THIS DIARY IS DEDICATED TO THE 45.8 MILLION UNINSURED AMERICANS.
THIS DIARY PUTS THE POLITICAL CLASS ON NOTICE THAT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WILL NOT TOLERATE THIS GROTESQUE SITUATION ANY LONGER!
I have never asked for a recommend, I will never do so again. I would, however like this diary to get attention.
I've started to look into what the political class gives itself in the way of health benefits. It's shocking. Please don't comment in a nasty way with a cynical, "you're shocked?" Yeah, I'm naive and shocked. I had no idea how well they take care of themselves.
Can you imagine if THEY had no health care. If they had to grovel like us to find affordable care? Can you imagine?
Well you don't have to imagine a God damn anything. They give themselves deluxe, afforable insurance. We get shit--nothing. We have to fend for ourselves against the insurance industry like crazed animals.
Why? Take one guess--campaign contributions, lobbyists. It's sickening.
This is not right! The Iraqi constitution guarantees health care to all Iraqis! But Americans do not have the same guarantee--not at all.
Take a look at this. These are the health insurance benefits that legislators in New York State give themselves.
http://www.cs.state.ny.us/...
Now look at this. These are the health benefits for congresspeople, senators and federal employees:
http://www.geha.com/
Now, keep in mind dear friends, that Congress is poised to gut another 35 billion from Medicaid. Medicaid is the safety net program for low income Americans.
Now read some excerpts from the report of the Economic Policy Institute.
These are the report's central findings regarding health insurance coverage for working Americans. We who work in the private sector, pay taxes and play by the rules:
"The number of uninsured Americans rose by over six million, from 39.8 million in 2000 to 45.8 million in 2004. This increase was due primarily to the precipitous decline in employer-provided health coverage for workers and their families.
The downward trend in the rate of employer-provided health insurance continued from 2003 to 2004, during a period in which the economy created 1.5 million jobs--either many of these new jobs did not include health coverage or existing jobs shed coverage during the year (or both).
Jobholders experienced a significant decline in health insurance coverage from 2000 to 2004. In 2000, 58.9% of workers had employer-provided coverage, whereas only 55.9% of workers had coverage in 2004.
No category of workers was insulated from loss of coverage. Even full-time, full-year workers and workers with a college degree experienced declines in coverage between 2000 and 2004. Full-time, full-year workers' coverage rates fell by 2.3 percentage points and college graduates' coverage rates fell by 2.8 percentage points.
Workers among the bottom 20% of hourly wage earners were the least likely to have employer coverage; 24.4% of the bottom quintile were covered compared to 77.5% for workers in the highest wage quintile.
Children experienced the sharpest declines in employer-provided health insurance coverage. In 2000, 65.6% of children had employer-provided coverage, whereas in 2004 only 60.8% did, a fall of nearly five percentage points. Fortunately, existing government insurance (i.e., Medicaid and State Children's Health Insurance Programs) increased coverage to children by six percentage points, enough to offset the sharp decline in employer coverage for this group.
Unlike the trend with children, the fall in employer-provided coverage for prime-age working adults was not accompanied by a sufficient increase in public coverage.
The decline in employer coverage was pervasive and felt throughout the country. When comparing the 1999-2000 and 2003-04 periods, Maryland, Maine, Missouri, North Carolina, and Wisconsin all experienced losses in coverage rates in excess of 6.0 percentage points. Not a single state experienced a statistically significant increase in coverage."
You can read the entire depressing report here:
http://www.epi.org/...
The report concludes as follows:
"Social insurance is intended to insulate people from negative shocks such as job loss, illness, or natural disaster. Public insurance is intended to provide a safety net to people who have limited access to private insurance markets. Clearly, there are many Americans who fall through the growing crack between employer-provided coverage and government health programs. A universal system, one that provides a minimum standard of care to everyone, would provide Americans with access to the type of health care appropriate for the most prosperous nation in the world. Taking insurance out of the job market and into the public sector has the potential to provide a stronger safety net, particularly during times of weak labor growth. This can lead more Americans to have steadier insurance access and increase their ability to secure regular medical care.
Unfortunately, the day when Americans might see universal health care in the United States seems a distant one. To make matters worse, Congress and President Bush are attempting to weaken both the government safety net and the employer system. A recent congressional budget resolution calls for substantial cuts to Medicaid, and President Bush's tax reform panel is apparently proposing a cap on the employer income deduction for health insurance benefits, diminishing incentives for providing insurance in the workplace. At the same time, states are facing fiscal difficulties that may cause them to cut publicly provided health benefits even deeper.
From 2000 to 2004, this country saw a substantial rise in the number of uninsured. A continued decline in those with employer-provided health insurance along with a weakening of the health insurance safety net will undoubtedly cause more and more Americans to lose coverage and therefore access to adequate health care."