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This issue of health care reform in recent weeks has become so politically charged and divided.  I believe this divide represents a great disparity between the “haves” and “have nots”.  Many people worry the reform in the wrong hands cannot possibly work but also will lead to many falling through the cracks.  For one, issues of elder care as our population ages needs to be addressed.  Still, there is a matter of cost. Conservatives believe the reform will tax us too much (at least 50%), but also give the government power over who lives and who dies.  There will be the forgotten.  Still, have the conservatives put a face on health care reform?  Do they know how reform may bring about a change so grand no one can possibly understand its impact?  It has never been tested at this level and we will never know unless we try.

Meanwhile, young working families struggle to put food on the table and purchase “Back to School” supplies.  Many worry about their jobs and the rising cost of gasoline.  Also, many are living the nightmare of a broken system that does not value the right to quality health care and makes access to such care frustrating and tedious.  So this week before I put a face to health care reform, I ask the following question: When did health care stop being a human right? Why are there no options in the existing system for the poor and working classes?  What is wrong with the option of having a choice instead of being forced into subpar insurance coverage like the high-deductible plans many working class Americans are offered?  Affordable coverage means taking the risk you will never be chronically ill but what about those who fall into a large demographic of people with preexisting conditions?  Many conservatives state that Health saving accounts (or HSAs) can work.  I don’t think they understand.  Most Americans do not have savings, nor do they have the income to save and some even struggle to eat.  Many working families are surviving just above the poverty level.  Conservatives believe that charities can aid in the health care dilemma by filling in the gaps of private insurance.  Do they not know that many charities are already overburdened?  Many do not think the system is broken and nor do they think health care is a right for all Americans because it is not addressed in the Constitution. Still, do not the building blocks for American government and law come from the tenants of Judeo-Christian belief systems?  Does this not mean we must as a society take care of each other, especially those less fortunate and do good deeds?  Still I believe life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, the essence of our forefathers’ message, suggest the right to good health.  Access to health care should be an inalienable right, a fundamental value for this nation to embrace.  Instead, many people disagree that health care coverage is indeed a right but instead a choice.  For many, they believe it comes down to an option like any other insurance.  You choose to insure your car, your life, why not your health? Point taken: Many believe health care should stay out of the hands of government.  Health care and the choices it represents should be in the hands of families or, in other words, the consumers.

Rev. Sophia DeWitt, Director of Health, Housing and Senior Services Ministries, Fresno Interdenominational Refugee Ministries (FIRM, Inc.) expresses her concern over the attitude toward health care as being a privilege. “From a faith perspective, I would say it is immoral because it denies human dignity to so many, rations care based on income and costs lives– and yet our political system is totally incapable of solving the problem.”  Our existing systems do not want health care in the hands of people but rather big, moneymaking corporations.  Still, the liberal view also has drawbacks to the reform because it seems too socialist.  Regardless, the chances of the reform passing are small because the legislation lacks the language to define who will benefit from such reform.  Truly, this issue is not about fancy words or which side of the political coin is right; it is about families torn apart every day by real-life altering health care decisions and a system that does not focus upon those who really need quality care. These people are out there, each with a different story of how the current health care system has failed them.  They may be your neighbors or even a family member.

Picture this: You have been sitting in a hospital emergency room for three and a half hours with a sick child running a fever, a child with a history of infection to his central line.  The situation: You have no private health insurance coverage because you are a single mother taking care of two disabled children and therefore are unable to work.  You are at the mercy of government health care programs like Medicaid. Imagine also: You have been evicted from your apartment because your landlord does not like the fact there is a constant stream of health care professionals coming in and out of your home to take care of your son, who is deathly ill.  To further the nightmare: You are now on a waiting list to travel to Boston for further testing of your son’s gastrointestinal tract.  Mind you, the doctors have taken a tissue biopsy sample twelve weeks ago.  They said the sample was sent to Germany; you have not received any results.  Still, you wait to go to Boston and your son in the meantime has repeated infection after infection affecting his ability to maintain a healthy weight.  When he should be playing and enjoying the sunshine, he must sit in his “chair” to receive the nourishment and medical treatment he needs to stay alive.  And still you wait for Boston.  Next, you were told there may be a problem getting to Boston because you have a car, an old hand-me-down clunker.  Owning a car disqualifies you from free medical transportation via government guidelines for income.  Unless he is in the hospital, you must find your own transportation.  Your brother has agreed to drive to Boston but now you’ve found out that the Ronald McDonald House, where you have stayed in Albany, the Boston chapter only caters to parents of cancer patients.  Where will you stay in Boston where the less expensive motel is $150 a night?

This is Sarah and Sheldon Wagner’s story.  Sarah Wagner of North Creek, NY has a chronically ill son named Sheldon, who without everyday medical care would die.  Sheldon will be four years old on October 8th and he has been hospitalized eighteen times this year for numerous infections including staph.  He has been sick since birth.  The doctors do not know exactly what is wrong with Sheldon, just that he has trouble eating normally. He has a central line, which feeds him and provides regular medications to his circulatory system.  This central line has been problematic because it is prone to infection but Sarah has been told without this device, he would die.  Sarah asks Sheldon, “Are you my wonder boy, my gadget boy?” because without the innovation of medicine Sheldon would not be here. His gadget needs constant medical attention from daily caregivers. While the year is not over, it is not unusual for Sarah to drive nearly two hours from her home in the Adirondacks to Albany, NY so that Sheldon can receive the best of pediatric care at Albany Medical Center.  In June, while most children were enjoying summer with an ice cream cone or riding bikes in the park, Sheldon was in isolation from visitors and the outside world so that he did not catch any more contagions.  Many times, Sarah has traveled in the middle of the night to a hospital with her mother or brother for reliable transportation but mostly moral support.  This situation has become her life.  For the sake of Sheldon’s health care, she has sacrificed her own well-being.  This situation has presented a strain emotionally and financially upon her family.  While Sarah receives public assistance, she is unable to work as Sheldon’s primary parent.  With the support of her family and continued treatment, Sheldon is able to be home until they leave for Boston on September 13th.

Sheldon has an endearing spirit, a radiant soul that touches all who visit.  His laughter is infectious and he’s got the talent for numbers.  He could be a future NASA rocket scientist.  Sheldon never questions the treatment, sometimes he is frustrated but he always has a smile for you.  Never is it, “Why did this happen to us” or “Why is my little boy so sick?” but really Sarah is more concerned with “What can I do to help my son get better?”  Like any parent in the same circumstances, she must trust the knowledge of Sheldon’s doctors but mostly she must play by the rules of Medicaid.  It seems this creates a whole new meaning to red tape and redundancy.  She has had to make some drastic decisions alone for Sheldon’s sake but many have been at the mercy of the Medicaid system and what that system has been willing to provide for Sheldon. She must ask questions and make sure all of Sheldon’s needs are met.  If this means calling the doctor’s service at four in the morning, she does it.  Still, this whole situation comes back to the waiting list for the Boston visit.  If Sheldon was the son of a doctor, lawyer, senator or even a celebrity, do you think he would have to wait?

While Sarah may not fully understand the health care reform, she understands that there must be a better way to ensure that every person in America receives quality care and is treated equally.  When asked if a public option might help someone like herself or Sheldon, she agrees that just talking about health care is the catalyst for change.  “The first step is admitting there is even a problem,” she says.

When Fannie Lou Hamer said she was “sick and tired of being sick and tired”, she could not have imagined then that 40 years hence there would be a Black president in the White House drafting prescriptions for the nation’s ailing systems.  Now there is.  And he is.  But is relief in sight?

“Dr.” Hamer and her famous statement came to mind last Sunday during remarks by Dr. Shadidi Beatrice Kinsey, Founder, P.E.A.C.E. Health Center, during the 10th Annual Health Activist Award Program sponsored by The Family and Friends of Dr. Mutulu Shakur at 966 Fulton Street in Brooklyn.  The award, given this year posthumously to Churne Lloyd, honored Dr. Mutulu Shakur (father of Tupac), whose primary work has been in the area of health. He is a doctor of acupuncture and was a co-founder and director of two major institutions devoted to improving health care in the Black community (See article in future issue.)

Dr. Kinsey’s rousing Asante Sana opened the event and an informative discussion “The Health Care Reform Bill: What Does It Mean to Us” moderated by Dr. James C. McIntosh, President, CEMOTAP,  ensued with panelists Councilman Charles Barron, 42nd CD, and Harlem attorney Ajamu Sankofa, co-founder, PHIMGC (Private Health Insurance Must Go! Coalition).

The health reform discussion touched on far-ranging aspects of health care in the U.S. where 50 million people have no insurance, 25 million more are underinsured and existing programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and Children’s Insurance are “under attack,” and budget cuts have reduced access. Topics ranged from President Barack Obama’s health reform strategy/tactics; the history of African Americans’ health struggles; the involvement of money and corporate interests to the language of health care and the need for individuals everywhere to demand change and get “sick and tired of being sick and tired.”

Following are excerpts from Dr. Kinsey, Councilman Barron’s, Attorney Sankofa and Dr. McIntosh’s statements and exchange:

DR. SHADIDI BEATRICE KINSEY
The Black Congressional Caucus published a study in 2003; they found there are 15 leading causes of death in the U.S. and African Americans led in 11 categories. Lord knows what it is now six years later. We’re in a health crisis, and along with the problem of medical apartheid, as Harriet Washington pointed out in her brilliant book (Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to Present), how is this answered?

DR. JAMES C. McINTOSH
Why should a revolutionary organization be talking about health?  Well, why shouldn’t they?  We die in larger numbers – more than any other groups: HIV/AIDS, lung disease, cancer, heart disease, homicides, accidents, suicides, strokes, diabetes, kidney disease.  Look at the list and you will see that just by modifying five or six things, mainly what we take into our body, you can eliminate these things.  Eliminate drugs, cigarettes, alcohol, all impact on anything else you might have, and if you’ve caught a disease, they make the situation worse. Eating improperly – salt, sugar, cholesterol – plays a role in cancer, kidney disease, diabetes.  You will never get certain types of diabetes, which is wiping people out,  if you don’t go above your ideal body weight.

Disrespect and settling disputes through violence start homicides.

Go to the Internet; look at the top 10 rap songs; take the  top 10 rap songs, 8 or 9 of those songs will provoke one of those risk factors that are responsible for the top 10 killers of black people. One of the songs will promote all eight risk factors. In my study, with country songs, it’s reversed; nine out of ten songs do not promote risk factors; just one did.  We certainly need to pay attention to the complexities of the issue of health care (from a larger perspective).

Councilman Charles Barron:
America has the largest private health care system in the world, the most expensive in the world and one of the worst in terms of quality.

When there are homeless people in America which has a $4.2 trillion economy, and we can’t afford education and healthcare, the real crisis is in this system that looks at profit over people. The health care crisis is but a symptom of a deeply rooted illness in America called capitalism.  As long as we keep dealing with the symptoms, we will all be sick, even when they pass this health care reform.  America needs a radical change in government – which is the reason we should not be afraid to talk about Revolution.

We have a Mayor who should have been on the front page of the newspapers with his statements that health care execs are not making enough money.  Executives making $10million to $40million a year are making a lot of money.

This is a monopolistic capital system, where they try to monopolize certain industry.  There are two companies (controlling most of this); and they are trying to consolidate.  They have the ability to drive costs up.

Healthcare is not affordable, not accessible, not high quality.  So what can we do about it.  Under the private insurance system, prices are high; premiums are doubling, tripling.   Everything’s going up but your salary.  You may have a plan but you have to pay a deductible, which doesn’t cover everything. So now we are debating what the best payer system is.

One answer is Single Payer which means the government will be the Single Payer for health care delivery for the middle class and below, for those who cannot essential services.  Right now – without it, the health industry can do whatever they want; they can raise prices.

Congress says their needs to be more transparency, oversight.  Everything the government does is messed up; they need to trim the fat and work on the fraud. They say Social Security isn’t working?  Oh, yes it is.  If the government would stop taking money out of the account and using it for other things, then it would work.

A lot of this has nothing to do with health care at all; it has a lot to do with politics.   If a healthcare bill passes now, the Democrats will increase their numbers in the House and the Senate.  If they fail, the Republicans have a chance.

They’re saying a lot of stuff, going into the dumpster to distort things and it’s working because it has people thinking some of the foolishness is true.

Not doing Single Payer? Try Public Option. Put it out there on the table.  Public Option will keep prices under control, but insurance companies say they’re going to hurt us because that’s what they don’t want.

Meanwhile, this is the first time in the history of  this country where a health care reform option has passed in three committees in the House and by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
But the Senate Finance Committee – (the last committee to clear health care before its taken up on the Senate Floor) is backing back away from that, favoring something called Co-op, where nonprofit insurance companies are owned by its members, the same people insured by the company.  Not like the old way where private insurers answer to investors.

Bottom of Form

President Obama is trying to get a nonpartisan agreement.  But they’ve got the vote; it’s just a matter of telling the head of the Senate and the head of the House to get it passed.

That is why we need a better system.  Both parties are controlled by white men, who have inordinate amount of power in the House, Senate and around Barack Obama. And in every party there are conservatives, liberals, centrists, moderates.

So the talk will continue, and there will be a lot of it about single payer,  public options, coops and how we’re going to pay for it all.

How do we pay for it?  Simple: raise millionaires’ taxes by 1.5%.  Another way: those making $350,000 or more, should write off 28% of their charitable contributions, not 35%.  Place a small tax on stock transfers and transfers of bonds.

I personally am for the Single Payer plan, but I think health care, the utilities, and even the auto industry should be nationalized.  Think about it:  No private company should be giving us what God gives us, and make billions of dollars off of utilities like electricity.  These things happen in other countries.

You would be surprised what could happen, here. We would move towards progressive taxation and, finally, regulation.

This is not difficult at all; it’s just common sense.

(Health Forum Panel discussion highlights will continue next week, September 3, with the presentation of Attorney Ajamu Sankofa’s comments and assessments.  Also, Next week, Barron’s thoughts on Foreclosure, Bailouts, Wall Street, and Obama, as presented at the last Sunday’s Health Activist Awards Program, will be included in the Barron, Part II article, originally announced for this issue.)