[GPSCC-chat] Fw: Nurses Union President: Obamacare Falls Short

[Caroline Yacoub]

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Subject: Nurses Union President: Obamacare Falls Short 
 


Date: Tue, 03 Sep 2013 20:31:36
-0700
>Subject: Nurses Union President: Obamacare Falls Short 
>From: Thomas Scott Tucker <scott at tstucker.com>
>
>
>Nurses Union President: Obamacare Falls Short 
>
>Jean Ross: As Obama's Affordable Care Act leaves tens of millions
uninsured, now is the time to push for health care for all -   
>
>September 3, 13 
>
>http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=10660 
>
>JAISAL NOOR, TRNN PRODUCER: 
>
>Welcome to The Real News Network. I'm Jaisal Noor in Baltimore. 
>Even with the passage of the Affordable Care Act, there are still 30
million Americans without health insurance. Starting in 2014, the law
will allow them to pick a, quote, quality, affordable, private
health-care insurance plan of their choice. 
>But the National Nurses United has launched a national campaign in which
they say there is a third way to pay for health care, where everyone is
covered with tax dollars paying directly for the health care.
>Now joining us to tell us about this plan is Jean Ross. She's a
registered nurse and copresident of National Nurses United, the nation's
largest organization of direct-care registered nurses.
>Thank you so much for joining us.
>JEAN ROSS, COPRESIDENT, NATIONAL NURSES UNITED:
>I'm glad to be here.
>NOOR: Can you tell us about this new campaign and exactly how you plan to
pay for it?
>ROSS: Well, we plan to pay for a new and improved Medicare for all which
will cover everybody with our taxes. It's how we pay for everything else
that's meaningful to us--our educational system. And there's no reason
why we can't do the same for health care.
>NOOR: And for those that, you know, might not be familiar with universal
health care, talk about how this would work and what it would mean for
Americans that don't have health insurance.
>ROSS: Well, right now people are counting, I think, on the Affordable
Care Act or Obamacare to kind of solve all of health care's woe, and it
won't, because it's just firmly cementing us in a for-profit health-care
system that puts patients at risk, and it doesn't deal with the real
issues of cost. 
>What we need is not health-insurance reform; we need health-care reform.
And for registered nurses across this country, what we want to see is
that people continue to come in and get the care they need, because they
can't afford it and because it's available to them. 
>What we have right now is we see many, many people that are putting off
procedures, in fact, putting off getting their drugs refilled. And
they're doing this because they don't have the money to pay for it or
they don't have a job and insurance to cover it.
>NOOR: Many say that Obamacare was meant to cover all 44 million uninsured
Americans. Exactly how did those 30 million slip through the cracks?
>ROSS: I think probably in the beginning, when they took a public option
off the table and they took any kind of a single-payer system off the
table, that was bound to happen. There is--it's a piecemeal approach, and
you can't take care of everybody at once. And, unfortunately, the kinds
of provisions that the Affordable Care Act has in place are not going to
stop costs from rising. They are going to leave several millions
uninsured. They're even--despite the very good things that are in place
through the Affordable Care Act.
>NOOR: And Republicans have decried Obamacare, the Affordable Care Act, as
socialism. Others have called it a shell game. Are private health
insurance companies still making a killing off the Affordable Care
Act?
>ROSS: It is, and we think that's reprehensible as registered nurses.
Obama himself said in his 2008 campaign that he agreed that health-care
was a basic right, it's not a privilege, and it's certainly not a
responsibility of individuals. When you're ill, you're ill. It's a great
equalizer among all of us, illness is. And so whatever we have in place
should be, as I said, health-care reform, not insurance reform.
>NOOR: And so you represent the largest union of nurses in the country.
What kind of impact have nurses seen since Obamacare's passage? And talk
about what nurses are still calling for.
>ROSS: Well, what we see is we're seeing ailments that, for example,
didn't start until later in life happening earlier and earlier--stress
ulcers, psychological problems, suicide ideations. Stress disorders that
you would perhaps only see in adults earlier, now you're seeing them in
children. And it makes sense why you're seeing them. You've got little
kids that are afraid. Mommy and Daddy are talking about, gee, one of them
has lost their job; I hope the other one doesn't. And, oh, so and so down
the street, one of their friends, has lost their home. Mom and Daddy,
where will we live?
>So we're trying to get them to fill their prescriptions and to come in
for care when they've been told they need it, if they're fortunate enough
to be able to see a doctor or a practitioner and they're worrying about
putting a roof over their head and food on the table.
>NOOR: And so as part of your campaign, you're targeting some Republicans
that have been staunchly opposed to health-care reform, including John
Boehner of Ohio and Michele Bachmann of Minnesota. Why focus on these
electoral districts in particular?
>ROSS: Well, we know when we've done traveling throughout the country, we
know that what we're talking about, a new and improved Medicare for all,
is what people really want. And they're not averse to having our taxes
pay for it, despite what you hear, the rhetoric from, for example, the
Tea Partiers. But we try to put it in areas where there is sort of a
swing district or very, very conservative area and see how it does play
out, because as I said, when we talk to people, even though they may be
staunchly conservative about some things, they do understand the need for
everybody to get the medical care that they deserve.
>NOOR: Jean Ross, thank you so much for joining us.
>ROSS: Thank you for having me.
>NOOR: Thank you for joining us on The Real News Network.
> 
>************************************************
>
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