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Executive Director's Corner
From the minimum wage (and it sure is minimal!) to smart growth, CACLV is actively speaking out with and for low-income people and their communities. CACLV has earned its reputation as an outspoken advocate, one that is driven by a clear set of values (I hope you will read our Values Statement that you can access from the Home Page).
Here are some recent developments:
America's health care system is badly broken. The litany, to anyone paying attention, should be familiar: the highest costs per capita with the lowest outcomes among Western industrial democracies; 20% annual cost increases for insurance; tens of millions of uninsured; tens of millions more underinsured.
The Community Action Committee of the Lehigh Valley supports a single-payer, universal health insurance system like those of every other Western industrial democracy. Recognizing, though, that such a system is unattainable under the current political climate, we recognize that we must pursue incremental improvements. Those improvements are largely embodied in the broad goals established by President Obama.
However, because so many of us are unenthusiastic about those proposals, we have largely sat out the current debate. In the process, the loud voices of resistance have set back progress, often deliberately using misinformation, to the point where even modest improvements are now threatened.
It is this set of circumstances that led CACLV to join the fray. Starting with a press conference on Wednesday, September 9, we spoke out against those voices. Joining me were Marc Stier, State Director of Health Care for America Now, and Berry Friesen, Public Affairs Manager of the Pennsylvania Health Access Network. Readers can view some of the media accounts of the press conference by clicking on "In the News" on this website. Following are my prepared comments from the press conference:
We have a problem in this country
Our healthcare system is broken
And yet the 24-hour cable news programs, as well as most other news outlets, are being dominated by opponents of fixing that system; their voices are loud, often misinformed, and usually hold a financial interest in that broken system
What is it about this system that its supporters would expend such energy and vitriol to defend?
Is it the fact that America spends more money per capita on health care than any other country in the world?
Is it that, by almost any definition, from infant mortality to morbidity, the American health care system has among the worst outcomes of any industrial democracy?
Is it that employers compete with each other by reducing their health insurance costs, often by shifting those costs to their employees?
Is it that private health insurance companies are making a ton of money while doing their best to deny care to those who need it?
Is it the annual spike in insurance costs, often by 20% or more?
Or is it that nearly 50 million Americans lack health insurance?
Those who oppose carefully considered reform proposals, most of which have already been compromised, have dominated the debate. In some cases, their deliberate efforts to misinform, for example, the so-called "death panels," are stated and restated to the point where lies become truths.
Somebody must speak for those whose families have been destroyed by unimaginable health care costs
Somebody must speak for those whose pre-existing conditions have disqualified them for insurance
Somebody must speak for those who have jobs but lack benefits
Somebody must speak for the regular folks, not the insurance companies, not for the lucky few
Count on the agency to continue to raise its voice on this issue. Watch for news accounts of further organizing efforts in the weeks ahead.
If you are interested in joining the cause, please e-mail me at ajennings@caclv.org.