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ABOUT THE LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE

WHAT IS THE LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE?

The Leadership Conference for Guaranteed Health Care (LCGHC) is a clearinghouse and umbrella coordinating organization for groups promoting comprehensive reform legislation to guarantee health care for all Americans. Despite spending twice as much as other industrialized nations, our mostly private health insurance system performs poorly. One third of every health care dollar is taken up by paperwork and other administrative costs of private insurance that have little to do with addressing disease or injury. Poor health and poor health care hold down the U.S. economy and reduce productivity. A guaranteed health care program patterned after Medicare can provide coverage for all, while at the same time saving close to $300 billion per year.

WHAT IS THE LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE'S GOAL?

The Leadership Conference helps member organizations utilize their respective resources, capacity and constituencies to educate, advocate and agitate to pass H.R. 676, the National Health Insurance Act/Expanded and Improved Medicare for All. To pass H.R. 676, the Leadership Conference is committed to developing coordinated legislative, media and grassroots strategies to support health care for all Americans through a privately-provided, publicly-financed system modeled on Medicare.

WHO IS INVOLVED IN THE LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE?

The Leadership Conference is a dynamic network with participation from medical professionals and patients, senior citizens, concerned businesses, labor unions, the faith community, economic and social justice organizations and others allied with federal, state and local legislators around the country. Currently, the group is led by the California Nurses Association (CNA)/National Nurses Organizing Committee (NNOC), Healthcare-NOW!, the Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) and Physicians for a National Health Care Program (PNHP). Our goal is to promote greater coordination with all groups endorsing H.R. 676 nationwide. The inspiration for the group was the Leadership Conference for Civil Rights, which worked to pass civil rights legislation in the 1960's.

If your organizaton is interested in joining the Leadership Conference for Guaranteed Health Care please contact Diane Shamis at diane@pdamerica.org

"Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane. " -Martin Luther King, Jr.

TOP 10 REASONS TO SUPPORT H.R. 676,
THE U.S. NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE ACT

  1. Everybody In, Nobody Out. Universal means access to health care for everyone, period.
  2. Portability. If you are unemployed, or lose or change jobs, your health coverage stays with you.
  3. Uniform Benefits. No Cadillac plans for the wealthy and Pinto plans for everyone else, with high deductibles, limited services, caps on payments for care, and no protection in the event of a catastrophe. One level of comprehensive care for everyone, regardless of the size of your wallet.
  4. Prevention. By removing financial roadblocks, a universal health system encourages preventive care that lowers an individual's ultimate cost and pain and suffering when problems are neglected and societal cost in the over-utilization of emergency rooms or the spread of communicable diseases.
  5. Choice. Most private insurance restricts your choice of providers and hospitals. Under the U.S. National Health Insurance Act, patients have a choice, and the provider is assured a fair payment.
  6. No Interference with Care. Caregivers and patients regain their autonomy to decide what's best for a patient's health, not what's dictated by the billing department. No denial of coverage for pre- existing conditions or cancellation of policies for "unreported" minor health problems.
  7. Reducing Waste. One third of every private health insurance dollar goes for paperwork and profits, compared to about 3% under Medicare, the federal government's universal system for senior citizen healthcare.
  8. Cost Savings. A guaranteed health care system can produce the cost savings needed to cover everyone, largely by using existing resources without the waste. Taiwan, shifting from a U.S. private health care model, adopted a similar system in 1995, boosting health coverage from 57% to 97% with little increase in overall health care spending.
  9. Common Sense Budgeting. The public system sets fair reimbursements applied equally to all providers, private and public, while assuring that appropriate health care is delivered, and uses its clout to negotiate volume discounts for prescription drugs and medical equipment.
  10. Public Oversight. The public sets the policies and administers the system, not high priced CEOs meeting in private and making decisions based on their company's stock performance needs.

Member Organizations