The need for universal health care in America hit home recently for Cortland Chapter member Henry Steck.

Steck’s wife, Janet, was hospitalized, underwent testing and was released the next day. Everything turned out fine except for the whopping $10,000 hospital bill, which the hospital initially said Steck had to pay because coverage didn’t fall under Medicare or health insurance.

It turned out to be a hospital paperwork glitch, but Steck spent more than two hours on the phone with the insurance company to straighten it out.

The incident prompted Steck to pen a resolution supporting meaningful health care reform; the Cortland Chapter submitted it during the 2009 Fall Delegate Assembly, where it was approved unanimously by delegates.

“America is the only major industrialized country that doesn’t have a government-supported universal health care system,” Steck said. “Health care should be a right, not a transaction in a marketplace.”

“This is a moral responsibility and a fiscal responsibility,” said Georges Fouron, vice chair of the union’s Human and Civil Rights Committee. “The citizens need this kind of protection. How we can tolerate this in a democracy like the U.S. is unconscionable.”

Joining in

Other UUPers have also joined the fight for health care reform and universal health care, strongly supporting President Barack Obama’s plan to provide health care stability and security for all Americans.

At the Fall DA, delegates overwhelmingly adopted a resolution that asserted equal access to quality health care “as a human right.” Offered by the Human and Civil Rights and LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning) committees, it likens the right to health care to the rights to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” guaranteed in the Declaration of Independence.

“If you define what human rights are, they ensure the safety and the advancement of all people,” said Oswego Chapter President Steven Abraham, chair of the Human and Civil Rights Committee. “Human rights are the right to be alive, to exist as a functioning member of society. Without health care, clearly you are denied those rights.”

Even though most UUP members have health benefits and coverage through the union’s negotiated contract with the state, the issue is of prime concern to members, many of whom have family members and friends currently underinsured or uninsured.

“As UUPers, we are wage earners, we don’t have great wealth,” Steck said. “If you get a catastrophic illness, you can run out of resources and in a matter of a few months, you can lose everything. We can’t accept this.”

“Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is connected with health care,” said Fouron. “I personally think the government has the responsibility to provide adequate health care.”

Obama’s health care vision is, at last, beginning to take shape legislatively. In November, the U.S. House of Representatives passed its comprehensive health reform legislation; the Senate is working on its version of the bill.

Both bills include a government-run public insurance option. The bills are designed to establish health insurance consumer protections, bar insurance industry practices like refusing coverage based on pre-existing medical conditions and stem rising medical costs nationwide.

The AFL-CIO and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) are doing their part to push health care reform.

Through its “Health Care for America Now” program, the AFL-CIO wants heath care reform that controls costs, provides comprehensive high-quality coverage for everyone, and calls on the government to ensure “fairness and efficiency” in the insurance system.

The AFT is also calling for a public insurance option that provides coverage for all

Americans. Under its plan, employer-provided health care benefits would not be taxed, and it would set appropriate staffing levels for nurses, which would help reduce patient re-admissions and health complications, save money and improve quality.

— Michael Lisi