ACTION ALERT: NAACP SUPPORTS HEALTH CARE REFORM THAT INCLUDES AN EXPANSION OF COVERAGE TO ALL AMERICANS AND ELIMINATES RACIAL HEALTH CARE DISPARITIES
The Issue:
Too many Americans today are straining under the burden of two related trends: shrinking health care coverage and rising health care costs. Over the last decade, millions of Americans have found themselves uninsured, and millions more have become underinsured as the value of their coverage has declined. In the years 2008 – 2010, it is estimated that approximately 6,000 people a day, or almost 7 million Americans total, will lose their health insurance. At the same time, health insurance premiums and out-of-pocket costs have risen steadily, and the number of families who are facing unmanageably high health care costs continues to grow. In fact, nearly one in four non-elderly Americans are in families that will spend more than 10% of their pre-tax dollars on health care in 2009, and the vast majority of them (more than 82%) have health care insurance. Furthermore, in the United States today the color of your skin, your ethnic background and where you live can not only influence your health care access and quality; they can determine them. And while medical science has made a lot of advances over the last 10 years, the gains made by the discovery of new drugs and treatments have not passed on to all segments of our population.
Health care reform is currently moving through Congress, and the NAACP is working hard to ensure that the final product has the following four elements: (1) Full health care coverage that is affordable to every individual, family and business which also provides coverage for pre-existing conditions; (2) Standard, comprehensive health care benefits that meet everyone’s needs from preventive to chronic care; (3) The choice of a private (allowing recipients to stay with their existing health care coverage if they choose) or public health care plan, which includes a new public health care plan (the “public option”) that will provide a guaranteed backup which will always be there to ensure quality, affordable health care coverage no matter what; and (4) Equity in health care access, treatment, research, and resources to people and communities of color and stronger health services in low-income communities.