July, 10 2019, 12:00am EDT
House Democrats Lift Medicare for All As Racial Justice Issue
Following the release of a Medicare for All support letter from prominent racial justice organizations
WASHINGTON
Today, U.S. Representatives Pramila Jayapal (WA-7), Barbara Lee (CA-13) Ayanna Pressley (MA-7), and Debbie Dingell (MI-12) held a call on the release of a letter from several prominent racial justice organizations urging Members of Congress to sign on to H.R. 1384, also known as the Medicare for All Act of 2019.
In the letter, the organizations - including the NAACP, Center for Popular Democracy, League of United Latin American Citizens and United We Dream - illustrate the need for a Medicare for All universal health care system and how it would impact communities of color.
"This letter is important because it highlights the tremendous burden felt by communities of color when it comes to accessing quality, affordable healthcare. It is an incredibly powerful reminder that any conversation on American healthcare is incomplete without a discussion of racial injustice. There are long-standing structural biases and challenges within our current healthcare systems that create barriers for people of color and prevent them from receiving the care they need - but Medicare for All can change all of that," said Rep. Jayapal.
The authors of this letter discussed the Medicare for All Act of 2019's unprecedented support from racial justice organizations and how Medicare for All would remove key structural and racial barriers in our healthcare system to ensure everyone, including communities of color, has guaranteed quality, affordable health care.
"Our current healthcare system is marred by racism, sexism, and classism. The immense health and healthcare disparities among poor folks and in Black, Latinx, and indigenous communities are a direct consequence of long-standing structural biases created by the profit-driven private insurance industry. We need a system where everyone is in, and nobody is out. And a single-payer Medicare-for-All system is the only way that we can do that. It's the only way we will realize health care as a human right, and stop big pharmaceutical and insurance companies from profiting off the pain of our families," said Jennifer Epps-Addison, Co-Executive Director and Network President, Center for Popular Democracy.
"Communities of color need a comprehensive, high-quality health care system that rectifies long-standing structural biases and challenges," said Hilary O. Shelton, Director of the NAACP Washington Bureau and Senior Vice President for Policy and Advocacy. "While disparities in health care outcomes may persist, evidence shows us that they decrease dramatically when health insurance coverage increases. Medicare for All would be a crucial and much-needed improvement to our health care system. Medicare for All universal health care would much more thoroughly support the health and economic security of patients of color, alongside controlling the costs of prescription drugs, thereby addressing both glaring affordability and access issues for low and moderate-income patients of color. With Medicare for All, patients can get the care and preventative services they need, and as such disparities in care and treatment will dissipate," he added.
"Latinos face the highest rates of uninsurance in the United States and comprise a large part of the workforce that is unable to get health coverage through their job. Thus, Latinos suffer from poorer health outcomes due to disparities in accessing health insurance coverage and quality care. Healthcare is not only a question about access, but about appropriate medical care for communities of color. A Medicare for All system is necessary to overcome these health disparities by ensuring everybody, without exception, receives comprehensive health care, while lowering overall health care expenditures. By ensuring Latinos have access, we ensure that America has a healthy future workforce," said Sindy Benavides, Chief Executive Office of League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC).
Deyanira Aldana, DACA recipient with United We Dream, said "When I was 11-years-old I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. Because of my mom's private health insurance, I was able to afford treatment. But at 16-years-old, the factory my mom worked at shut down and she was laid off. The only thing my diabetic counselor could offer me was help with getting charity care. In 2017, I was shocked to find out my health had declined and that I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. My life changed forever as I became insulin dependent and required to wear a pump. The only thing that's keeping me alive is DACA, which has allowed me to obtain my own insurance so that I can prioritize my health. You hear on the news the tragic stories of people who plead to stay or else they'll be deported to their deaths -- for the undocumented and uninsured, death doesn't wait on the cruelty of deportation. Every single person has a human right to life and dignity. That's why I, and countless immigrant youth and families, believe in healthcare for all and support the Medicare for All Act of 2019."
The Center for Popular Democracy works to create equity, opportunity and a dynamic democracy in partnership with high-impact base-building organizations, organizing alliances, and progressive unions. CPD strengthens our collective capacity to envision and win an innovative pro-worker, pro-immigrant, racial and economic justice agenda.
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'Make Polio Great Again': Alarm Over RFK Jr. Lawyer Who Targeted Vaccine
"So if you're wondering if Donald Trump is trying to kill your kids, yes, yes he is," said one critic.
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Public health advocates, federal lawmakers, and other critics responded with alarm to The New York Timesreporting on Friday that an attorney helping Robert F. Kennedy Jr. select officials for the next Trump administration tried to get the U.S. regulators to revoke approval of the polio vaccine in 2022.
"The United States has been a leader in the global fight to eradicate polio, which is poised to become only the second disease in history to be eliminated from the face of the earth after smallpox," said Liza Barrie, Public Citizen's campaign director for global vaccines access. "Undermining polio vaccination efforts now risks reversing decades of progress and unraveling one of the greatest public health achievements of all time."
Public Citizen is among various organizations that have criticized President-elect Donald Trump's choice of Kennedy to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, with the watchdog's co-president, Robert Weissman, saying that "he shouldn't be allowed in the building... let alone be placed in charge of the nation's public health agency."
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According to the newspaper:
Mr. Siri is also representing ICAN in petitioning the FDA to "pause distribution" of 13 other vaccines, including combination products that cover tetanus, diphtheria, polio, and hepatitis A, until their makers disclose details about aluminum, an ingredient researchers have associated with a small increase in asthma cases.
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Ayman Chit, head of vaccines for North America at Sanofi, told the newspaper that development of the vaccine began in 1977, over 280 million people worldwide have received it, and there have been more than 300 studies, some with up to six months of follow-up.
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Asked about RFK Jr.'s anti-vaccine record during a Time "Person of the Year" interview published Thursday, the president-elect said that "we're going to be able to do very serious testing" and certain vaccines could be made unavailable "if I think it's dangerous."
Trump toldNBC News last weekend: "Hey, look, I'm not against vaccines. The polio vaccine is the greatest thing. If somebody told me to get rid of the polio vaccine, they're going to have to work real hard to convince me. I think vaccines are—certain vaccines—are incredible. But maybe some aren't. And if they aren't, we have to find out."
Both comments generated concern—like the Friday reporting in the Times, which University of Alabama law professor and MSNBC columnist Joyce White Vance called "absolutely terrifying."
She was far from alone. HuffPost senior front page editor Philip Lewis said that "this is just so dangerous and ridiculous" while Zeteo founder Mehdi Hasan declared, "We are so—and I use this word advisedly—fucked."
Ryan Cooper, managing editor at The American Prospect, warned that "they want your kids dead."
Author and musician Mikel Jollett similarly said, "So if you're wondering if Donald Trump is trying to kill your kids, yes, yes he is."
Multiple critics altered Trump's campaign slogan to "Make Polio Great Again."
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) responded with a video on social media:
Without naming anyone, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), a polio survivor, put out a lengthy statement on Friday.
"The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives and held out the promise of eradicating a terrible disease. Efforts to undermine public confidence in proven cures are not just uninformed—they're dangerous," he said in part. "Anyone seeking the Senate's consent to serve in the incoming administration would do well to steer clear of even the appearance of association with such efforts."
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Others have called on Biden—who earlier this month pardoned his son Hunter Biden after promising he wouldn't—to grant clemency to people including Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier and environmental lawyer Steven Donziger.
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