Loretta Sword

Jul. 20, 2008 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- Local proponents of a single-payer health-care system will meet Tuesday to plan a "birthday" party for the Medicare system at U.S. Rep. John Salazar's Pueblo office.

Anne Courtright, founder of Pueblo's Health Care for All Committee, said the event at Salazar's office set for 10 a.m. July 31 (the 43rd anniversary of the federal Medicare system) is intended to cement his support for HR676.

The measure, unveiled in February and gaining steam on Capitol Hill, Courtright said, calls for a national health-care plan that basically would envelop all residents under the Medicare umbrella and do away with all private insurers.

The proposed system would be funded through payroll taxes, so-called "sin" taxes on alcohol and tobacco products, and additional taxes that would be paid by the nation's wealthiest taxpayers, she added.

Tuesday's organizational meeting will be from 1 to 3 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church, 220 W. 10th St. Salazar's office is located at 134 W. B St. Courtright said the federal proposal was drafted primarily by Physicians for a National Health Program, a "group of physicians who were distressed because they couldn't afford to provide the care they felt their patients needed" because of insurance rules and constraints, and they decided "there's got to be a better way."

The organization has spent years studying national health plans in other countries and came up with one for the United States that "is not like any other, but is similar to many in one way or another," Courtright said.

The Colorado Health Care for All Committee introduced a similar plan to the governor's 2008 Commission earlier this year.

All other plans that have been considered at the state and national levels involve private insurance companies or other third-party payers and therefore wouldn't save money or increase access to health care, Courtright said.

"As long as you have the insurers involved, you've got the extra costs of marketing, administration, billing and shareholder's dividends and all of that. That's why a single payer plan is so much more economical," she added.

The state and national proposals would eliminate patient co-pays and deductibles because they "cost more to collect and process them than they bring in" and, more important, Courtright said, "because they discourage preventive care and early intervention, and those are the two things this plan is most focused on."

"We have a lot of people who literally die of no insurance -- because they didn't get the care they needed at all, or soon enough. And we have a lot of people who are disabled because they didn't get the care that could have prevented their disability."

Courtright said Pueblo's state legislators have expressed support for a statewide health system, and the local and state committees hope to convince the entire General Assembly during its upcoming session to adopt a resolution supporting the concept, and another one urging their federal colleagues to create a national single-payer health plan.

"We'll try to get a bill in, but since it would involve tax money, we don't see how it could go through without a vote of the people," Courtright said.

"But we've got to do something, and I think 'the people' will agree."

For more information about the committees or their proposals, call Courtright at 543-5148.

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Physicians for a National Health Program: http://www.pnhp.org

Newstex ID: KRTB-0154-26788931