Sep 20, 2007 5:42 PM
The most serious domestic problems facing all of us today are the soaring cost of health care and the soaring numbers of uninsured Americans.
I’m not being a Chicken Little. Economists, union leaders, retiree advocates and government and institutional leaders like David Walker, comptroller general of the United States, are beating the same drum. As head of the Government Accountability Office, an investigative arm of Congress that audits and evaluates the performance of the federal government, Walker is so concerned about the health-care crisis that he has committed to touring the country through the 2008 elections, talking to anybody who will listen.
“You can’t solve the problem until the majority of the people believe you have a problem that needs to be solved,” he explained.
At the same time, AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney declared, “Health care is the top domestic issue for our members and all Americans, and the AFL-CIO is making the 2008 elections a mandate on fixing our broken system.”
The drive — “the most ambitious political campaign we’ve ever had,” Sweeney said — will put the full force of 10 million of its members and 3 million members of the Alliance for Retired Americans behind winning secure, high-quality health care for all by 2009. An element of the drive will be educating union members and their families about the need for federal action on health-care benefits, as well as recruiting employers to support health-care reform.
As the face of our nation’s failed health-care system, Steve Skvara, a retired United States Steel worker and member of the Alliance, appeared this month as a witness at a congressional hearing on the impact on workers and retirees of corporate bankruptcy. He told presidential candidates at the AFL-CIO candidate forum last month: “After 43 years with LTV Steel, I was forced to retire because of disability. Two years later, LTV declared bankruptcy. I lost a third of my pension and my family lost their health care. I sit at the kitchen table across from the woman who devoted 36 years of her life to my family, and I can’t afford to pay for her health care.”
That’s the human story, not the exception. That is the shame of America that is repeated again and again and that continues to multiply. That is the story of more and more of our neighbors, friends and relatives.
As members of the AFL-CIO and the Alliance, we are part of that drive so maybe we should begin by educating ourselves about the nature and extent of the problem and consider the possible solutions now under consideration. In my column in upcoming issues, I will explore some of these vital issues with you.
Let’s begin with some facts. The annual premium cost for a family health plan has close to doubled since 2000 from $6,351 to $11,480. Those astonishing numbers have driven more than nine million people into the growing ranks of the uninsured in the past seven years. Approximately two-thirds of the increase in the number of uninsured last year came in households with pretax incomes of $75,000 or more.
While we have excellent health and pension benefits to live our lives comfortably, we are not immune to what is going on around us. As Sweeney explained, “Soaring health-coverage costs are crippling U.S. companies’ ability to compete internationally — health benefits accounted for an estimated $1,300 of the cost of a new car made by the Big Three in 2005. As costs grow higher, fewer employers are providing health coverage for employees and fewer workers are able to afford their share of the cost or to buy policies on their own.
“In the wealthiest, most powerful nation on earth, that is just not acceptable,” he added. “In America, no one should go without health care.”
We must get our heads out of the sand and shake off any complacency. Remember, our concerted efforts saved Social Security. Now we must become part of the many-layered campaign on health care and hold politicians responsible for fixing the mess.
More on the health-care crisis in columns to come.