Amnesty International USA calls on Senate to Consider Single Payer proposals – Healthcare Is A Human Right

We at Amnesty International believe that policymakers have a historic opportunity to reform a broken health care system. During the presidential debates, Barack Obama took a step in the right direction by affirming that health care should be a right. The legislation now emerging from Washington is, however, a long way from fulfilling that vision.

One reason the current draft legislation falls short of the mark is that single-payer advocates, a crucial human rights constituency, have been largely excluded from the reform process. While the human right to health care does not mandate any particular type of health care system, of the reform proposals being discussed in the U.S. today, the single-payer plans are more universal, equitable and accountable – the three key principles of the human right to health care. Single-payer plans approach health care as an essential service and a public good. A single-payer health care system would pair private delivery with public financing – that is, with private doctors, clinics and hospitals getting all their reimbursement from the government. Medicare, a well-established and popular part of our current health care system, works this way; a single-payer system would institute an improved Medicare for all.

Two of Amnesty International’s ally organizations, the National Economic and Social Rights Initiative and the National Health Law Program, have analyzed current single-payer proposals, and found them to come much closer to fulfilling the human right to health care than the market-based reform plans.

But the powerful Senate Finance Committee, the single most important legislative grouping in the reform process, has yet to hold a public hearing on single-payer. In fact, the committee chair, Sen. Max Baucus, has said that single-payer is “off the table” – a stance he has since acknowledged was mistaken.

Advocates for a human rights-based approach to health care must be included in the reform process. Tell Max Baucus to hold a Finance Committee hearing on single-payer!

Publicly financed and administered health care should be expanded as the strongest vehicle for making health care universally accessible and accountable. Single-payer is a crucial proposal for fulfilling the human right to health care. Without a single-payer seat at the table, we risk that no one will speak up for true universality and a fair, equitable health care system.

Too much of the current debate about health care assumes that we can talk about health care in the same way that we talk about consumer products. But health care is not about markets; it is about the right of every person to live a life of dignity. In health care reform, human rights must come first.

Though things are moving very fast in Congress, it’s not too late to make your voice heard. Tell Max Baucus that single-payer advocates must be heard!

Sincerely,

Sameer Dossani, Demand Dignity Campaign Director, Amnesty International, USA

P.S. You can always get more information on Amnesty International’s Healthcare Is A Human Right project and sign our petition at http://www.amnestyusa.org/healthcare

Frank/Waters Letter to HUD Urges National Moratorium on Demolition of Public Housing

Today U.S. Representatives Barney Frank and Maxine Waters signed and sent a letter to HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan strongly requesting a national moratorium on the demolition of public housing!  In the letter Frank and Waters state that in the last ten years “over 120,000 units of public housing have been demolished or disposed with only a portion being replaced by hard units.”  In light of this reality, Frank and Waters suggest that “now is the time to preserve this vital asset before more affordable homes are lost forever.”  This victory is the result of continuous hard work on the part of housing rights advocates and local community groups and leaders across the country, including the Campaign to Restore National Housing Rights.  The Campaign, of which NESRI is a founding member, is a coalition of national organizations and local groups advocating for the preservation and improvement of our nation’s public housing stock as a critical component to protecting the human right to housing for all. Read the letter >>>

National Conference Articulates “A Collective Voice for Dignity in Schools”

On June 5 and 6, 150 advocates, organizers, youth, parents and educators from 20 states around the country came together in Chicago for the first ever Dignity In Schools Campaign (DSC) National Conference. There they discussed positive alternatives to zero-tolerance discipline and school pushout. Amongst the core conference organizers and participants were NESRI and its partners CADRE and FFLIC (pictured here). The goal of the conference was to reframe the national dialogue on school climate and discipline within a human rights framework. The DSC is now working to finalize a National Resolution on Ending School Pushout. For more information on the DSC and the conference >>> To view a conference photo gallery >>> To participate in the ongoing work to finalize the National Resolution email the DSC >>>

New Report Casts Exclusion of Single Payer Option as a Question of Human Rights

At a critical moment for health care reform in the United States, the National Economic and Social Rights Initiative (NESRI) has published an in-depth assessment of single payer proposals, finding that single payer plans go further towards meeting key human rights standards than market-based plans.

The question of whether national leaders will consider a single payer system as an option for health care reform has become a question of basic democracy. Despite most Americans supporting a single payer solution, the Obama Administration and congressional leaders have denied it consideration. Key stakeholders such as health care professionals, patients and single payer advocates have been excluded from hearings regarding health reform, prompting courageous civil disobedience actions by health care advocates. One of the protesters at the recent Senate Finance Committee hearings, Dr. Margaret Flowers of PNHP Maryland, said: “We have entered a new phase in the movement for health care as a human right: acts of civil disobedience. It is time to directly challenge corporate interests. History has shown that in order to gain human rights, we must be willing to speak out and risk arrest.”

Donna Smith of the California Nurses Association, in a recent article, fears that any health care reform bill that comes out of Washington will be falsely advertised as a “human rights victory”. But what would a true human rights victory look like? NESRI’s report addresses that question. The report analyzes four bills (Conyers HR676, Sanders S703/McDermott HR1200, Vermont S99/H100 and Minnesota SF118/HF135) against key human rights principles such as universality, equity and accountability. It shows that if health care reformers are serious about achieving a system that respects human rights, single payer proposals must be given consideration as they would vastly increase access to equal high-quality care and secure long-term financial sustainability.

NESRI’s report is intended to support the efforts of human right to health care advocates by providing a serious analysis of the benefits of a single payer plan. Cathy Albisa, co-founder of NESRI, said: “We have a fundamental choice to make as a country; we can either be guided by human rights that reflect our founding values or we can continue down the path of special corporate interests. The kind of health care system our government puts in place and what weight is given to the opinion of the American people in the upcoming debate is an important barometer of the health of our democracy and our ability to move towards a more equitable society.”

“A Human Rights Assessment of Single Payer Plans” is available for download at www.nesri.org.

New CIW Victory: Two Florida Growers Now Support CIW’s “Penny-per-Pound” Program!

Whole Foods Markets, the leading natural and organic foods supermarket, has announced that two of Florida’s largest organic tomato growers, Lady Moon Farms and Alderman Farms, have agreed to implement NESRI partner Coalition of Immokalee Workers’ (CIW) “penny-per-pound” program designed to improve wages for tomato harvesters.  The move effectively breaks the stalemate established nearly two seasons ago when the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange threatened to fine any of its members that sold tomatoes under the terms of the CIW agreements. At that time, two Florida growers who had been passing on the penny-per-pound increase under the Taco Bell agreement ceased doing so. To read the press release >>>