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John Edwards pushes universal health care

By admin | June 5, 2006

John Edwards pushes universal health care
May 23, 2006 Jennifer C. Smith
The Monitor, McAllen Texas

EDINBURG — The uninsured have many faces: the teenager who steps on a nail and develops tetanus; the elderly person who chooses between paying for a prescription or a utility bill; the middle-aged male family breadwinner who develops diabetes and is buried under an avalanche of medical bills.

These true situations exemplify the current healthcare system’s faults and why universal health coverage is essential for all Americans and especially Hispanics, said former North Carolina senator John Edwards on Monday at the University of Texas-Pan American Field House.
Out of the nearly 46 million Americans without health insurance, 13.7 million are Hispanics.
“I think all of us have the responsibility to do something about this,” he said to rousing applause at the National Uninsured Latinos Conference.

The 2004 Democratic vice presidential nominee and 2008 presidential prospect spoke briefly to the 200 audience members on how high uninsured rates among Hispanics are related to their high poverty and disease incidence rates.

“Poverty does have a face in America and it doesn’t always involve a color, but it often does.”
Disparities in health care access and service call for immediate solutions, dozens of health care policy panelists said.

Edwards proposed a national language translation service to facilitate provider and patient communication. “We need a call center open 24 hours a day, seven days a week or staff at hospitals,” Edwards said.

Other panelists volleyed ideas about increased Medicare and Medicaid funding; offering small businesses tax credits to purchase health care for their employees; automatic enrollment in social service programs and even developing binational U.S.-Mexico health insurance.

“We need to use every possible argument so every stakeholder can get involved,” said Jaime Torres, founder of Latinos for National Health Insurance.

Those stakeholders include federal and state government officials, social service and minority advocacy organizations, and small businesses.

U.S. Rep. Rubén Hinojosa, D-Mercedes, said he has co-authored several bills to increase funding to offer coverage to working parents and children and allow those 55 to 64 years of age to purchase Medicare plans.

“The state of health care is an issue that has arguably reached a critical level,” he said.
Igniting a healthcare reform movement for Americans — and particularly Hispanics — fueled the two-day conference.

About 350 people, including local and national healthcare policy experts, community health center and hospital representatives, and academic officials had gathered since Sunday to hear ideas how to extend coverage to the uninsured as the immigration debate brews in Congress.
Panelists lauded the concept of universal coverage, but it is a controversial and expensive measure, said Mark V. Pauly, a healthcare economics professor at the University of Pennsylvania.

“To cover the uninsured, it will cost $50 to $150 billion annually, leaning toward the higher number,” he said.” You have to ask the question, ‘Would I pay $1,000 to $1,500 more in taxes each year to cover the uninsured?’”

But fewer uninsured Hispanics are important as the population swells in the future, said U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-El Paso.

“If we don’t make dramatic improvements in our healthcare system, it will be one of the greatest challenges our country has ever faced,” he said.

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