North Carolina should provide health insurance and prescription drug coverage for all its citizens while funding public health programs to treat social diseases that plague black and poor communities including HIV/AIDS, drug abuse, domestic violence, mental illness, diabetes, and obesity.
Stella Adams: Because black people and other poor people have always died sooner, gotten no or little health care, and have always had to take care of each other, and because the national health system is a mess, we have called for Health Care for All. Here is Dr. Fred McQueen, Chair of our NAACP Health Committee and Thea Monet, Director of the NC Black Medical Society:
DID YOU KNOW:
- that Health care is a fundamental right of all human beings?
- North Carolina has over 1.3 million people uninsured, with Blacks having a much higher rate of serious disease than Whites?
- that NC has an infant mortality rate for blacks is more than twice that of whites?
- that Blacks in NC have a 1/3rd higher probability of having a serious stroke than whites?
- Dr. Fred McQueen
THEREFORE WE DEMAND:
- the legislature Expand our successful Children’s Health Insurance Program so every parent in North Carolina can get affordable health coverage for their children.
- the legislature establish a state health insurance “high risk pool” so people with serious health conditions can buy affordable health coverage.
- that health insurance companies stop discriminating against people with mental illness and expand access to mental health services by enacting a “mental health parity” law.
- the legislature set up an affordable health insurance program for workers who are laid off or fired.
- that N.C. follow California’s lead and establish standards that bring about a substantial decrease in emissions of carbon dioxide and associated pollutants, and encourage international cooperation in stopping climate change that affects black people the most.
-Thea Monet
Action Steps for 2011:
- Enact the comprehensive health care reform plan put forth by the Physicians for National Health Plan, Healthcare-Now, and Improved Medicare for All.
- Start by remembering that negotiations require you to ask for ALL that you need AND more so. We will no longer present requests to the legislature that have compromises before we even meet to negotiate.
- Act immediately to inform our neighbors of the benefits and the differences between all the healthcare options and guide them to the one that is best for all of us.