HEALTH CARE FOR ALL!

MAKE HEALTH CARE AVAILABLE FOR ALL IN OHIO
Sign a petition.  Circulate a petition. Support SPAN.
 
AFSC is working with other organizations and individuals across Ohio to make
health care available to all regardless of income or employment. The goal is
to make health care a right, not a privilege.
 
The problem

In the United States there were 47 million Americans without health
insurance for all of 2006.  Millions more were covered for only part of the
year, and countless others have inadequate coverage with expensive premiums
and deductibles.   
 
The soaring costs of health care and the number of uninsured are at the
forefront of current political debates and union negotiations.  Health care
has been voted the number one domestic concern of Americans according to the
Kaiser Foundation.
 
The solution

The solution to this crisis is in a redefinition of what health care is and
should be. Shouldn’t health care and access to adequate medical treatment be
a right of all citizens?  Or should it continue to be privilege reserved for
those who can afford it?
 
Our current system promotes for health care to remain a privilege.  It
allows for a $350 billion industry that cuts costs for corporations by
denying coverage and medical care.  Our current system allows 18,000
Americans to die each year due to their inability to access medical care.
It spends 31% of its budget on administrative costs, not on the practice of
medicine.
 
The solution to this national problem lies in a single payer universal
health care plan, which promises to eliminate the number of uninsured by
ensuring coverage for all citizens. A single payer universal plan works by
establishing a single government fund out of which all health care costs are
paid.  All citizens are covered with no co-pays, no deductibles, and no
exclusions.  This system establishes access to care as a right, not a
commodity to be bought.
 
The Single Payer Action Network (SPAN) is promoting this issue to encourage
the Ohio legislature to pass the Health Care for All Ohioans Act.
Nationally, Physicians for a National Healthcare Program (PNHP) and
Healthcare-Now are working to raise awareness of this issue by endorsing and
advocating for H.R. 676, a bill that would establish a national single payer
plan.
 
Your help needed

In order to get a single payer plan implemented in Ohio a citizens
initiative process is being undertaken.  120,000 valid signatures are
necessary to get this bill in front of the Ohio legislature.  The
legislature then has 90 days to act on the initiative.  If they fail to do
so another 120,000 different valid signatures are required to get this act
on the ballot.  Voters will then have the power to decide if the bill
passes.  
 
To date, SPAN has collected 76,000 of the 120,000 required signatures.  The
signatures are adding up fast, but we need your help.
 
What you can do

If you haven’t already done so, sign a petition.
If you’re able, circulate a petition.

Contact Amanda Skelton at AFSC to sign or circulate a petition. Her email is
askelton@afsc.org or call 330-928-2301.