Dear Senators Lautenberg and Menendez:

I am requesting that you support national health care for all by writing a sister bill to Congressman John Conyers’ HR 676 (United States National Health Insurance Act). I’ve heard many people say that women have it all. But as it is right now we’ve been doing it all, not having it all, and we refuse to go on this way unless we have more guarantees and more equality with men.

For years feminists have been fighting for housework to be shared equally between men and women, for universal child care, for equal pay. And now we’ve added to the list a national health system in the USA, a system that covers everyone, no matter their age, occupation, marital status, or employment status.

We want a system where women don’t have to:

v      Struggle to pay for our children’s health care;

v      Worry about health insurance coverage in deciding to marry or divorce;

v      Give up health insurance when we work part-time or in the home;

v      Decide that having a child is unaffordable because of health care costs;

v      Leave jobs to provide long term care for dependent family members; or

v      Prove an extremely low income to qualify for Medicaid for ourselves and our children.

After reviewing information about HR 676 we know that making health care a responsibility shared by everyone in the United States can be done because, in all other industrialized countries in the world, national health care systems do just that. And it turns out it costs less money per person! This is because these systems cut out insurance company profits and paperwork. In Canada, where both women and men live longer, they spend half as much per person on health care and EVERYONE is covered.

Presently in the United States, women are caught in a trap because our insurance is tied to our jobs. The benefits of the recently passed NJ Family leave Insurance bill are limited to 6 weeks a year with partial pay, which means that when we do take advantage of the benefits, we will still end up relying on others for the balance of our income and health insurance. Or we go without insurance entirely. If everyone were covered through a national system, we wouldn’t have to rely on a partner’s insurance, and we wouldn’t give up health insurance if we work part-time or when we work in the home.

Furthermore, insurance companies are making a lot of money from our misfortune. They are not accountable to us, but rather they are answerable to their investors and shareholders. A publicly-funded system would be accountable to the public.

There are also racial disparities in corporate insurance. According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) the overall health of the American population has improved over the past few decades, but all Americans have not shared equally in these improvements. Among non elderly adults, for example, 17 percent of Hispanic, and 16 percent of Black Americans report they are in only in fair or poor health, compared with 10 percent of white Americans.

More importunately, it is a shame that our government is spending 300,000 of our tax dollars every minute on an unjust war in Iraq, which has caused the deaths of thousands of our U.S. soldiers and our children while at the same time many of their families here in the U.S. are suffering a slow death for the lack of health insurance. Many of our sons and daughters will come home wounded and unable to work and earn a living for their families.

Since our insurance doesn’t cover long-term care, women end up with the responsibility for taking care of dependent family members, whether they are parents, children, or other loved ones. In other countries, assistance for long-term care is provided to everyone as part of the national health care system.

With national health care, the following would be covered for every resident of any age:

v      Doctor visits, hospitalization, and access to specialists;

v      Dental, vision, and mental health services;

v      Prescription drugs and medical supplies;

v      Quality nursing home and long-term care; and

v      Occupational health, preventative, and rehabilitative services.

We want guaranteed quality health care and not corporate insurance.  Senators, you can help win a national health system that is much fairer to women and covers everyone by writing a sister companion bill for HR 676

Thank you for your legislative support to improve the quality of life for women and girls in the United States of America. We have contacted both of our NJ United States Senators' offices regarding this very important issue.

Maretta J. Short

NOW-NJ President