United Methodists join call for health care reform
United Methodists join call for health care reform
July 22, 2004
By Leslie Tune*
National Council of Churches
WASHINGTON
(UMNS) -- With repeated calls for urgent and immediate action, a broad
coalition of close to 100 groups, including the National Council of
Churches, is asking the nation’s policymakers to dramatically overhaul
the health care system.
The
nonpartisan National Coalition on Health Care, representing the
interests of 150 million Americans, released specifications for
systemwide reforms to help frame a renewed national debate about the
health care system. The coalition is calling for political leaders to
act immediately and to persist regardless of who wins the presidential
election or has control of Congress following the November election.
The
group, which includes businesses, religious groups, unions, insurers,
consumer organizations and providers, urged comprehensive reforms that
would provide all Americans access to health care, control rapidly
rising health costs and dramatically improve quality and patient safety
measures.
“For
people of faith this is an issue of righteousness and justice,” he
explained. “In my own denomination, the United Methodist Church, we
believe every child of God is entitled to health care. Access to health
care is a right.
“We
simply cannot exclude people who cannot afford or who receive
substandard health care,” added Winkler, who is a member of the NCC’s
Justice and Advocacy Commission. “To do so is immoral, unfair and just
plain wrong.”
Recommendations
of the National Coalition on Health Care are outlined in the report,
“Building a Better Health Care System: Specifications for Reform.” They
call for:
requiring health care coverage for all Americans within two to three years after the enactment of legislation;
bringing cost increases for health care in line with increases in other parts of the economy within five years;
launching a nationwide effort to dramatically improve the quality, safety and value of care;
making the financing of health care more equitable; and
simplifying and modernizing the administration of health care.
Henry
Simmons, a physician and coalition president, pointed out that
inadequate health care is an economic security issue. “Small incremental
changes are not sufficient. We need reforms that are systematic and we
need it now,” he said to a standing room only crowd in the Russell
Senate Office Building. “The status quo in health care is not only
unacceptable, it is unsustainable. …All of these organizations [in the
coalition] are committed to educating their members and employees to
achieve these reforms.”
Robert
Ray, former Iowa governor and one of the coalition’s co-chairmen,
stressed the importance of immediate action being taken to address the
five areas outlined in the specifications. “Delay means that millions of
people are in harm’s way. …Delay is not an option,” he said.
“Today’s
report is politically significant because it shows that there is broad
support across most sectors of the economy and society, and across party
lines for tough, system-wide reform,” added co-chairman Paul G. Rogers,
a former member of Congress and chair of the House Energy and Commerce
Health Subcommittee.
Rogers
also emphasized that the problem is now worse than ever and for the
first time is becoming a middle-class issue. In addition, he noted the
problem companies were having making enough profit to be able to pay for
employee benefits. “People from both parties are saying the current
system is unworkable,” he said.
Mounting
concern was demonstrated in May when thousands of churches, activists,
institutions and community groups participated in “Cover the Uninsured
Week” to bring attention to the problems facing those who do not have
health coverage.
“America
can make health care accessible to everyone and now is the time for us
to make it happen,” said Winkler. “We will be working in the coming
months and years to ensure nobody who lives in the United States is left
out of our health care system.”
In
addition to the United Methodist Church and the NCC, the Episcopal
Church and Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) also are members of the
coalition. The Rev. Robert Edgar, a United Methodist pastor and the
NCC’s chief executive, leads the coalition’s legislative working group.
*The Rev. Leslie Tune is the communication officer of the NCC’s Washington office.
News media contact: Linda Green, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org
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