{news} GP RELEASE Greens rip Clinton's 'cynical' corporate-subsidy health plan

[Justine McCabe]

GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
http://www.gp.org

For Immediate Release:
Monday, September 24, 2007

Contacts:
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624,
mclarty at greens.org
Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805,
starlene at gp.org


Greens call Sen. Clinton's health care mandate
proposal a 'fraudulent, cynical, cruel' affront to
Americans who need coverage

. Dem plans are really billion-dollar subsidies for
HMO-insurance campaign contributors, say Greens

. Greens appeal to Dems who support
Single-Payer/Medicare For All: America will not get
real universal health care until some Greens get into
Congress


WASHINGTON, DC -- Green Party leaders strongly
criticized Sen. Hillary Clinton's health care reform
plan, calling it a capitulation to private HMO and
insurance corporations and an affront to Americans who
lack adequate access to health care.

"Senator Clinton's $110-billion-per-year 'mandatory
coverage' plan amounts to a gigantic subsidy for the
HMO-insurance industry, while shifting the burden --
and the blame for lack of coverage -- onto people who
desperately need health care," said John Battista, MD,
former Green candidate for state representative in
Connecticut and co-author of his state's single-payer
legislation in 1999 (the Connecticut Health Care
Security Act).

"As Michael Moore's documentary 'Sicko' showed,
predatory insurance companies are the reason for
America's health crisis, with 47 million uninsured and
millions more whose coverage doesn't give them
adequate treatment," added Dr. Battista.  "Ms.
Clinton's solution is to reward these companies for
their greed, giving them more money.  Ms. Clinton has
been Congress's top recipient of money from the
insurance industry [source: Center for Responsive
Politics, <http://www.opensecrets.org>], which
explains her dedication to corporate insurance and HMO
profits."

The Green Party supports a Single-Payer national
health plan, also called 'Medicare For All,' similar
to the Canadian system, which would guarantee every
American health care regardless of age, income,
employment, or prior medical condition; allow choice
of health care provider; provide low-cost or no-cost
treatment and prescriptions (including certain forms
of alternative medicine); and cost low- and
middle-income Americans far less than they now pay for
private or employer-based coverage by eliminating
insurance and HMO company overhead.

Greens called Sen. Clinton's and other Democratic
plans expensive and inefficient because of the
duplication of administrative costs of  multiple plans
and because they offer fewer services in deference to
profits.  The US currently spends more that twice what
other industrialized nations spend on health care:
$7,129 per capita -- which would change only minimally
under the Democratic plans.

For more on Green health care positions, visit
<http://www.gp.org/organize/sicko.html>.  For health
care leaders in the Green Party Speakers Bureau, visit
<http://gp.org/speakers/healthcare.shtml>.

"America doesn't need 'mandatory' coverage, America
needs guaranteed health care," said Linda Manning
Myatt, Michigan Green and spokesperson for the
National Women's Caucus.  "Unfortunately, all of the
Democratic presidential candidates, except for Dennis
Kucinich, are pandering for their insurance lobby
friends.  They care more about profits for their
campaign contributors than about health care for the
American people.  Sen. Barack Obama has even admitted
that his plan would sustain HMOs and insurance firms. 
Calling the Democrats' proposals 'universal health
care' is fraudulent, cynical, and cruel."

Green leaders claim that Ms. Clinton promoted a
disastrous reform plan in 1993, under her husband's
administration, and has introduced an even worse plan
in 2007.  Greens have insisted that fair and accurate
discussion of Single-Payer/Medicare For All be
included in the media debate over health care.

"The only political party that supports Single-Payer
Medicare For All is the Green Party," said Connecticut
Green Justine McCabe, PhD, a psychologist and co-chair
of the Green Party's International Committee.  "We
demand that the Green Party and Green candidates and
other Single-Payer supporters be allowed to
participate in the health care debate.  Just as
urgently, we need to get a few Greens elected to
Congress.  A few Green wins in congressional races in
2008 will jolt more Dems and even some Republicans
into backing Single-Payer."

"Progressive Democrats and others who say they favor
Single-Payer need to understand this point.  American
will not get Single-Payer until a non-corporate third
party -- the Green Party -- gains a presence in
Congress.  If progressive, pro-Single-Payer Democrats
insist on supporting Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama
or other corporate Democrats in the 2008 race, then
they will be complicit in keeping Single-Payer off the
table for years to come," said Dr. McCabe.


MORE INFORMATION

Green Party of the United States
http://www.gp.org
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
Fax 202-319-7193
. Green Party News Center
http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtml
. Green Party Speakers Bureau
http://www.gp.org/speakers
. 2007 national Green Party meeting in Reading, Pa.:
video footage, blog and media coverage
http://www.gp.org/meeting2007/

"Seeking Coverage For All"
By John R. Battista and Justine McCabe (Green Party
members), The Hartford Courant, October 31, 2006
http://www.pnhp.org/news/2006/november/seeking_coverage_for.php

"Health Reform Failure"
By Steffie Woolhandler and David U. Himmelstein, The
Boston Globe, September 17, 2007
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2007/09/17/health_reform_failure/
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/09/17/3905/

Physicians for a National Health Program
http://www.pnhp.org


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