Health Care Action Week
October 7, 2004
New study, "Waste Not, Want Not", shows $245 billion savings from cutting insurance and drug industry waste could fund health care for all.Indiana could save 2.1 billion a year!
SOUTH BEND - St. Joseph Valley Project-Jobs with Justice will release a report on Oct. 7 showing that approximately $245 billion is wasted on private insurance red tape and protecting drug company super-profits each year. The study concludes that by providing insurance more efficiently and making drug companies sell in a more competitive market, the savings could be used to provide secure, affordable health care for all.
9 a.m. in La Porte Indiana SJVP-JWJ will hold a Press Conference at the La Porte County courthouse conference room at 9 a.m. on October 7th, 2004. Joe Donnelly, 2nd congressional candidate, will make a statement and 2nd district congressman Chris Chocola has been invited. Later that afternoon, between the hours of 4 p.m. and 6 p.m., we are planning a Health Care for all Rally, at the Marycrest building 2015 W. Western Ave, South Bend, Indiana. Some of the speakers are Fr. Chris Cox CSC, Indiana State senator John Broden, 2nd district South Bend councilwoman Charlotte Pfeifer, 1st district South Bend councilman Derek Dieter, Don O'Blenis, president Indiana AFL-CIO building trades, Tony Flora, president NALC 330, Joe Donnelly, 2nd congressional district candidate, and Carla Bice, clinical director from St. Joseph Medical Chapin Street Clinic.
The report, Waste Not, Want Not: How Eliminating Insurance and Pharmaceutical Industry Waste Could Fund Health Care For All in Indiana focuses on how three reforms to the current health care system could prevent billions of dollars in waste and yield enough savings to guarantee secure and affordable health care for all. Specifically:
* The fragmented system of nearly 1,300 private health insurance companies creates unnecessary red tape and administrative waste. The national Medicare program has a proven track record of providing insurance at slightly less than one-tenth the cost of private plans. Adopting Medicare's standard of efficiency and improving and expanding it to cover everyone, would save more than $94 billion on health care every year.
In Indiana, that approach could save $2.1 billion, enough to insure more than 1.317 million of the 1.534 million state residents who were without insurance at some point last year.
* Although the federal government and other public sources already pay half the cost of research and development, drug companies receive long term patent protections that discourage competition and guarantee super profits. If the federal government paid for all of the R&D, it could eliminate the patent protections, encourage competition and generic drugs, and save $140 billion in health care costs every year.
In Indiana, this prescription drug reform could save $3 billion, enough to insure 1.649 million state residents who were without insurance at some point last year.
* The Bush Administration's recently enacted Medicare prescription drug bill gave additional subsidies for private insurers because they can't compete with the efficiency of Medicare. Reversing these and other devastating changes to Medicare could save $83.6 billion (or $11 billion a year) over the next eight years.
In Indiana, reversing the changes to Medicare could save $160 million, enough to insure another 86,200 state residents.
Together, these savings would be more than enough to provide insurance coverage for all of the 81.8 million people who went without health insurance for all or part of last year. In Indiana, the total savings of $5.1 billion would be enough to cover 199 percent of the uninsured.
"Too much of the discussion regarding the health care crisis is about the problem, not about the solution, said Joseph Carbone. "This report shows that by streamlining administrative waste and reforming drug pricing rules, everyone in Indiana, could have secure and affordable health care."
"So many politicians say they support the concept of health care for all, but then hide behind the question of how a universal plan would be financed," said Joseph Carbone. "Our study shows that health care for all isn't an economic problem; it's a question of political will. We're building a movement to force politicians to stand up to the special interests and pass laws for secure and affordable health care!"
Waste Not, Want Not is based on an analysis of government census and economic data done by the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), located in Washington, DC. The report was funded by six unions in conjunction with Health Care Action Week, October 3 10, 2004. Health Care Action Week is sponsored by eleven unions and nine national health care reform organizations.
Copies of the state report are available from Joseph Carbone. Similar state reports are being released by local Jobs with Justice coalitions or other organizations in CA, FL, GA, KY, MA, MN, NC, NY, OH, PA, RI, TN, TX, and VT. The national report will be available on the Jobs with Justice website at www.jwj.org on October 7.
Jobs with Justice is a national campaign for workers' rights. More than 40 local Jobs with Justice coalitions unite labor, community, faith-based and student organizations to build power for working people.
For more information: Joseph Carbone, 574 674-6645St. Joe Valley Greens, South Bend, IN