Coalition for Health Coverage forms in Southhampton
The Southhampton Press
June 24, 2004
By Kathleen Fitzpatrick
Members of the newly formed Coalition for Health Coverage in Suffolk held a vigil outside Southampton Hospital’s emergency room on Saturday in solidarity with thousands of protesters across the country who called attention to the millions of Americans who don’t have health insurance.
“This is a story that is playing out all over the U.S.,” said Kathleen Madigan, the eastern Long Island outreach coordinator for the Women’s Health Partnership, referring to the national day of action calling for government action. “There are people out here on the East End who are working three jobs and can’t afford health insurance.”
East End activist Michael O’Neill of the Unitarian Universalist Church said he’s 68 years old and can’t afford health insurance or dental care. “I have to hope I don’t get sick,” he said. “Medicine should not be a privilege.”
According to Families USA, a non-profit organization dedicated to achieving health care for all Americans, more than 75 percent of uninsured New Yorkers are members of working families. The remaining New Yorkers are either seeking employment or are not in the labor force because they are chronically ill, disabled or caregivers.
The coalition of South Fork organizations, which formed two months ago, is “pulling together to ring the bell” on the health insurance emergency in this community, said Ms. Madigan.
James S. Henry, author and investigative journalist, served as spokesperson for the coalition. “This group is coming together to start organizing on issues of concern to people who are not insured, but also to hospitals facing financial crisis in treating those who are uninsured, and the rest of us living in a population where doctors are not doing preventative care,” he said. “Seventy-two million Americans experienced a lack of coverage within the last two years. We’re making an effort to educate people to build support for specific policy changes at all levels.”
A bill championed by many at the vigil, the National Health Care Act, also referred to as Expanded Medicare for All Americans, has 30 sponsors in Congress. Dr. Elaine Fox of Physicians for National Healthcare who had a practice for 17 years in Southampton, has taken time off to be an activist, and supports the bill. She explained that the act would cover everyone under the “old-fashioned” Medicare.
“Medical administration costs would be 3 percent; right now, it’s at 10.25 percent with all other insurance plans,” she said. “The country would save $280 billion a year. That money is enough to cover all of the uninsured, to cover prescription drugs, and also cover those who are underinsured.”
Dr. Fox said that this bill would not cause an increase in health care spending. “Bush’s bill increases spending by $550 billion,” she said. “The reason that [this bill] has not passed yet is because of profits. Profit motive has no place in health care. Patients come before profits.”
The current system is profit-driven, not patient-driven, according to Mr. Henry. He said that such a system doesn’t work.
“Employer-based health care system is not doing the job,” he said. “Costs have risen 10 percent a year for the last decade. As a country, a larger share of our national income is going to pay health insurance, more than in any other country. Fifteen percent of our [Gross Domestic Product] goes toward health insurance. In European countries and in Canada they pay less than half of that.”
Mr. Henry explained that one of the problems with the medical market is that it’s not competitive. “It’s not the kind of market you expect to work well without regulation,” he said. “Consumers don’t know enough to evaluate their own care. Suppliers don’t have to compete. The people paying the bills—insurance companies—are not the ones receiving the care.”
“Those of us in this coalition believe health care should be viewed as a human right,” said Mr. Henry. “A lot of Americans wake up every day with this on their mind. People are losing their businesses. Small businesses are having a hard time competing. Hospitals like this one are in trouble.”
According to Donna Sutton, Southampton Hospital’s director of public affairs, in 2003 the hospital reported $1.3 million in “charity care,” free care provided to patients who are not expected to pay medical bills. In Suffolk and Nassau counties, there is a law that requires hospital to have a “charity care” program.
At Southampton Hospital, the amount of aid provided is based on need, which is determined by income and family size. The highest eligible income is twice the federal poverty level. The hospital actively screens those who could benefit from charity care, she said.
The hospital also reported $6 million in uncompensated care—expenditures not collected due to insurance companies not covering the bills and/or patients who the hospital expected would pay but who didn’t. The hospital’s total revenue for 2003 was about $80.7 million.
Dr. Allen Fein, who has a practice in Southampton, emphasized that the coalition was not attacking the hospital. “Hospitals are caught in a system where they aren’t being paid for the care they provide,” he said. “There’s very little good will between hospitals and insurance companies.”
Dr. Fox said that a disproportionate number of people of color are without health insurance. According to the coalition’s press release, 32 percent of Hispanics living in the United States are uninsured; 10 of the 13 million uninsured Hispanics are in working families. Twenty percent of black Americans and 18 percent of Asians are uninsured, compared with 11 percent of whites.
Most immigrants on the East End do not have health insurance—an issue the coalition will work on.
“If our goal is to provide care for everyone, and we want to include the immigrant community as well,” said Mr. O’Neill. “It is an injustice that they pay social security taxes and they’re not eligible to receive that money if they return to their home country.”
Ms. Madigan said the group would begin to meet regularly. “The next steps are for us to have an organizing meeting to formulate positions on this,” she said.
Currently the group is working on filming a documentary, “On the Edge: Living Without Health Insurance,” which highlights health insurance issues on the East End. The group hopes to have it finished by the fall, she said.