Single Payer Health Care 2008 Action of Immediate Witness

Whereas: Unitarian Universalists are concerned with the worth and dignity of all people;

Whereas: We spend over $2 trillion for health care in the United States, yet 50 million people are still not covered and another 50 million are denied adequate care by their insurance companies;

Whereas: Health care is a human right, yet the World Health Organization ranks the United States 37th in the world in health care outcomes although we spend nearly twice as much as any other country, enough to cover everybody with excellent comprehensive health care;

Whereas: A bill has been proposed in Congress, HR 676, United States National Health Insurance Act (Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Bill), that outlines a universal, nonprofit national health care program that will provide guaranteed choice, quality affordable health care and prescription drugs to everyone in the country;

Whereas: HR 676 would remove the current prohibition on Medicare against negotiating pharmaceutical prices; Whereas: More than 15,000 doctors have signed on in favor of this plan, including two former Surgeons General;

Whereas: The National Conference of Mayors unanimously endorsed HR 676 at their 2008 meeting; Whereas: Under this proposed plan, we can pay for a comprehensive national health care program with the same money we are now spending by removing insurance companies and cover every single person in the United States; and

Whereas: The bill provides money for retraining and giving priority to those whose jobs as administrators in the insurance industry would be lost as a result of this shift;

Therefore, be it resolved: We call on Unitarian Universalist congregations to become informed advocates for universal access to nonprofit health care financing through social action and adult religious education. We call on individual Unitarian Universalists to urge our members of Congress to co-sponsor and pass HR 676, Medicare for All, or its successors, so that our people and our nation can have the excellent and affordable health care system we deserve.