Groups Rally for Insurance Coverage

CHARLESTON -- The issue of providing health coverage for the uninsured brought together some politically strange bedfellows recently for a rally at the state Capitol that its organizers hope will be a stepping stone for health care reform. Only a few dozen people showed up for the May 3 rally, most wearing bright yellow shirts, but the list of sponsors for the event was impressive. Among them were the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce and the West Virginia AFL-CIO, two organizations that usually take opposite sides on many business issues. Other groups included advocacy organizations such as West Virginians for Affordable Health Care, Mountain State Blue Cross Blue Shield, the state's largest health insurer, and religious groups such as the Charleston Black Ministerial Alliance.

All the groups came together to recognize "Cover the Uninsured Week," with organizers saying that in West Virginia, 245,000 people went uninsured for the entire year of 2006 -- or about 14 percent of its population. "One of the best phrases I ever heard was 'The nation's budget is its morality walking,'" said Delegate Don Perdue, D-Wayne, chairman of the House Health and Human Resources Committee. "Having said that, we know we need to contribute more." The rally was organized by Perry Bryant of West Virginians for Affordable Health Care. He said it took months of planning and was sponsored by more than 20 organizations. He hopes the coalition created for the rally will continue to work for health care reform in the future, although he acknowledged that some members have conflicting agendas. "People have to bring to the table a willingness to put aside some preconceived ideas about where people are going to be," he said. "I think it is important for us all to deal with each other in a straightforward, civil manner."

One of the first things the coalition is working on is a project with the West Virginia Health Care Authority to create an actuarial model so it can get figures for various health care reform options, Bryant said. Organizers used the rally to pass out figures of their own they said demonstrated the extent of the uninsured problem in the state and nation:

* About four West Virginians die every week because they lack health insurance, while as many as 18,000 Americans die every year because they are uninsured.

* Fewer employers are offering health insurance to employees because of its high cost. The percentage of firms offering health insurance dropped from 69 percent to 60 percent from 2000 to 2006.

* The West Virginia Health Care Authority found that in 2006, state hospitals provided $578 million in uncompensated health care, most of which was provided to the uninsured.

* Most uninsured -- eight out of 10 people -- come from working families.

* An estimated 28 percent of all personal bankruptcies filed in the United States are the direct result of illness or injury.

Those organizations that participated in the rally brought with them their own ideas about how to tackle health care reform. Kenneth Perdue, president of the West Virginia AFL-CIO, pointed to figures recently released by his organization showing an increase in the number of occupational deaths. A lot of workers are not being given the option to say they don't want to enter unsafe workplaces, he said. "It is happening more in insurance because workers are being told they are not going to have insurance," he said. Just as workers should have the right to say no to entering unsafe workplaces, "we want workers to have the right to have healthinsurance."

news source : http://www.statejournal.com/