television advertisements and dozens of community forums.
The "Divided We Fail" campaign is unusual because it does not advocate a particular approach. Instead it has put out a set of principles underscoring the need for affordable, quality health care and financial security for all.
"There is no question that the American people, as they look at Washington, are shaking their heads and saying, 'Why can't something get done?' To that extent, health care is high on their list," said Nancy LeaMond, an AARP executive vice president directing the coalition effort.
About 16 percent of the $14 trillion U.S. economy comes from Health care spending. With health care taking an ever increasing chunk out of personal, corporate and government budgets, the stakes are high and chances are good that the next president, whether it's Democrat Barack Obama or Republican John McCain, will undertake major health care reform.
The Divided We Fail pledge has, so far, been signed by 342 of the 535 members in Congress, including Obama and McCain, in an effort to work across party lines to develop a health care plan or have expressed support for the group's initiative.
The United States spends more per person on health care than any other country and yet leaves some 45.7 million Americans without coverage.
Spearheaded in the early 1990s by now-Sen. Hillary Clinton during her husband's presidency, the last all-out effort at a major overhaul ended in failure as various interest groups lined up to pick apart the complex plan.
But LeaMond said this time it may be different.
She said many groups were on the sidelines in the '90s. "Many groups were saying, 'Let me just see the final proposal and I'll decide whether I support it or not.' They are now in a very different place. They are saying, 'We've got to address these issues, we'll come to the table,'" she added.
Unions, businesses and health industry interests are forming new advocacy groups, joining coalitions and spending millions of dollars to lay the groundwork and ensure their views are heard during the upcoming debate.
Such groups include Better Health Care Together, which includes Wal-Mart Stores Inc and other corporate giants along with non-profit policy groups. The group's goal is a reformed health care system by 2012.
The Coalition to Advance Healthcare Reform joins 60 companies, including national grocery store chains and health care providers, to advance "market-based solutions" to the health care crisis.
A coalition of unions including the 10 million-member AFL-CIO and a number of liberal leaning policy groups formed the Health Care for America Now, which launched a nationwide campaign in July to generate public support for quality affordable health care for everyone.
Spokeswoman Jacki Schechner said the group wants to be sure health care reform is a top priority in 2009 for the next president and Congress.
Polling shows that independent voters are looking for more details of what the candidates will do once they take office. Obama and McCain have put out health care reform proposals that would take different approaches, AARP said.
Under McCain’s plan, tax breaks would end for employer-provided health insurance and provide a refundable tax credit of $2,500 per person, or $5,000 for families, to help them buy individual policies.
Obama proposed allowing individuals and small businesses to buy health care similar to that available to federal employees, supplemented in part by a tax on employers who do not provide coverage.
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Source: redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports
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