Fort Wayne focus during Cover the Uninsured Week; Souder to sponsor healthcare legislation for nation

By Dan Jehl

This is America. It's the land of the free and home of the brave. This is a country where citizens have constitutional rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness- or do they?

National Health Care Cover the Uninsured Week (April 27 to May 3) saw issues raised in Fort Wayne by groups saying many Americans do not enjoy these rights. National, state and local groups highlighted healthcare access as an issue during that week. Their message is that without health insurance coverage and access to healthcare, the pursuit of happiness is an empty promise rather than a right all enjoy. Without one's health that requires healthcare access with coverage, then where is the happiness, they asked?

The message was delivered on April 30 at Fort Wayne's Ivy Tech Community College by Andrea Palm, the Hillary for President top health policy advisor. She addressed more than 100 Ivy Tech students saying that "cover the uninsured" means cover everyone and that means adopting a national heath plan for universal coverage.

She referred to the nation's healthcare system as an "empty promise" to millions of Americans and said there is a "moral imperative" to address it. Palm spent an hour touting Senator Hillary Clinton's plan for a national healthcare program as one approach to do so.

According to Palm, the Clinton proposal would allow all who have healthcare to stay with their plan. For others, the federal government would offer health plans through the insurance companies funded by eliminating certain tax breaks. Multi-plans would allow people to choose to stay with their plan or choose another, and allow those with no plan, to choose one.

Critics of the plan say the federal government's role would be too heavy and the traditional health insurance companies' role too light.

On May Day (May1), as part of National Cover the Uninsured Week, Dr. Jonathon Walker and the Rev. Richard Hartman, Fort Wayne representatives of national, state, and local organizations and citizens presented a healthcare issue paper to U.S. Representative Mark Souder, (R-Ind.), Fort Wayne-area Congressman since 1995.

The issue paper, calling for a "single payer" national health plan, was presented to the staff of Congressman Souder's Fort Wayne office at the Downtown Federal Building. Congressman Souder was in Washington, D.C.

The groups presenting the paper were:

• Hoosiers for a CommonSense Health Plan (HCHP),
• National Physicians for Health Care (PHC), and
• Fort Wayne's Citizen Action Coalition (CAC).

The issue paper stated the shared belief of the groups that healthcare in America is a right; millions of citizens do not have that right, and their quality of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness is being denied because people lack coverage. The paper presented reasons why America should adopt a "single payer program" by expanding Medicare and its benefits and making it available to all citizens.

The Urban Institute in 2006 published their estimate that there are 47 million Americans without coverage by using 2005 Census Bureau data.

In January 2008, an Institute of Medicine study sounded a wake up call on healthcare access. The study tracked uninsured people to their cause of death. They found that : "22,000 Americas die each year due to lack of healthcare coverage."

Eyewitness indicators of healthcare access as an issue are apparent daily. It might hit as close to home as one's self or family members or friends or neighbors. Each day, except weekends, Matthew 25 Health Care Clinic has a line at 8:30 a.m. of 50 or more waiting for healthcare and having no coverage. Neighborhood Health Centers and A.S.K. Ministries also serve thousands weekly without coverage. And St. Joseph, Lutheran, and Parkview hospitals emergency rooms all report unnecessary weekend and through-the-night emergency room visits by those needing medical care and having no coverage to visit a doctor, clinic or urgent care center.

According to the issue paper presented to Congressman Souder, Indiana has at least 750,000 people without health insurance and estimates go to more than one million. The paper states:

"Indiana ranks 23rd in the number of uninsured people in the country. Of those families without any form of health coverage, 70 percent have at least one full time worker in the household. The population of the uninsured in Indiana is growing twice as fast as the national average. Indianapolis is the second most expensive city in the nation for family health insurance premiums."

The paper further says that the U.S. is the only industrialized county in the world that doesn't guarantee universal access to healthcare.

All four presidential candidates -Senator Clinton, Senator Barack Obama, Senator John McCain and Congressman Ron Paul-have a national healthcare plan, although one is a status quo plan.

Frost Illustrated asked Congressman Souder on May Day about his position on healthcare access for Hoosiers and U.S. citizens. Souder cited the need for incentives for citizens to enroll or sign up for plans who now think that "they don't need it." Souder said he favors expanding the Community Health Centers and the Hoosier Healthwise program for children.

When the new president and Congress address healthcare access proposals next year, the role of government will be an issue. Souder said:

"(S)ome politicians think that the federal government should take over healthcare, but I think that such a move would be one of the worst things we could do, and I oppose a healthcare system run by Washington bureaucrats."

Souder announced he plans to co-sponsor legislation as a fourpart plan. Souder said his plan would "make healthcare more affordable for Hoosier families"

The plan is to:

• Provide Hoosiers with tax credits for their healthcare costs and allow them to take their health insurance with them when they change jobs (portability);
• Give Americans choice and encourage innovation in healthcare through Health Savings Accounts expansion;
• Implement lawsuit abuse reform, and thereby stop trial lawyers from driving up doctors' insurance costs (which are passed on to consumers); and
• Permit small businesses or civic organizations to lower healthcare costs by joining together through the creation of Association Health Plans or Individual Membership Associations.

The solutions will be debated in Congress, maybe for years, before a plan is final. To some, this announcement by Congressman Souder, however, signals a proactive approach now and a plan that will be debated in Congress to address the healthcare access issue along with specific plans to do so.

Souder's announcement, along with National Cover the Uninsured Week activities could help bring the issue more attention on the locally. The spotlight will soon be on the new president and Congress to ensure that on the issue of one's health, all Americans have equal opportunity to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

This is part of the May 14, 2008 online edition of Frost Illustrated.

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