Ulster County, NY In Support of Universal Health Care

Type: Resolution

Status: Adopted on 10/11/06 In favor - 28 Opposed - 2 Absent - 3

Source File: http://www.co.ulster.ny.us/resolutions/355-06.pdf

Text:

Resolution No. 355
Supporting Universal Access To Comprehensive, Affordable, High-Quality Health Care Through A Single-Payer Financing Mechanism For All Americans – An Expanded Medicare For All In New York State And The Nation

WHEREAS, the American College of Physicians has a long-standing commitment to making affordable health insurance coverage available to all Americans, and

WHEREAS, in October, 2000, the Board of Regents approved the ‘Core Principles On Access’ that includes an explicit goal for all Americans to be covered by an adequate health insurance plan; a goal that remains unfulfilled, and

WHEREAS, 46 million Americans lack health insurance, and another 16 million more have inadequate insurance to meet their health needs, and the Institute of Medicine stated in 2004 that lack of health insurance causes roughly 18,000 unnecessary deaths every year in the United States, and

WHEREAS, a lack of adequate insurance prevents many of our patients from obtaining the care they need in a timely fashion, from getting the tests required for diagnosing numerous illnesses, including cancer, and from taking their physician-prescribed medications for treating chronic illnesses such as diabetes and asthma, and obtaining preventive care, and

WHEREAS, illness and medical bills contribute to 50 percent of all U.S. bankruptcies, affecting more than 2 million Americans annually, and

WHEREAS, existing, skimpy insurance policies are inadequate to protect against financial ruin: 75 percent of those bankrupted by medical bills were insured at the onset of their bankrupting illness, and

WHEREAS, the United States spends twice the amount per capita on health care as industrialized nations which provide comprehensive coverage to all citizens, and

WHEREAS, one-third (33.33%) of health spending is consumed by unnecessary, wasteful administrative bureaucracy, and

WHEREAS, wasteful paperwork and bureaucracy severely compromises physicians’ ability to practice medicine, and

WHEREAS, the Institute of Medicine identified universal health care coverage as the first principle for ensuring the health of all Americans and called on the federal government to reach this goal by 2010, and

WHEREAS, the “advanced medical home” advocated by the American College of Physicians cannot succeed in a system dominated by private insurance companies, and

WHEREAS, on July 30, 1965 Congress passed the first Medicare bill, despite numerous warnings about the ‘dangers of socialized medicine’, and opposition by the AMA, and, Medicare has become one of the most popular and successful Federal programs ensuring access to healthcare and dignity for this country’s senior citizens, and

WHEREAS, that the Board of Governors of the New York chapter of the American College of Physicians expresses its support for universal access to comprehensive, affordable, high-quality health care through a single-payer financing mechanism, i.e., for an expanded Medicare for All in New York State and in the nation.

RESOLVED, that the Ulster County Legislature supports universal access to comprehensive, affordable, high-quality health care through a single-payer financing mechanism, i.e., for an expanded Medicare for all in New York State and in the nation, and

FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Clerk of the Ulster County Legislature shall forward copies of this resolution to President George W. Bush, Governor George E. Pataki, Comptroller Alan Hevesi, United States Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Charles Schumer, United States Congressman Maurice Hinchey, Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, Senate Minority Leader David A. Paterson, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Assembly Majority Leader Paul A. Tokasz, Assembly Minority Leader James N. Tedisco, New York State Senators John J. Bonacic and William J. Larkin, Jr., New York State Assemblymen Kevin A. Cahill, Clifford W. Crouch, Daniel L. Hooker and Thomas Kirwan, the National Association of Counties and the New York State Association of Counties, and moves its adoption.