Health Care Work?ers, Patients Lead Fight for Divest?ment from Cor?rupt Pri?vate Health Insur?ance Indus?try: Pres?by?ter?ian Church and TIAA-CREF Hear Their?Call
By Katie Robbins ?
In the midst of a fierce debate on the national level around the Supreme Court?s deci?sion to uphold the Afford?able Care Act, the Divest?ment Cam?paign for Health Care made its offi?cial debut. Its stated mis?sion: ?to expose how the health insur?ance indus?try puts the need for profit above the needs of patients and to esca?late pub?lic sup?port for total removal of the pri?vate health insur?ance com?pa?nies from our nation?s health care.?
Lead?ing advo?cacy orga?ni?za?tions ded?i?cated to single-payer health care are com?mit?ted to pur?su?ing a divest?ment cam?paign from pri?vate health insur?ance com?pa?nies in order to trans?form the treat?ment of health care as a com?mod?ity into a basic human right for all peo?ple in the?U.S.
?We are respon?si?ble for our invest?ments, and par?tic?u?larly as health care work?ers and patients, we see the immoral?ity of the pri?vate health insur?ance com?pa?nies as they deny pay?ment for care in order to cre?ate huge prof?its for share?hold?ers. Those who stand for a just and equi?table health care sys?tem must rec?og?nize the cor?rupt?ing force of the pri?vate health insur?ance indus?try on our polit?i?cal process that costs tens of thou?sands of lives every year in addi?tion to being a huge finan?cial drain,? states Dr. Rob Stone, M.D.
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On July 7, 2012, the Pres?by?ter?ian Church (U.S.A.) became the first major insti?tu?tion to take steps towards divest?ment from pri?vate health insur?ance.
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The Pres?by?ter?ian Church (U.S.A.) became the first major insti?tu?tion to take steps towards divest?ment from pri?vate health insur?ance. On July 7th, the church?s national assem?bly unan?i?mously passed a res?o?lu?tion stat?ing they will ?eval?u?ate the vari?ance between church prin?ci?ples of uni?ver?sal access and afford?abil?ity on the one hand and cor?po?rate objec?tives on the other. It will also assess the like?li?hood of sig?nif?i?cant change in cor?po?rate behavior.?
The res?o?lu?tion passed after mov?ing tes?ti?mony was deliv?ered by Rev. Dr. Johanna W.H. van Wijk-Bos, the widow of the orig?i?nal author of the res?o?lu?tion, Rev. A. David Bos who passed away from a sud?den case of pneu?mo?nia last year, stat?ing before the committee:
As he lay in the hos?pi?tal, strug?gling with the oxy?gen mask pro?vided to give his lungs the air they needed, he spoke halt?ingly what would be his last words on this earth: ?How much will this cost?? He died six days later. Three weeks after his death a rep?re?sen?ta?tive from our health insur?ance com?pany informed me in a tele?phone call that they rejected the claim to pay for my husband?s hos?pi?tal?iza?tion and med?ical costs because of a ?pre-existing condition.?
Rev. Dr. van Wijk-Bos felt con?fi?dent the work they had done would lead to full expo?sure of these cor?rupt com?pa?nies because ?cor?po?rate inter?ests are incom?pat?i?ble with patient care.?
On the heels of this suc?cess?ful endorse?ment from the Pres?by?ter?ian Church, activists gath?ered inside and out?side the pen?sion fund giant TIAA-CREF?s share?holder meet?ing in New York City to call atten?tion to their hold?ings in pri?vate health insur?ance. Mem?bers of TIAA-CREF were shocked to learn that pri?vate health insur?ance com?pa?nies are con?sid?ered part of their socially respon?si?ble invest?ment portfolio.
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As he lay in the hos?pi?tal, strug?gling with the oxy?gen mask pro?vided to give his lungs the air they needed, he spoke halt?ingly what would be his last words on this earth:
?How much will this cost?? He died six days later.
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Sandy Fox, psy?chi?atric social worker from Pitts?burgh, PA, received applause from the other atten?dees when she asked Pres?i?dent and CEO Roger Fer?gu?son, Jr. about these holdings:
How do you jus?tify includ?ing health insur?ance companies?CIGNA, Humana, Aetna, Coven?try, and WellPoint?in CREF-Social Choice? Pri?vate health insur?ance com?pa?nies add enor?mous cost but no value to health care. Fur?ther?more, these com?pa?nies vio?late 3 of the 5 social cri?te?ria for inclu?sion in the fund including:
1) NOT ?devoted to human rights;?
2)?NOT ?ded?i?cated to pro?duc?ing high-quality and safe prod?ucts;? and
3)?NOT ?man?aged in an exem?plary and eth?i?cal manner.?
?We come to you today to demand that you imme?di?ately divest from these ruth?less companies.
Shortly before the meet?ing, the Cam?paign launched a peti?tion to TIAA-CREF call?ing for them to move their money out of pri?vate health insur?ance receiv?ing nearly 2000 sign?ers in just a few?days.
The Divest?ment Cam?paign for Health Care calls upon all peo?ple of con?science to shed light on the duplic?i?tous prac?tices that con?tinue in the pri?vate health insur?ance indus?try. As the Campaign?s mis?sion state?ment says ?We have noth?ing to lose. Health insur?ance com?pa?nies have every?thing to lose as their stock prices drop and their influ?ence wanes.? Go to your reli?gious orga?ni?za?tion, your union, your pen?sion plan, your 401k advi?sor, your uni?ver?sity endow?ment, your city coun?cil, your friends and neigh?bors, and tell them it?s time to get the health insur?ers?out!?
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? ? Katie Rob?bins is an activist with Healthcare-NOW! NYC and Health?care for the 99%, a work?ing group of Occupy Wall Street. She was national orga?nizer with Healthcare-NOW! from 2008 ? 2011 dur?ing the national health?care debate. With doc?tors, nurses, and other advo?cates, she was arrested in May 2009 in the Sen?ate Finance Com?mit?tee ask?ing for single-payer health?care to be con?sid?ered as a solu?tion to the health?care cri?sis when it was sys?tem?at?i?cally ignored by pol?icy mak?ers. She will be attend?ing Columbia?s Mail?man School of Pub?lic Health this?fall.mary did you know john carter trans siberian orchestra trans siberian orchestra little big town little big town bennett
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