How Not to Reform Healthcare

Runaway healthcare costs are destroying American business and manufacturing:

"As a result of these crushing health care costs, American businesses are losing their ability to compete in the global marketplace."--HealthReform.gov, 10/8/09

"Health care at General Motors puts the company at a $5 billion disadvantage against Toyota, which spends $1,400 less on health care per vehicle,"--former General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner, Reuters, 3/30/09

Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz says Starbucks will spend more on health insurance for employees this year than on coffee. (USA Today, 9/14/05)

...and healthcare costs are crushing the American Dream:

About 1.5 million families lose their homes to foreclosure every year due to unaffordable medical costs. (The National Coalition on Health Care, 10/8/09)

"The cost of health care now causes a bankruptcy in America every 30 seconds."--President Barack Obama, 3/5/09

14,000 Americans lose their health insurance coverage every single day. (ThinkProgress.org, 2/17/09)

A national study released this year found that while medical debt contributed to 62 percent of the bankruptcies in 2007, 78 percent of those bankruptcy filers had health insurance but "still were overwhelmed by their medical debt."

Workers are now paying $1,600 more in premiums annually for family coverage than they did in 1999.²

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After hearing testimony from advocates of everything but what the American people actually want, the Senate Finance Committee came up with a plan that looks a lot more like a wish list of the health insurance and pharmaceutical industries than a healthcare plan resembling Medicare. This is another clear case of our so-called representatives in Washington representing Big Money interests over what is best for the American people.

But this fight is not over. We can not allow the health insurance corporations to buy Congress and control the reform of our healthcare system. It should be up to the American people to decide what kind of healthcare system we have. Do we want a healthcare system that provides the best possible prevention and treatment of disease and injury, or do we want a healthcare system designed to maximize profits for health insurance and pharmaceutical companies? We can't have both.

Call your Senators and Representative via the Capitol Switchboard (202-224-3121) and let them know what kind of healthcare system you want. Let them know that you are paying attention and will hold them accountable in the next election for failing to represent you on this important issue.

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