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EINO Principles for Universal Health Care
Universal health care (UHC) will not be achieved until "everyone is
in and nobody is out" of a high quality health care system. We are not
at all opposed
to temporary and partial fixes extending health care access to some of the currently
uninsured U.S. residents, or making the care for some Americans more complete. This work, however, known as "incremental health reforms"
yields a patchwork of programs that do not and never will add up to real UHC.
The motives of the insurance industry in promoting incremental health reform as
the road to UHC seem
clear enough. We cannot help but be suspicious of the many coalitions
and organizations that promote themselves as advocates for the uninusred and yet
promote this same idea, often collaborating closely with the insurance
industry. Their goal is to promote the idea that the only
"realistic" way to achieve UHC is through gradual incremental
reform. This is both a poor strategy and contrary to historical fact.
A detailed explanation of our
three essential principles follows. We also have six
suggested principles which we strongly recommend state UHC groups and
legislatures to consider when fashioning or proposing a new system.
UNIVERSAL EINO considers
universality to be absolute. As long as any one can be left out of the
system of accessing high quality health care services and products due to circumstance or status there is both cause for concern and doubt
as to whether anyone is guaranteed access. If there is a
loophole that one person could fall through, suffering loss of access to needed
treatment, then that loophole surely threatens many. The motivating concept of insurance from the consumer's
standpoint is that we ought to be covered particularly when we meet great misfortune
and that is when for-profit insurance corporations will most likely hope to exclude us.
NON-INCREMENTAL
We consider
it imperative that any serious proposal for universal health care include a timetable
for
implementation. A plan which is designed to move
things in the right direction and is hoped to reach the goal of universal health
care at some unspecified date is NOT a plan for universal health care,
rather a plan to extend the status quo. In most states several new programs have been added
over the last 30 years
which have "moved us in the right direction", yet the rates of
uninsurance and underinsurance are much greater now than they were 20 years
ago, due to as many setbacks as those gains. If you wish, read more discussion about "incremental health reform".
FINANCIAL FEASIBILITY
Finally, the
country needs a stable health care system with facilities not perilously poised to
collapse. Such collapsing facilities deny needed services at each new
challenge in order to keep their doors open. Thus, an unstable
system is not one that can be depended on to provide for everyone when it
is needed. The plan for genuine UHC
must
be based primarily on providing for the population's
health care needs. Only secondarily, should it be considered how
private for-profit businesses can participate and contribute towards this
end. This is what we mean by the system not being
"market-driven". While all components necessary to the provision
of health care need long-term financial viability, the solutions to the present crisis cannot be developed with a primary
goal of keeping profits high for certain industries, corporations or individuals.
Read our FAQs about why universal health care is in
everyone's best interest CLICK.
Read our FAQs about incremental reform strategies CLICK.
Read our FAQs about the financial feasibility of universal
health care CLICK.
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