Um artigo de Ted Kennedy, senador pelo Massachussets há 47 anos, forte apoiante de Barack Obama desde as primárias, líder do Comité de Saúde e Educação do Senador, no site Politico.com:
«Sixty years ago, President Harry Truman sought to establish basic health insurance as a right for all Americans. His efforts fell short, as have so many others since then, and the consequences of those failures are felt every day.
Russ and Dana Walker of Humble, Texas, feel it. Their 21-year old son Jake has life-threatening cancer. As long as they held onto their job-based health insurance, he got the best care in the world.
Now that the economic crisis has cost them both their jobs, Jake is uninsured and uninsurable.
“You realize how vulnerable you really are,” Dana told The New York Times recently. “You just feel that you’re at a loss, that you’re at your wits’ end. I ask myself, ‘Do I really have to lose my home to save my son’s life?’”
Last year, the Census Bureau estimated that about 46 million Americans lack health insurance. The Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that, because of the current economic crisis, an additional 4 million people have lost coverage, pushing our nation near 50 million uninsured for the first time in modern history.
All other nations feel the impact of the economic crisis. But no other advanced nation treats its citizens who lose their livelihoods as poorly as we do.
Fortunately, leaders on Capitol Hill are united in their determination to repair our nation’s health care system this year. We must not — we cannot — wait. President Barack Obama, Sens. Harry Reid and Max Baucus, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Congressmen Henry Waxman, Charles Rangel and George Miller all agree that this is the year. Key Republican leaders, including Sens. Orrin Hatch, Mike Enzi, Chuck Grassley, Olympia Snowe and others, have indicated their desire to join in this bipartisan effort.
As chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, I have drawn on the considerable talents of our dedicated members to lead in this effort. Sens. Chris Dodd, Tom Harkin, Barbara Mikulski and Jeff Bingaman have invested countless hours to prepare us for the challenges ahead. Our mission is clear.
First, we must provide an affordable path for all Americans to obtain quality health insurance coverage. To do so will require real changes. The health insurance industry, for example, will need to abandon the practice of medical underwriting, by which Jake Walker and countless others become uninsurable. Fortunately, many health insurance industry leaders recognize the need to change.
Second, we must improve the delivery of medical care in the United States. For too long, we have comforted ourselves with the belief that we have the best-quality medical care in the world. That may be true for the wealthy few, but it’s far from true for the vast majority of Americans. Many other nations, as documented by the Commonwealth Fund, surpass us in the quality of care delivered to their citizens.
We need to change the way we pay for health care. The current system is based on financial incentives that encourage hospitals and physicians to do more and more. We need to pay for care in a way that rewards quality and outcomes, that promotes and rewards good primary care, and that treats our chronically ill in a better and more patient-focused way.
Third, we must broaden our system to include prevention of illness. According to shocking recent estimates, 33 percent of all boys, 39 percent of all girls and 52 percent of Latina girls born in 2000 will develop diabetes. It’s a deplorable situation, and it’s not their fault. It’s certainly not the health care system’s fault that people’s health is deteriorating so seriously. It’s our fault, and we have to change.
Fourth, we must create a more sustainable way to provide long-term support and services to people living with disabilities. For several years, I have sponsored the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports Act to help adults with severe impairments obtain the support they need to be functional and independent. Health reform must not leave these people behind.
Fifth, we must increase the effort to eliminate fraud and abuse in all parts of the health care system, public and private.
Finally, we must develop an acceptable path to pay for these reforms. Some of our delivery system improvements, our prevention and wellness efforts, and our fraud and abuse activities will produce verifiable savings to reduce the cost of health reform. But achieving this historic breakthrough will also require shared responsibility and sacrifice from everyone.
I want Jake Walker and millions of others in his position to know he is in our minds, our hearts and our prayers. Most of all, I want to make 2009 the year we end this unacceptable American tragedy.»
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