FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - August 15,
2000
Contact: Tim Clarke, Jr., AMSA Director of Public
Relations
Daytime Phone: (703) 620-6600, ext. 207
Reston, VA-Despite a worsening of the health care crisis in the United States, the Democratic Party continues its slide away from a genuine transformation of our failing health care delivery system, according to the American Medical Student Association (AMSA).
In 1972, the Democratic platform called for the addition of a prescription drug benefit to the Medicare program and for a system of national health insurance, similar to what is in place in every other industrialized country. In 1992, the party still drew a firm line, declaring, "All Americans should have universal access to … health care-not as a privilege, but as a right." But in 2000, the party has watered down their message. The platform now only states that, "We must redouble our efforts to bring the uninsured into coverage step-by-step and as soon as possible."
"We find such piecemeal solutions unacceptable in this time of unprecedented wealth," according to AMSA legislative affairs director Josh Rising, a medical student from Boston University. "There has been a gradual erosion of the commitment of the Democratic Party to providing health care for every American. Has the problem gotten better in the past thirty years? Hardly, and it is not going to improve with the set of reforms that are currently on the table."
Despite spending $4,000 per person on health care - nearly twice that of our nearest competitor - the United States has a population of 45 million individuals who lack health insurance, and thus are unable to access needed medical care. 25% are these people are children, while nearly 50% of them are employed individuals who are not offered insurance with their jobs. With a system of national health insurance, the country could cut back on the 24 cents out of every healthcare dollar spent on administrative costs and provide health care to everyone.
AMSA, the nation's largest independent organization of medical students, has advocated for a single-payer, universal system of health care for over 30 years. Nearly 37,000 physicians-in-training are members of AMSA. Learn more about universal health care at www.amsa.org.
