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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 24, 2005)
ilîl IJo rtla n h (©bscruer Page A4 August 24. 2005 Opinion articles do not necessarily reflect or represent the views o f The Portland Observer O pinion Sour Note 40 Years After Medicare: 45 million have no health coverage by H olly S klar When Medicare and Medicaid were signed into law on July 30, 1965, former President Harry Trum an received the first Medicare card. He would be shocked that 40 years later, more than 45 m il lion Americans have no health cover age, half o f all personal bankruptcies are health-related and lack of universal insurance is increasingly hurting our economy as well as our health. Truman had proposed national health insurance for all Americans in 1945. He said, “By preventing illness, by assuring access to needed community and personal health services...and by protecting our people against the loss caused by sickness, we shall strengthen our national health, our national de fense and our productivity.” If Americans without health insur ance were a nation, the population would be bigger than Canada - plus Michigan, Montana, New Hampshire and Vermont. Canada, like other in dustrialized nations besides ours, pro Contrary to myth, the United States does not have the world's best health care. It has the costliest. vides universal health coverage. Contrary to myth, the United States does not have the w orld’s Best health care. It has the costliest. In the words o f Dr. C hristopher Murray o f the World Health Organiza tion, "Basically, you die earlier and spend more time disabled if you’re an American rather than a mem ber of most other advanced countries.” The U nited States is ju st num ber 29 in the W HO healthy life ex p ect ancy ranking. We lag C anada by nearly three years and J apan by nearly six. The U nited States does w orse than 36 countries in child m ortality under age 5 — well behind South Korea and Singapore. Lack of health insurance is killing many more Americans than terrorism. Uninsured Americans get about half the medical care of those with insurance. They receive too little care, too late, get sicker and die sooner. For exam ple, uninsured women with breast cancer have a 30 percent to 50 percent higher risk o f dying than insured women. U ninsured car crash victims receive less care in the hospital and have a 37 percent higher m ortality rate than privately insured patients. One out of three Americans below age 65 - 85 million people - lacked M M M M M H N K M H M M i private or public health insurance for all or part of 2003 to 2(X)4. Millions more are underinsured. Average family health insurance pre miums will reach a projected $14,545 in 2006, more than double the 2001 average. Much health spending is squan dered on the mountainous red tape, profits and executive pay of private insurance and drug companies. The National Coalition on Health Care, an alliance of about 100 corporations, pension funds, medical associations, insurers, unions, consumer and reli gious organizations, says, “Com pre hensive health care reform is long over due. Every year that reform is delayed, by J udge G reg M athis The Democratic Party has come to expect the black vote to automatically belong to them and has done very little to earn that support. Sure, the obligatory promises are made during cam paign season but, more and more, it is very difficult to get certain members of the party to use their political muscle to fight on our behalf. The upcom ing co n firm a tion hearing of Supreme Court nom inee John G. Roberts is no exception: the latest buzz in Washington has D e m o c ra ts backing down from a m ajor fight to stop Roberts’ nomina tion. Because this is not a battle Democrats can win, many legis lators feel that a public fight is not a good use of political resources. C onsidering R oberts’ past views on critical issues that af fect people of color and women, Democrats must not think in terms of win or lose and instead wage this war in the name of the American people, particularly Painful Loss at State Partisanship dooms attempts to help schools During his career as a private attorney, Robert argued against those that have supported the Title IX, which prohibits sex- party without question for de based discrimination at educa tional institutions, criticized fed cades. While serving as special assis eral affirmative action programs tant to the attorney general dur and opposed the Violence Against ing the Reagan Administration, Women Act. It is pretty much a given that Roberts supported the attack on minority voting rights by work Roberts will secure the minimum ing to block an amendment that 70 votes needed to override any would require those complaining strategy that could block his nomi about biased voting laws to show nation. Nevertheless, Democrats ing the conservative opposition to preserve theirs as well. Some Democrats say fighting a loser’s battle weakens their chances for preventing a more conservative, thus more threatening, nomina tion in the future. I say a strong battle waged now will put the White House on notice that the Democratic Party stands for the rights of the people. In June, the Senate apologized for failing to outlaw lynching. From the 1800s to the 1960s, th o u san d s o f b lack s w ere d rag g ed through the streets, b ea te n , to rtu re d and hung by white lynch mobs. With this apology, led by key members of the Democratic Party, -JudgeGregMathis the Senate took a sincere step in dem cannot tuck their tails and let his onstrating that they were, in some nom ination pass easily. With way, interested in justice. Now Democrats backing off, conser it’s time for the Senate to show a vative groups that previously little more backbone and prove expected to spend millions sup they are willing to fight for ju s porting Roberts’ nomination can tice now and avoid the need for now use those funds to support an apology later. Judge Greg Mathis is chair campaigns that seek to erode rights w e’ve fought decades to man o f the Rainbow PUSH-Ex- obtain. cel Board and a national board As the Democrats look to safe member o f the Southern Chris guard their funds, they are allow tian Leadership Conference. by D avid W ynde B obbie R egan and ening restrictions on local com munities’ ability to support their own schools. Partisan politics also doomed p ro p o sa ls from G ov. T ed Kulongoski and House Speaker Karen Minnis that promised at long last to restore some stabil ity to school funding in Or egon. And finally, the Legislature scuttled a plan that would have allo w ed P o rtlan d P u b lic Schools to continue to collect $15 million a year in existing property taxes, at no cost to any other school district. Fifteen million dollars would fund Portland public schools for a full three weeks or pay for about 200 additional teachers. That financial lifeline for our 48,000 students was lost in the meat grinder of the final days of the legislative session, vic tim of political deal making and deal-breaking by legislators who will nonetheless likely claim in their next campaign that edu cation is their top priority. The Oregon Legislature ad journed without having acted on significant measures to help our Oregon schools. Partisan ship took priority over policy and our school children are the losers. The Legislature passed a $5.24 budget for K-12 schools for the next two years - that falls far short of the level needed to maintain current service lev els. In Portland Public Schools, that hit alone costs us the equiva lent of 100 teachers. Further more, this level of funding does not begin to address the short fall caused for M ultnom ah County school districts when the local income tax goes away in 2006-07. Despite a number of prom ises and proposals, the Gover nor and Legislature made al most no progress on several issues that could make a differ ence to school districts across the state, such as controlling costs for health care and retire David Wynde and Bobbie ment, looking at more creative Regan are co-chairs o f the funding mechanisms or loos Portland School Board. A strong battle waged now will put the White House on notice that the Democratic Party stands fo r the rights o f the people. that a law only had a discrimina tory effect as opposed to proving it was intentional. Even the late Sen. Strom Thurmond, a well- known segregationist, disagreed with Roberts and voted for the amendment. As Deputy Solicitor General, Roberts penned a brief that argued Roe v. Wade, the decision that overturned all laws that restricted or banned abor tions, was “wrongly decided.” Holly Sklar is co-author o f “Raise the Floor: Wages and Policies That Work fo r All O f Us." ■MM Democrats Must Fight for Justice Oppose Supreme Court nominee tens of millions of Americans live in peril, without health insurance; millions are harmed, and hundreds of thousands die needlessly, because of sub-stan dard care.” The coalition calls for “health care coverage for all.” It offers four dif ferent scenarios for universal cover age: em ployer and individual m an dates and subsidies; expanding M edi care and other public health insur ance; creating a new public program m odeled on the Federal Em ployee Health Benefits Plan; andestablishing a universal single payer, publicly fi nanced program. The first three scenarios would net $320 billion to $370 billion in savings over the first 10 years; the fourth sce nario would save $1.1 trillion. Like untreated cancer, the health care crisis is spreading throughout our families and economy. It’s time for health care for all. OFFICE • RETAIL Located in the Heart o f Portland Martin Luther King Corridor For More Details Contact: Chuck or Mark Washington 503-288-1897 2 Spaces Available Strengthen Local Schools Most o f P ortland’s m iddle schools now fail to meet the standards o f the federal No Child Left Behind law. Local residents who believe children shouldn’t have to trans fer to a school outside their neighborhood to get a good pub lic education can help by vol unteering as a tutor or provid ing other support for schools, PTAs and youth program s. Get involved with com m unity or ganizations working on school issues such as Sisters in Action for Power, the Neighborhood Schools Alliance or the Urban League o f Portland. U rge the school d istric t to stre n g th e n “ u n d e r-p e rfo rm ing” schools rath er than d ra in in g th e ir s tu d e n ts and r e so u rces to o th er schools and w o rk c o o p e r a t i v e l y an d îl’r ^îortlanù (©bseruer Established 1970 USPS 959-680 __ _______________________________ 4747 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., Portland, OR 97211 Charles H. Washington EoiTOR:Michael Leighton R eporter : Katherine Blackmore D is t r ib u t io n M anager : M ark W ashington C reative D ir e c to r : P aul N eufeldt O f f ic e M anager : K athy Linder E ditor -I n -C h ie f . P ublisher : p ro activ ely w ith paren ts and the com m unity to im prove stu dent learning. A lso, lobby state le g isla to rs to req u ire co rp o ratio n s to pay th eir fair share o f taxes to h e lp p r o v id e a d e q u a te school funding, and co n tact federal law m akers to reform NCLB. Nicole Breedlove North Portland Send address changes to Portland Observer, P0 Box 3 1 3 7 , Portland, OR 9 7 2 0 8 Subscriptions are $80.00 per year 503-288-0033 F AX 503-288-0015 news@ponlandobserver.com subscription@portlandobserver.com ads @portlandobserver. com classifieds @portlandobserver, com The Portland Observer welcomes freelance submissions. Manuscripts and photographs should be clearly labeled and w ill be returned if accompanied by a self addressed envelope. A ll created design display ads become the sole property o f the newspaper and cannot be used in other publications or personal usage without the written consent o f the general manager, unless the client has purchased the composition Joyce Washington Plaza o f such ad O 1996 T H E P O R T L A N D O B SER VER . A L L R IG H TS R ESE R V E D . R E P R O D U C T IO N IN W H O L E OR IN PA R T W IT H O U T P E R M IS S IO N IS P R O H IB IT E D . 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