There is a growing chorus of Americans calling for affordable, accessible health care and it has become quite loud.
Our nation's health care crisis is one of the most important problems facing us today. The cost of health care is skyrocketing and the ranks of the uninsured, including uninsured children, are growing.
Overwhelmed emergency rooms continue to turn away patients that they cannot accommodate, while overworked health professionals are forced to spend precious hours dealing with HMO paperwork instead of caring for patients.
Thousands of Americans die each year from preventable conditions that would have been held in check if only these patients had health care coverage. This is a sorry state of affairs for the richest country in the world.
The United States is the only industrialized nation in the world that does not guarantee health care to all its citizens. The U.S. spends $1.7 trillion, or $5,800 per citizen, each year on health care, yet tens of millions of Americans do not receive adequate care.
Despite spending more on health than any other country, the U.S. ranks 37th in citizens' health outcomes. Many European and Asian nations cover all their citizens with quality health care while spending less than the U.S. and achieving better health outcomes.
I introduced legislation last year aimed at remedying this predicament, H.R. 676, "The United States National Health Insurance Act." 77 Members of Congress joined me by co-sponsoring this bill. This legislation would create a universal health care system by expanding, strengthening, and improving the Medicare program so that all Americans would have access to comprehensive medical services including prescription drugs, mental health services, and dental care throughout their lives.
Over the past two years, citizen hearings on universal health care have taken place in more than 90 cities across the country. These events were marked by a huge turnout from people sharing their experiences with our broken health care system and calling for a change. To paraphrase the words of Fannie Lou Hamer, people are sick and tired of being sick and tired.
As we move forward to a Democratic Majority, I will continue to seek solutions to our ailing health care system.