wfn.org | John Conyers makes case for single-payer heath care

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

Conyers makes case for single-payer health care

> Written by Rebecca Bowman Woods
> June 27, 2009

The Rev. John H. Thomas welcomes Rep. John Conyers to General Synod 27
in Grand Rapids, Mich.

Longtime health care reform advocate Rep. John Conyers of Michigan
visited with UCC members and made the case for a single-payer health
care system during a workshop on Saturday afternoon.

Conyers, a 22-term U.S. Representative and a founding member of the
Congressional Black Caucus, came over from Detroit for the day. During
a brief meeting with a handful of church leaders, Conyers said he
admires the UCC and has friends in the church. He expressed
appreciation for the denomination's stands on civil and human rights issues.

Linda Jaramillo, executive minister with Justice and Witness
Ministries, asked Conyers if he is more hopeful working with the Obama
administration. "Absolutely," Conyers said. Speaking to the prospects
for universal health care, Conyers recalled the challenges faced by
presidents Harry S. Truman and Lyndon Johnson in creating Medicare.

Later on, Conyers spoke at the workshop "Unnatural Causes: Addressing
Health Care Reform, Health Disparities, and Inequities," sponsored by
the Council on Racial Ethnic Ministries' Health Care Task Force and
the Health Care Justice Program of Justice and Witness Ministries.

Barbara T. Baylor, the UCC's minister for Health Care Justice, framed
the workshop by pointing out that of the 47 million uninsured people
in the United States, two-thirds are racial and ethnic minorities.

Health problems are not just the result of bad personal choices.
Pollution, stress, and socio-economic factors also contribute to
making people sick, Baylor said.

Conyers underscored Baylor's point with his opening words:
"Everything's connected." He tied the broken health care system to
skyrocketing foreclosures, bankruptcies, and unemployment.

Conyers also criticized reform efforts in Washington that center on
providing affordable health insurance. "Now if that isn't the largest
oxymoron in our vocabulary, I don't know what is," he said.

"If you don't have a dime's worth of insurance, if you're out of work,
if you don't have a place over your head, don't know where next meal
coming from, will you explain how you could qualify for affordable
insurance?" Conyers said.

The bill Conyers introduced in January, H.R. 676, calls for expanding
Medicare to provide government-funded care for all. More than 4,000
physicians have endorsed H.R. 676.

The General Synod will consider a resolution supporting H.R. 676, and
calling for "single-payer national health care reform to advance
health equity for all and to eliminate health disparities."

None of the proposals being considered by Congress include a
single-payer approach. On Saturday, Conyers noted that Obama spoke in
favor of that approach when he was a Senator.

"Universal healthcare is something we have to make a statement for.
We've got to make sure it gets a thorough discussion," Conyers said.

Conyers' speech was followed by responses from Rev. Linda Jaramillo,
executive minister for Justice and Witness Ministries; Rev Roger Dart,
pastor with Deerfield (Ill.) UCC; and Rev. Marilyn Pagan-Banks,
executive director of Good News Community Kitchen in Chicago, Ill.

Not everyone at the workshop agreed with the idea of single-payer
health care. During a discussion period, the Rev. Sarah Campbell of
Mayflower Church in Minneapolis voiced concern that by backing H.R.
676, the UCC is missing its chance to influence health care reform.

Politically, what's feasible is having a strong public health
insurance option as opposed to single-payer, Campbell told UCNews. She
and the Rev. Bruce McKay, pastor of Pilgrim St. Luke's UCC in Buffalo,
N.Y., were passing out red flyers in the plenary hall calling for
support of a plan with a public option.

Campbell and McKay said the approach they're advocating would still
provide adequate and affordable health coverage. They want UCC members
to get behind Obama's plan, for now.