ABOUT 42 million Americans - 600,000 in Maryland - have no health insurance, either because they have no jobs or jobs with no health benefits, they can't afford it, or they don't think they need it.
Nationally, the number is increasing by about 1 million annually.
Citizens can bring these figures to zero by voting into office leaders who will enact national health insurance.
We know that our health insurance is only as good as our economy and job. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation recently reported that sometime during 2001 and 2002, 30 percent of 74.7 million Americans under 65 were uninsured. Sixty-five percent of them were without health coverage for at least six months, and 24 percent were uninsured throughout those two years.
Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, said, "The findings in this report should represent a sea change in the way we think about the uninsured. Now that almost one out of three non-elderly Americans experienced significant periods without health insurance, the uninsured problem is no longer simply an issue of altruism about other people, but it is also one of self-interest for us all. ... We are moving toward a political tipping point that will require real and meaningful action to expand health coverage."
Frank Bailey, Maryland's director of the AARP, said its policy is now in favor of health coverage for all citizens and AARP believes "it's needed and doable after our economy improves."
States are running deficits totaling about $67.5 billion this year and projected to be $85 billion next year. Medicaid expenditures represent about 20 percent of states' total budgets. According to Families USA, cutbacks could jeopardize "the health care of 47 million low-income seniors, people with disabilities and low-income children and their parents."
To prime the national health insurance pump, let's discuss redirecting President Bush's hundreds of billions of dollars of proposed tax cuts over the next 10 years, which mostly benefit people with high incomes. Put it back into the economy as a down payment on universal coverage.
A privately administered national health insurance plan would include current Medicare coverage plus prescriptions, disease prevention, mental health parity and illness and injuries arising from terrorist attacks. It would also take into account the baby boomers, who will double the Medicare rolls from 40 to 80 million over the next 30 years.
