30 May 2008

Consumer Reports becomes activist!

There's a great new website and initiative up from, of all organizations, Consumer Reports. It shouldn't really be a surprise - they did some great work earlier this year on the failure of the American health insurance industry.

The Cover America Tour begins with a bus with speakers that's traveling around to bring focus on this issue. Shades of Healthcare Now! That's exactly what Donna and Larry Smith did last autumn.

They're not single-payer, but it looks to me like most of their information points in that direction. Take a look at their media page - one of the choices there is a piece on "Six Prescriptions for Change," which reports the results of a survey of what Americans want (on a page titled: "Health-care security: Losing confidence in the health-care system." Their findings:
  • Coverage for all uninsured children.
  • Protection against financial ruin due to a major illness or accident.
  • The ability to obtain coverage regardless of a pre-existing condition.
  • Coverage that continues even when people are laid off, changing jobs, or starting their own business.
  • Premiums, deductibles, and out-of- pocket expenses that are affordable relative to family income.
  • The ability of people to keep their current health insurance if they choose.
It's too bad that folks don't get it - that last item effectively trumps all that came before.

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