Judith Shega
Single Payer Action Network (SPAN)
Ohio
“Limited access to health care and health insurance is a societal issue that impoverishes us all”
Representing SPAN, the Single Payer Action Network, dedicated to achieving Healthcare for all Ohioans, I'm pleased to be at this important event supporting The Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights includes the rights to food, housing, health, education, communication and a living wage job. What may be obvious is that these issues are intrinsically related; challenge to any one of these components reduces access to the others, and exaggerates risk for becoming impoverished. The basic needs of food, shelter and safety identified by Maslow reinforces why these issues are essential for achieving quality of life.
Poverty and ill-health are significantly intertwined and inextricably linked. Poor people have worse health outcomes than better-off people. The association between poverty and ill-health is reflected in increased Illness and excessively high fertility, which may have a substantial impact on household income, and may even make the difference between being above and being below the poverty line. Ill-health is often associated with substantial health care costs, but poverty and low income also cause ill-health. Poor suffer from a multiplicity of deprivations that translate into high levels of ill-health, so are caught in a vicious circle: poverty breeds ill-health, ill-health maintains poverty.
There is a two way relationship between poverty and ill health, with disease often further impoverishing the poor. Illness prevents people from working, or affects their productivity, lowering their income. The costs of obtaining health care are also substantial, both in terms of time off from work, and in terms of money spent on services.
The current reality is that dramatically increased health care cost is the single most factor responsible for creating even more poverty in our country. Obvious evidence of this is that most bankruptcies declared in this country are a direct result of health care bills. Poverty is further challenged as employers selectively restrict employment to those who need health insurance coverage, so those needing jobs may not obtain them because of the cost factor of health insurance. Obviously, those who need insurance will not be able to obtain it in the profit driven commercial insurance market. Also, the rate of charges to the uninsured is extremely higher than those billed at a group rate arranged by insurance companies, further conducive to creating more poverty.
Under our current medical management system, even those with insurance have excessively exaggerated co-pays, restrictions and deductibles, so any single illness may cause anyone into the uninsured cycle of risk to health and income ability and potential for poverty.
Poverty and health maintain a cycle: Characteristics such as inadequate service utilization, unhealthy sanitary and dietary practices, result in acute and chronic ill health, malnutrition, high fertility, psychosocial and mental health challenges, all factors that continue to exaggerate the cycle of illness and poverty. The causes include: lack of income knowledge, poverty in community and social norms, weak institutions and infrastructure, bad environment, poor health provisions from inaccessibility, irrelevant services, lack of health knowledge, and exclusion from health finance system, lack of or limited insurance coverage.
All these can easily be remedied by a system that allows for health coverage for all. It establishes a norm of health expectations through preventative education, early access to care, and security of care. Such a system will not allow health risks to increase stress, further challenging health and recovery, nor restrict access to employment, nor hamper self esteem.
Comedian Stephen Colbert recently criticized States that offered health coverage for all school aged students, stating that this was raising children with the unrealistic expectation that they could get health insurance as adults, which most Americans know is obviously not true. SPAN's expectation is that insurance should never be a concern for anyone, as health care would be available whenever it is needed. And need for medical care will be dramatically reduced when we have a system that supports health education and illness prevention, provides easy access to early intervention, and eliminates the health challenges imposed by the stress of not having access to or not being able to afford essential health and medical services!
Limited access to health care and health insurance is a societal issue that impoverishes us all in terms beyond income; it affects our quality of life. As illness and injury are often not optional and seldom chosen, so access to care cannot be maintained as an elective commodity in a free marketplace. The powerlessness and vulnerability of poverty also applies to those who are ill and unable to obtain care. Allowing either circumstance to exist in our society is immoral, unethical and inhumane. Supporting health care for all will significantly contribute to reducing poverty of many, and will improve the health and wellbeing of all.
Thank you.