Doctors, Nurses Challenge Edwards to Endorse Real Reform
For Immediate Release
August 16, 2007
Contacts:
PNHP- Todd Main, 312-782-6006
CNA/NNOC- Charles Idelson, 415-559-8991
Iowa Ads Call for Leadership on Guaranteed Health Care for All
Physicians for a National Health Program and the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee today launched the first in a series of broadcast and internet ads in Iowa challenging the leading Democratic candidates to take a more meaningful stand on health care by endorsing a single-payer style, guaranteed healthcare for all, system.
In the first ad, which begins running this morning, a cardboard stand-in for former Sen. John Edwards is asked “Why are we wasting thirty-one cents out of every health care dollar on administrative expenses?” by a small businessman. “Eliminate the middleman, make our businesses more competitive globally, and this country could afford health care for everyone.”
“We need real reform that cuts out the profiteering insurance companies and drug companies and creates a single-payer program guaranteeing healthcare for ALL Americans. Where’s the leadership on this, Senator Edwards?” the businessman asks.
The ad calls on viewers to “let the Democratic candidates for president know that real leadership on healthcare doesn’t mean just being better than the Republicans.”
Created by Bill Hillsman and North Woods Advertising, the ad can be seen on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNJTxRf6×3Q or at www.pnhp.org or at www.guaranteedhealthcare.org.
The series of ads coincide with the Iowa appearance of the Democratic Presidential candidates in several forums this week, culminating with a joint appearance Sunday on the ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos.
CNA/NNOC President Deborah Burger, RN explains that a theme of this ad is “to encourage Sen. Edwards, who extensively talked about healthcare, to embrace the only approach that will actually solve our national healthcare nightmare, a comprehensive single-payer plan, as in HR 676, a form of an improved Medicare for all, as exists in all other Western countries.”
In a Presidential forum sponsored by the AFL-CIO in Chicago last week, Sen. Edwards himself asked, “when are we going to actually stand up to these drug companies, these insurance companies? We’ve got to stop playing nice. We have to beat these people.”
“The public will support a champion of real healthcare reform,” says PNHP co-founder Quentin Young, MD. “Yet Edwards’ plan, leaving the insurance companies in place, fails to seize this opportunity. The candidate who embraces single payer may well win the nomination.”
What Businesses Have to Gain from Single-Payer Healthcare
American companies and small businesses in particular have much to gain from a single-payer reform, such as HR 676, say PNHP and CNA/NNOC.
- U.S. employers are at a huge competitive disadvantage with businesses based in Canada, Europe, or any other country with a national or single-payer healthcare system. Detroit automakers, for example, cite annual costs of about $12 billion to provide health benefits for current and former employees - money their competitors in Europe, Canada, and Asia do not have to spend.
- Skyrocketing costs, especially in insurance and drug company charges, are jeopardizing both business owners and employees.
- Premiums for healthcare coverage have risen 87% since 2000, placing a huge burden on those employers who provide health benefits for their employees. Many have felt forced to respond to their increased healthcare costs by reducing benefits for their employees or substantially shifting costs to their employees. A consequence is that rising costs have dramatically increased health insecurity for millions of Americans with insurance. A recent Wall Street Journal/NBC poll found that rising healthcare costs are the top domestic concern for voters.
- From coast to coast, employer efforts to cut healthcare costs have sparked over 90% of U.S. strikes and contract battles.
- Employees would not have to delay obtaining needed care due to spiraling costs, avoiding illnesses that can lead to greater health complications and work absences. For businesses, this translates into a healthier workforce and increased productivity.
- Business owners themselves also have substantial healthcare worries for their families, including threats of denial of care due to pre-existing conditions or loss of insurance after even minor medical problems. Like other Americans, many small business owners are one sickness, accident, or injury away from financial ruin. Single-payer is the only reform that guarantees health security for their families.