Sue Kaufman is ready for change.

Kaufman, the University Professionals of Illinois Local 4100 president, said the United States’ current health care system needs help.

According to a report released by the U.S. Census Bureau in Aug. 2007, there were 47 million Americans without health coverage in 2006. This number was up from the 44.8 million uninsured in 2005.

Kaufman said the number of uninsured Americans is increasing because of rising health coverage costs. She said of the insured, millions do not have enough coverage.

“This is not the way people should live.” Kaufman said. “They should not be in a situation where if they experience a catastrophic illness, that they are totally financially blanked out. It is not what this country is all about, we should be caring for each other.”

Kaufman helped bring up the issue of health care at a UPI meeting and UPI Local 4100 passed a resolution endorsing HR 676, Universal Single-Payer Health Care, on Dec. 1.

“We felt, as a union, we needed to step up,” Kaufman said. “It was time to take a bold stance. Enough with the status quo.”

University Professionals of Illinois is the union representing Eastern faculty and staff.

Rebecca Spoon, local artist and independent businesswoman, agrees something needs to be done about America’s health care system.

“We are now trapped in an unsustainable, unaffordable, immoral system with costs spiraling totally out of control,” Spoon said.

Spoon has been researching single-payer universal health care for more than five years and believes it is the solution to what she calls America’s “health care crisis.”

Charles Delman, Eastern’s UPI chapter president, said single-payer health care is a national government insurance program. Delman said the resolution proposes taking the Medicare system and expanding it to everyone; insurance would be provided and guaranteed.

Delman said by doing this, private insurance companies would be eliminated. He said these companies often “skim off profit” that serves no useful purpose.

Single-payer health care would allow people to go to any doctor or any hospital they want. People would not be restricted to only two or three networks to go to when care is needed.

And the employed would no longer have to worry about losing their health coverage when switching jobs.

According to a Nov. 2007 Economic Policy Institute report, nearly 60 percent of the health insurance in the United States is employment-based coverage.

Delman said the national government insurance program would cause insurance to no longer be tied to employment.

However, Spoon said single-payer universal health care would mean bad news for insurance providers.

“At first HR-676 would use our savings to buy out the health insurers and profit-driven providers,” Spoon said. “It would take 15 years to convert the health insurer gravy train over to a not-for-profit model that we could start using for our people’s benefit instead of health insurers’.”

While it is argued that universal health care is unrealistic, Delman said at least 20 other civilized countries already have national health care systems in place.

“There are many models,” Delman said. “And they all work better than what we have.”

According to the UK National Health Service, Great Britain has been using its system of universal health care since 1948. Delman said the British government hires doctors and runs the hospitals, operating alongside private physicians so those who want additional care have access to it.

There are also different types of national insurance systems in some countries. In these countries, the government does not operate the health care system but pays for the costs on a fee-for-service basis.

Delman said one of the issues in the American health care system is Americans don’t think coherently about how we spend the money.

“I believe it is [that] about one half of all the medical expenses an individual will incur occur during the last year of life,” Delman said. “We spend tons of money helping those people hang on for those last few months. But we spend very little money on genuine prevention. We don’t think about getting people healthier.”

Delman said the “toxic social environment” Americans live in contributes to many common health problems. He said Americans should focus more money on primary care in order to keep people healthier in the long run.

The single-payer health care national government insurance program would be paid for out of taxes, and Delman said there would be no additional expenses.

“One argument that you hear is ‘It will raise our taxes,” Delman said. “Well, conceivably it would but it will eliminate all the health premiums.”

Delman said in passing the resolution supporting HR 676, UPI communicated its interests to local and state politicians. He said the national health insurance program is one of many issues on UPI’s agenda, but the group hopes to help gain support for the system by educating not only its members, but the community as well.

“What you want to do is build a popular movement for what things should be,” Delman said. “And you may not get what should be right away, but if you just keep pushing and saying the truth about what needs to happen then that’s the best way to make a change.”

Kaufman said UPI Local 4100’s Executive Board will take the resolution to its April 2009 House of Delegates Assembly.

HR 676 was introduced by Congressman John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) and Kaufman said UPI is encouraging other members of the House to sign on as co-sponsors. UPI also hopes a companion bill will be introduced in the Senate.

HR 676 has been endorsed by 343 union organizations in 48 states.

Barbara Harrington can be reached at 581-7945 or at bjharrington@eiu.edu.