From the March 20 edition of Street Roots.
Tom Leedham has been a Teamster for more than 30 years. He’s been involved in health care for more than 20 years as a chairman of the Taft-Hartley Health Care Trust.
As principal officer of Teamsters Local 206 in Portland, Leedham deals with members’ health benefits in contract negotiations. He is a strong supporter of HR 676, Rep. John Conyers’ legislation for single-payer, universal-access health care.
Jay Thiemeyer: What does single-payer offer that other health care reform ideas don’t?
Tom Leedham: A single-payer plan such as HR 676 treats health care as a right, not a privilege. The U.S. system, unlike most other countries, is based on the notion of gaining profit from people’s illness or injury. Trying to adjust our current system that maintains the insurance profit centers will never control cost, which is the biggest barrier to universal coverage.
J.T.: Who supports it? Why don’t any Oregonian representatives support it?
T.L.: Poll after poll show strong majority support is for single-payer (plans). U.S. physicians by a wide margin now support single payer. The list of endorsers is growing exponentially. In an interview in February 2008, Tom Daschle said, “All the arguments favor single-payer -- the politics don’t.” Lack of political will among our elected leaders is just not a good enough reason to not pursue the one system that will actually work.
J.T.: I have heard different cost estimates for implementing single-payer. Who can I trust? What reports do you find credible?
T.L.: Dozens of studies have been done by both private consulting firms and by the Congressional Budget Office dating back to the early 1990s. Whenever a legitimate single-payer system like HR 676 is included in the comparison, it prevails as the most cost-effective way to provide comprehensive healthcare for everyone. Most studies show that it actually saves money over current total spending on health care. Lewin Group has a reputation of independence, although recently it was acquired by a large health insurer, and of course as mentioned earlier the Congressional Budget Office has been working on analysis for some time.
J.T.: There are a lot of workers employed by private insurance industry. What would happen to them?
T.L.: HR 676 specifically addresses the issue of job displacement by providing anyone dislocated as a result of passage with preferential hiring in the new system and with extended benefits to weather the transition.
J.T.: Has the recently passed stimulus package helped or hurt prospects of single-payer and real health care reform?
T.L.: The recent stimulus package focused little on the overall crisis in health care. However, what better way to stimulate the economy than to provide completely portable health care to everyone, and at the same time make business in the U.S. more competitive by lifting the burden of employer-sponsored insurance?
J.T.: Will I be able to keep my primary physician under single-payer?
T.L.: With HR 676 you go to any doctor you want and simply present your health care card. There are no premiums, no co-pays, and no deductibles. Health care providers remain private, not government employees.
J.T.: I heard that single-payer means anyone in my country can access healthcare who needs it. What about undocumented workers? What about specialty work like cosmetic surgery?
T.L.: HR 676 provides health care to all residents of the U.S. Insurers are barred by the legislation from duplicating any coverage contained in the HR 676 schedule of benefits, which is completely comprehensive (medical, dental, vision, prescription drugs, etc.). This provision eliminates the possibility of a two-tier system, one for the rich and another for the rest of us. Insurance companies may offer plans covering uncovered procedures like cosmetic surgery.
J.T.: Can you suggest Web sites and where to go to act now?
T.L.: The real solution to the healthcare crisis will come from the bottom up. Unfortunately, few politicians have the courage to go up against the enormous resources of the insurance lobby. We have an obligation to educate and organize.
A good place to start is to read HR 676, then visit Web sites such as Physicians for a National Health Plan (www.pnhp.org) and Health Care Now (www.healthcare-now.org), or contact the Portland Jobs With Justice health care committee.
By Jay Thiemeyer.
Thiemeyer represents Street Roots on the Jobs With Justice Steering Committee and serves on its Health Care Committee.