Families are feeling the heat from the current economic downturn, and I think that it's great that we have someone running for office who will actually take these issues head on...
From the release:
State Senate candidate Don Barber (D-Caroline) threw his support behind health care reformers' efforts to control skyrocketing HMO premiums today. He also expressed alarm at other rising health care costs and eroding coverage. "Increasingly New Yorkers can't afford coverage, or the coverage they have is completely inadequate," he said.
In recent years New Yorkers' premiums have increased in the double digits, according to the Hunger Action Network, an umbrella group that includes social justice advocates and faith-based organizations. The group is seeking backing in Albany for a bill that will reinstitute hearings and prior approval before health insurers are allowed to raise rates.
After pointing out that HMO profits increased by 93% between 2001 and 2005, Barber added, "A bill to regulate premiums has come to the New York State Senate time and time again in recent years, but it's always killed by Republicans in committee or never reaches the floor. Sen. Seward is chairman of the Senate Insurance Committee and Majority Whip. He has the power to present this legislation, but instead he's acted as a roadblock to reform. Rates are just out of control. We need to change leadership so we can extend full health care coverage, which is really a basic human right, to all New Yorkers."
While medical expenses keep rising, higher premiums, less extensive coverage, greater out of pocket expenses and co-payments have conspired to drive the cost of some life-saving operations beyond the reach of many people.
Barber said shrinking health care benefits were a part of the problem. "Many working families can't afford health care even if they are insured. Here's an example from yesterday's New York Times. A man gets congestive heart failure and finds out his insurance company will only pay $22,000 for the procedure, and he's left with over $100,000 in hospital bills. At the same time, he doesn't qualify for Medicare. That just isn't right."
The recession and the rising cost of basics like food and fuel are putting greater pressure on families. Rising health care payments are adding to the strain. "It's a bad news situation when an individual or a household has to pay out-of-pocket three, four or five times as much for their health plan as they would have at the time of the last recession, said Helen Darling, president of the National Business Group on Health. "Americans have been giving their pay raise to the health care system."
Tarah Rowse, Barber's Campaign Manager, said, "We're asking everyone who cares about health care to join Don Barber. He's offering a real choice for change."
