Healthcare Campaign to Release Human Rights Day Report

* * * FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE * * *

December 9, 2008
Contact: James Haslam, VT Workers' Center, 802-272-0882, james@workerscenter.org
More info: www.workerscenter.org/healthcare

PRESS CONFERENCE
After Surveying 1,200 Vermonters the Workers' Center Releases A Human Rights Day Report

Voices of the Vermont Healthcare Crisis: The Human Right to Healthcare

When: 2:30pm, Wednesday, December 10 (International Human Rights Day)

Where: Vermont Workers' Center, 294 North Winooski Avenue, Burlington, VT

What: On Human Rights Day, the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights issued by the United Nations in 1948, the Vermont Workers' Center (VWC) will officially issue a comprehensive report entitled: Voices of the Vermont Healthcare Crisis: The Human Right to Healthcare. This report was compiled partly on surveys conducted with over 1,200 Vermonters and human rights hearings held this Fall across the state. The Workers' Center is also organizing a major related event at the University of Vermont's Davis Center; Ella Baker Human Rights Conference where over five hundred participants are expected.

PLEASE NOTE: Media interviews may be able to be scheduled with VWC representatives at other times that day.

Who: The Vermont Workers' Center launched the Healthcare Is A Human Rights campaign in the Spring of 2008.

More info:
www.workerscenter.org - General information on the Vermont Workers' Center
http://www.workerscenter.org/docs/Voices_of_the_Vermont_Healthcare_Crisis.pdf - Healthcare Human Rights Report (1.82 MB PDF file)
www.workerscenter.org/hrconference - On Ella Baker Human Rights Conference and list of guest speakers and workshops

Presidential debate on healthcare as a right or commodity

From our allies at the National Economic and Social Rights Initiative (NESRI):

Last night's presidential debate addressed the key issue for health care reform in the United States: do candidates see health care as a right or as a commodity? [ NY Times Coverage ]

"I think it should be a right for every American." This was Senator Obama's answer.

What does this mean for Obama's health care plan? Does the plan really treat health care as a right? As advocates, it is our responsibility to push his campaign to move beyond rhetoric and present a plan that protects the human right to health and health care.

In the debate, the question unfortunately pitted rights against responsibility ("Is health care in America a privilege, a right, or a responsibility?"), neglecting that all rights entail responsibilities. Senator McCain described health care as a personal — not collective — responsibility: "I think it's a responsibility [ ... ] it is certainly my responsibility. It is certainly small-business people and others, and they understand that responsibility".

Both candidates sidestepped the initial question that referred to the use of health care as a commodity: "Senator, selling health care coverage in America as the marketable commodity has become a very profitable industry. Do you believe health care should be treated as a commodity?"

In response, Obama outlined how his plan would help people to "buy insurance", and McCain compared accessing health care to "purchas[ing] other things in America".

These responses reflect the findings of a recent human rights assessment of the presidential nominees’ health care plans. Here’s a summary of that publication:

Senators Obama and McCain have put forward health care reform plans that fail to meet human rights standards, according to an analysis by the National Health Law Program (NHeLP) and the National Economic and Social Rights Initiative (NESRI). This assessment, based on human rights standards for health care reform, finds that both plans rely on market competition to solve the current health care crisis, without addressing how markets could be incentivized to put health protection ahead of the drive for profits.

Despite significant differences in approach, the nominees' plans share a focus on a consumer product — insurance coverage — rather than on actual health care, a public good. Neither plan recognizes the human right to health care — a right guaranteed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The assessment develops detailed standards for the implementation of the human right to health care in the United States and suggests basic steps the nominees could take towards meeting those standards.

The publication, "The Human Right to Health Care: Nominees' Plans Lag Behind Public Demands," is available in PDF format at the NESRI website.

St. Albans Messenger Article on Campaign

Health care as a human right?
Written By Michelle Monroe
Wednesday, July 16, 2008

ST. ALBANS CITY — The Vermont Worker’s Center (VWC) has launched a statewide campaign to re-conceptualize health care as a human right and change what is “politically possible,” according to VWC organizer Erika Simard.

VWC is a member-run organization best known for its worker’s rights hotline. This is the first time the organization has run a statewide, grass roots campaign. It was inspired, in part, by the number of calls concerning health care that are received on the hotline, Simard explained.

The initial phase of the campaign, which will culminate in a Sick Day at the state capitol on May 1, 2009, will focus on a survey of Vermonters beliefs about health care and experiences with the current health care system. VWC is also hoping to organize house parties where attendees will have the chance to view a shorter version of the Michael Moore film “Sicko.”

VWC plans to hold hearings on health care as human right, and to compile its survey results and hearing testimony into a written report. The intent, Simard said, is to put “the health care crisis on trial.”

Dozens of Vermonters have already signed on to be part of organizing committees around the state, according to Simard.

Those people will use their natural connections with neighbors, friends, family and co-workers to build a grass roots organization, Simard said.

Janice Santiago, a St. Albans resident who has signed on to help with the campaign, said she will probably start with her neighbors. “I think health care is a vital human need,” Santiago said.

“The effort is really to try to speak to people who haven’t been involved in politics before,” Colin Robinson of the Peace and Justice Center said.

The Peace and Justice Center (PJC) has joined with VWC for this campaign. The Center is currently focused on passing legislation guaranteeing paid sick leave for all Vermonters. According to information provided by the Peace and Justice Center, 66 percent of Vermont’s private employers do not offer paid sick leave, and 135,000 Vermont workers do not have paid sick days.

Traditionally, Robinson explained, PJC has focused its efforts on securing a livable wage. “The livable wage keeps going up because the cost of living keeps going up,” Robinson said. Until rising costs for health care, housing, energy and other necessities can be brought under control, a living wage may not be attainable, according to Robinson.

The campaign is not connected to the upcoming elections, Simard said. “We have a broader view that we’re working on,” she said. “Something needs to change,” Simard said, adding, “The only thing that really makes sense is to make it a human right and build from there.”

“The United States is the only ‘industrialized’ country that doesn’t provide health care as a right to every resident from cradle to grave,” VWC states in campaign literature.

Discussing the financing of health care, VWC points out that in order to cover the costs of providing health care to the uninsured, hospitals and other providers raise the fees charged to private insurers, which in turn raise their fees. “Establishing healthcare as a human right where universal coverage comes from an equitable system of taxes only makes sense. It would establish a system where we all pay what we can afford and everyone is covered,” VWC states.