A recent letter to the TimesUnion, the New York State Nurses Association announced its support for single-payer healthcare reform. The letter, written by Tina Gerardi, CEO of the Association, pointed out how cumbersome and expensive our current system is, while emphasizing empathy for Americans seeking healthcare as well as fiscal advantages as impetuses for public or quasi-public healthcare.
Gerardi began by addressing our renewed interest in healthcare reform. The predicament of uninsured American workers is worsening due in part to the operational gap between the U.S. and other nations. The "astronomical increases in health insurance costs for employers" has led employers to reduce or eliminate healthcare coverage, stated Gerardi. American employers simply can't compete alongside foreign companies that do not pay for employee health insurance.
She went on to address the ineffectiveness of our current system. It is already an expensive system that does not provide coverage for all. Instead, the New York State Nurses Association supports a single-payer national insurance system. "Under a single-payer system, a public or quasi-public agency administers health care financing while delivery of care remains largely private," Gerardi said.
Support for a single-payer system comes from the examples set by other countries. Most European nations as well as Japan, Australia and Canada use this type of system and have demonstrated it to be fair and cost-efficient according to the Association. "Any plan that continues to rely on private insurance for most health care coverage is not going to succeed," Gerardi's letter concluded.
The New York State Nurses Association supports the proposed New York Health Plus (A7854/S4884), which builds on the Family Health Plus and Child Health Plus programs. It also supports federal legislation (H.R.676/S.307) to create a national health plan.