Dear Rep. Boucher,

About a month ago, I had the good fortune to sit in on a health care session at the Build a New World conference in Radford. The list of panelists included Donna Smith and Reggie Cervantes, both featured in the Michael Moore documentary Sicko, as well as other distinguished guests. At this session I first learned about HR 676, the legislation introduced by Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) that would create a national single-payer health care plan.

The bill would create a publicly financed, privately delivered health care program that uses the already existing Medicare program by expanding and improving it to include all U.S. residents, and all residents living in U.S. territories. The goal of the legislation is to ensure that all Americans, guaranteed by law, will have access to the highest quality and cost effective health care services regardless of employment, income, or health care status.

This week I have spent some time to watch Michael Moore’s Sicko documentary as well as a brief DVD simply called HR 676, which provides viewers with a synopsis of the proposed legislation. I would invite New River Voice readers, as well as you, Rep. Boucher, to watch this short film. I received both of these DVDs from Donna Smith, so let me thank her for sending them my way. As she can see, they were certainly viewed and acted upon.

Indeed after viewing the films, speaking to dozens of NRV residents, and doing my own research on this matter, I am writing to you to express my desire that you fully support HR 676.

The most recent information that I could find did not have you listed as a co-sponsor of this bill. I would encourage you to not only co-sponsor this bill but take up this cause with a passion. You know, as well as I do, that many Southwest Virginians either do not have health insurance or do not have adequate health insurance. Many, like me, are probably one major illness away from bankruptcy.

How can this be tolerated in this country? Well, we all know why it has been tolerated, it’s because of the immense greed of the health-insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies. These companies and their outrageously paid CEOs wield tremendous power and have thousands of lobbyists. How many of those lobbyists have you personally met with, sir? (As an aside, William McGuire of UnitedHealth Group, the nation’s leading insurer, was the third-highest-paid CEO on the Forbes list of top CEO salaries. His pay of $124.8 million could cover the average health-insurance premiums of nearly 34,000 people.) We all know that Congress and the health care industry is in bed together—and not in a good way!

But the good people of the United States cannot accept this anymore. We are the only wealthy industrialized nation that does not guarantee health care to its citizens.

The average life expectancy of U.S. citizens now ranks 47th in the world.

Amazingly, 42 countries have a lower infant mortality rate than does the United States.

Approximately a third of every dollar spent on health care in the United States goes to administrative costs.

We spend $275 million a day on an unnecessary and illegal war, yet we cannot have universal health care in this country?

We spend more money on health care that virtually all other industrialized nations, yet so many of our citizens go without health care because they have no health insurance , have inadequate health insurance, or are remarkably denied insurance in times of need. You can see their stories, here, here, here, and here!

Michael Moore suggested that when we go to the hospital and are denied coverage, we need to call 911 to report an attempted murder, because 18,000 Americans die each year due to being without health insurance.

The health care industry in this country is an absolute wreck, Rep. Boucher. For the good of Southwest Virginians and indeed all Americans, please join the fight to create universal health care with HR 676 as a starting point.

Best wishes,

Tim W. Jackson
Editor, New River Voice

PS
To help fuel your passion for this cause, take a listen to this song by Colette Washington, webmaster for the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee.

UPDATE: Read Rep. Boucher’s response.