Health Care for All

Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.

—Martin Luther King, Jr.

Lack of quality and affordable health care deepens and causes poverty for millions of families in the U.S. and around the world. Recognizing that access to health insurance is a huge barrier for millions of Americans, we’re building momentum and advocating for legislation for health coverage for all.

RESULTS worked to make health care for all by 2010 a national priority through the efforts of our grassroots activists, coalition work, and champions in Congress. As needed, we will engage in actions in 2011 to protect health coverage (through Medicaid, children's health coverage, and Medicare) and access (through community health centers) for millions of Americans living in poverty. And, more broadly, health for all requires investments in important nutrition safety net programs, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Food Stamps) and child nutrition programs. We are working with our allies to protect investments in these critical lifelines for families.

Goals for RESULTS’ 2009-2010 Health Care for All Campaign

The National Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommends a system of universal health care by 2010 based on five guiding principles.

• Health care coverage should be universal.
• Health care coverage should be continuous.
• Health care should be affordable for Individuals and families.
• The system of health insurance should be sustainable for society.
• Health care provided should be effective, efficient, safe, timely, patient-centered, and equitable.

RESULTS believes that creating a health care delivery system based on these principles will not only best serve vulnerable populations in the U.S., but will significantly improve health care quality and costs for all Americans. We endorsed these principles and made them our guideline for evaluating specific health care reform proposals. Using these IOM principles, in 2008 RESULTS endorsed a model of a National Health Program, that would expand Medicare, as our long-term goal. RESULTS supports the National Health Care Act (H.R.676) in the House and the American Health Security Act of 2009 (S.703) in the Senate, which address the needs of the uninsured, medical inflation, and the inconsistent quality of health care in the U.S.

RESULTS remains committed to H.R.676 and S.703 as marker bills for the health system our country needs. Unfortunately, the major players drafting health reform legislation in the House and Senate did not use a single payer system as the model for health reform legislation this year. In the meantime, the health of millions of low- income Americans is at stake and so we simultaneously engaged in efforts to expand coverage and access for vulnerable populations. We supported policies that are building blocks to a national health program and will make a huge difference to people living in poverty in the short term. Specifically, our network pushed Congress to strengthen Medicaid to cover all lower-income Americans and expand access to quality care through Community Health Centers. For more on how health reform can further efforts for a National Health Program, see our 2010 International Conference Health Care Reform Workshop: What does it all mean? How can we build momentum for single payer plan? Power Point and Handout.

In the past, RESULTS volunteers worked hard to ensure that the current health care safety net is maintained and strengthened. The economic recovery package passed by Congress in February 2009 increases federal funds for Medicaid by $87 billion, a key priority for our network, to help states maintain health coverage during the recession. In addition, we continue our work to expand children’s health coverage, building on new legislation to renew and improve the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which provides health coverage to low- and moderate-income children. This new law will allow 4.1 million uninsured children to get health coverage. Also, states will now have the option to cover legal immigrant children and pregnant mothers with federal CHIP funds.

Large racial and ethnic disparities in health care access, coverage, and quality of care, including differences in preventative, diagnostic, and treatment services, compromise the quality of life for millions of Americans. Numerous studies and reports have documented that racial and ethnic minorities are in poorer health, receive lower-quality health care, suffer worse health outcomes, and have higher rates of illness, injury, and premature death when compared to whites. We continue to support efforts to address health disparities in Congress.

RESULTS believes that any health care reform effort must not only focus on coverage, but must also focus on the severe racial discrepancies in health care quality, cost, and access that arise from what are known as the “social determinants of health,” such as income, education, and social and physical environments.