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Health Care Foundation Decries Chasm |
| Thu June 7th, 2007 |
Credits Connecticut Residents for Keeping Eye on Meaningful Health Care Reform
While Connecticut’s governor and legislature failed to transcend partisanship and specials interests this session, residents and groups across the state succeeded in forging a movement that will ultimately transform health care in Connecticut.
“The only thing sweeping about what the governor and legislature did this session is what they pushed under the rug,” explained Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut President Juan A. Figueroa. “They did nothing for Connecticut’s middle class or for our small businesses, and left unaddressed skyrocketing costs and growing quality concerns in the state’s disorganized health care system. By failing to grapple with the underlying structural issues at the core of our health care crisis, they missed the central opportunity to move us towards a meaningful solution.”
“Yet what the Governor and legislature missed, the people of Connecticut got.” continued Figueroa. “People from around the state put aside their differences and united around the common goal of building a just, coherent, and sustainable system of health care in Connecticut. They talked in boardrooms and around kitchen tables, in offices and church basements. Residents knocked on thousand doors, gathered tens of thousands of letters and cards, spent hundreds of hours at the Capitol, ran up their cell phone minutes, and generated countless emails telling our policy makers one thing: Connecticut can’t afford to wait.”
“Eventually the governor and legislature will catch up with the people on health care,” Figueroa said. “Back in December, we found that 84 percent of Connecticut voters favored universal health care. Less than a month before the end of the session, a Quinnipiac University Poll showed that 50 percent of the state’s voters would even be willing to pay higher state income taxes to provide health insurance for more people.”
“Business people get it. Faith leaders get it. Doctors get it. Low-income advocates get it. Union leaders and members get it. A growing number of legislators get it,” added President Figueroa. “We’re in this boat together, and by working together we will move health care reform in the right direction. Have no doubt about it, Connecticut soon will achieve quality, affordable health care for everyone.”
Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut maintains that any new health care measure seeking to achieve quality, affordable health care for all residents must be evaluated against the principles established by the Institute of Medicine (IOM). The IOM, led by the nation’s most respected doctors and health care academics, calls for universal health coverage that:
• includes everyone;
• is continuous and portable regardless of changes in employment or marital status;
• is affordable to individuals, especially those with limited income;
• is affordable and sustainable to society; and
• enhances health and well-being.
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